"I didn't want to go public, but I swallowed a frog for the next generation"

"I consider myself a super-taster," says Ezra (Gad) Cohen, founder of Gad Dairies. "It means I have a very developed sense of smell. I can easily break down a product into its flavor nuances and identify saltiness levels. But it's also not a simple experience. Because when something doesn't taste good to me, I can't lie or hide it. You can see it on me right away. I'm very transparent." Cohen's developed sense of smell probably also helped him in his professional path, to identify good business opportunities at the right time: someone born as the fourth generation of cheese makers, whose family business started from a cow in the backyard of his great-grandfather's house in Edirne, Turkey, became a powerhouse worth 1.3 billion shekels and holds 7% of the dairy and dairy substitute industry in Israel.

And in the past year, this business grew on steroids: in September, the company went public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, in November it launched a collaboration with Remilk, a producer of non-animal milk, in May it completed the acquisition of tofu producer Meshek Wyler, and this month it launched 11 vegan products based on almond milk under the feel gad brand. At the end of its first public year, Gad's value jumped by 39%.

"I didn't want to go public at all," says Cohen, explaining that the move was intended to raise money for the construction of a new, huge factory in the Timarim industrial zone near Ashkelon, which will centralize the activity currently carried out at four different sites: the main factory in Bat Yam, and the other three in Beit Yitzhak, Kibbutz Nachshon, and Netivot — a move that could make Gad the third largest dairy in Israel. "It's important for the next generation, for the next generation," he says. "If we lived only on fears and worries about the price of milk and competition with imported produce, we wouldn't continue to build."