In an era when generative and agentic artificial intelligence are expected to wipe away millions of jobs across the United States, one American company is taking a strikingly different path. Torani, the 101-year-old drink flavoring and syrup maker best known for its coffee syrups, has never conducted layoffs. Through economic collapses, factory automation, and a global pandemic, the company has maintained a simple promise: zero layoffs. Now, as AI pressures executives to reduce headcounts, long-time CEO Melanie Dulbecco says the company’s people-first model is built to outlast yet another industrial shift.

Dulbecco, who has been with Torani for 35 years, put the stakes bluntly in an interview with Fortune.

“It is going to dramatically change things, and we’re all going to live through this together, but our approach is going to be the same as it has been. How do we create great jobs through this for everyone?”

Melanie Dulbecco, CEO of Torani

That question, rather than how to use AI to cut costs, is the one Dulbecco says guides Torani’s strategy.

A Century of Stability

Torani was founded in San Francisco in 1925 by Italian immigrants selling hand-crafted drink flavorings. The company survived the Great Depression, the 2008 financial crash, the automation of American manufacturing, and a pandemic that closed many of the coffee shops that helped make its products a household name. Through each crisis, Torani kept its zero-layoff promise intact.

After Prohibition ended, the company reportedly produced liqueurs before pivoting in 1982 to the coffee syrups that would define its modern identity. That pivot set the stage for decades of growth. When Dulbecco took the helm in 1991, Torani was pulling in just $700,000 annually with a team of nine employees. Over the next three and a half decades, the company expanded its catalogue from five syrups to more than 150 varieties spanning sodas, cocktails, and coffee.

Today, the San Leandro-based syrup maker operates at a scale few would have predicted. Dulbecco attributes that endurance to an organizational philosophy that runs contrary to standard corporate practice.

$800M Projected Revenue This Year
500 Employees
20% Avg. Annual Growth Over 35 Years

“Most companies focus on their financials, and then people are the tools,” Dulbecco told Fortune. “We look at it the other way around, and it works really well for us.”

Melanie Dulbecco, CEO of Torani

What Generative and Agentic AI Actually Mean

To understand the pressure Torani and other companies face, it helps to define two technical terms. Generative AI refers to systems that create new content—text, images, code, or audio—based on patterns learned from large datasets. Agentic AI goes further: it can make decisions and take multi-step actions on its own, often with less direct human supervision. Both forms of AI are increasingly capable of handling tasks once performed by entry-level and white-collar workers.

As artificial intelligence pressures executives to cut headcounts in pursuit of higher margins, Torani is betting that its century-old people-first model can absorb the disruption without breaking its no-layoffs rule. Dulbecco said her team takes precedence in major financial decisions when incorporating any new technology.

“What are those 500 people, or 200 people, or 20 people doing to add more value?” she said. For Torani, the answer determines whether and how new tools are adopted.

AI Is Not a Cost-Cutting Tool, According to Torani

Dulbecco argues that treating AI purely as a tool to slash costs misses the larger picture.

“What we find is our team is more likely to embrace new technologies also because there’s confidence and an openness to learning new things because they know we’ve got their backs and they’ve got ours.”

Melanie Dulbecco, CEO of Torani

That confidence is reinforced by a wealth-sharing plan that ties every employee’s bonuses to the company’s top-line revenue and bottom-line profits. Torani also operates an employee stock ownership plan that begins once an employee completes a year with the company. Dulbecco calls this approach “sharing the wealth we create together.”

The stock plan creates a direct link between individual workers and the company’s financial performance. Every year, employees receive a new tranche of shares, and the company undergoes a new valuation. Dulbecco said those valuation moments are among her favorites.

“Every year people get a new tranche of shares, and every year we do a new valuation, so there’s nothing that makes me happier than when we, in a town hall meeting, share, ‘Hey, we just did our valuation, here’s been the increase,’ and then afterwards, I see a forklift driver ask our CFO questions.”

Melanie Dulbecco, CEO of Torani

That anecdote captures the cultural difference Torani is trying to preserve. Workers are not treated as disposable inputs but as co-owners with a stake in the company’s success. That, Dulbecco believes, makes them more willing to learn new technologies rather than resist them.

A Different Playbook for the AI Era

The challenge facing Torani is one that has divided modern boardrooms. Many executives see AI as a way to reduce labor costs, streamline operations, and boost shareholder returns. Torani’s leadership sees it differently: as a tool that should be used to create better jobs, not eliminate them.

Dulbecco did not suggest that Torani will reject AI. Instead, she framed the company’s approach as one that evaluates new technology through a human-centered lens. The goal is to ask how automation can help the existing workforce add more value, not how it can replace that workforce.

That position stands out at a time when layoffs in technology, finance, and other white-collar sectors have become routine. AI-driven automation is often cited as a key factor in those cuts. Torani’s stance offers an alternative narrative: that a company can grow, adopt new tools, and still honor a century-old commitment to its employees.

The company’s history supports that view. Torani has already navigated multiple waves of technological change, from manufacturing automation to digital commerce. Each time, it managed to adapt without abandoning its no-layoffs rule. Dulbecco’s message is that AI will be no different.

What Happens Next

Torani has not released a detailed public roadmap for AI adoption. But Dulbecco’s comments signal that any future deployment will be evaluated through a simple question: “how does this create great jobs for everyone?” That question, repeated across 101 years of economic upheaval, remains the company’s guiding principle.

Whether Torani’s model can be replicated at scale remains an open question. Many public companies face intense pressure from shareholders to cut costs quickly, and AI offers a tempting lever. Torani, as a privately held company with an employee stock ownership plan, may have more freedom to prioritize long-term stability over short-term margin gains.

Still, its example is notable. At a moment when workers fear being replaced by algorithms, Torani is arguing that the opposite approach—investing in people and sharing the gains—can be both humane and profitable. The company’s $800 million revenue projection and 20 percent annual growth rate over 35 years suggest the strategy has worked so far.

Dulbecco’s closing message reflects that confidence. AI will change things dramatically, she acknowledges. But the company’s approach will stay the same. The challenge is not to protect jobs from technology at all costs, but to use technology to make work more valuable for the people doing it.

For Torani, the future of work may look less like a wave of layoffs and more like a series of conversations in town hall meetings—where forklift drivers ask chief financial officers about share valuations, and where every employee has a reason to care about the company’s next chapter.