Torani CEO: Layoffs Are a Choice, Not a Necessity—101 Years, Zero Cuts

U.S. employers announced 573,195 job cuts in the first nine months of this year, and Melanie Dulbecco wants a word with every CEO behind them. The chief executive of flavored syrup giant Torani calls mass layoffs a decision, not a force of nature.

"It's very easy for us to say layoffs are not our approach. I think layoffs are a choice," Dulbecco told Business Insider in a recent interview.

She draws one narrow exception. "I get it if a company is going through bankruptcy and has to make extremely challenging choices. Otherwise, I think it's a financial exercise that doesn't consider how you're going to be resilient or regain momentum—because you do that with a team."

What Is Torani's Track Record?

The 101-year-old company has never had a layoff in its history. Dulbecco says that record coexists with serious growth, not despite it.

"Our approach is to take a longer-term view," the CEO told Fortune in a written statement. "We've averaged approximately 20% annual growth for 35 years, we're on track to exceed $800 million in revenue this year, and we've never had a layoff in Torani's 101-year history. To me, that's evidence that investing in people and delivering strong business performance aren't competing priorities. They reinforce each other."

The company's proving ground came in March 2020. Torani relocated its office to San Leandro with the explicit goal of retaining 100% of its workers, Dulbecco told Fortune. Management even built a ZIP code map showing where staffers lived, so the new site would keep commutes reasonable. She calls it a defining moment.

The timing was brutal. Torani had borrowed heavily to build its new Flavor Factory, and COVID-19 brought fresh financial uncertainty. Rather than cut staff, the company slashed everything else: marketing, advertising, employee travel, and non-essential spending across the board.

"With significant financial uncertainty and a major Flavor Factory investment underway, we asked ourselves: What decisions will make us proud when we come out on the other side? We committed to getting through the crisis together without layoffs or furloughs," she said.

The bet paid off. Coffee shops closed, so Torani pivoted to online retail and grocery. After a brief drop, revenue swung back and the company closed 2020 with a 15% year-over-year spike. Dulbecco says that recovery wouldn't have happened with a thinner team.

How Bad Is the Broader Layoff Picture?

This year's 573,195 announced cuts through September, per a Challenger, Gray & Christmas analysis, actually mark an improvement. The same period in 2025 saw 946,426 cuts announced.

The consultancy says employers are holding back and weighing economic conditions before sweeping layoffs. "Companies are in a wait-and-see period right now," Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, wrote in the report. "Employers are facing high energy costs, an uncertain war in Iran, a rate hike that could make hiring more expensive, plus the likelihood of surging healthcare costs."

Last year ranked among the worst on record for American workers. Announced job cuts hit 1.2 million in 2025, up 58% from roughly 760,000 in 2024, according to a Challenger, Gray & Christmas report. That's the highest level of workforce reductions since 2020 and nearly level with the 2008 financial crisis, when 1.22 million roles were slashed.

Federal workers bore the heaviest damage. Cost-cutting under Elon Musk's DOGE crippled entire agencies, including USAID, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services. About 308,000 government jobs were cut.

Tech took the hardest private-sector hit: roughly 154,000 announced role cuts in 2025, a 15% rise from nearly 134,000 in 2024. The drivers were rapid AI implementation and a correction from pandemic-era overhiring. AI accounted for 54,836 layoff plans in 2025 alone, and has been connected to 71,825 job cut announcements since 2023.

"Technology has been pivoting to both developing and implementing artificial intelligence much more quickly than any other industry," the Challenger report noted.

Has AI Changed Torani's Hiring?

Torani hasn't cut workers over new tech, but automation has reshaped its hiring math. Dulbecco told Business Insider that automation lets the company operate with fewer new hires than it would otherwise need. It applies AI to manual jobs with "limited career mobility," plus market research, sales forecasting, and demand planning.

"Our team doesn't get worried about things like AI because they trust that we will both automate and elevate the work, that we will never do anything that squashes opportunities for people, and that we are looking out for everybody's success," she said.

With Torani on pace to pass $800 million in revenue this year, Dulbecco's argument is straightforward: her company's 101-year no-layoff record and its 20% annual growth run on the same engine—the people other companies cut.