How Hamdi built the fortune
Hamdi Ulukaya's fortune comes from Chobani, the food company he founded and still controls. In 2005 he noticed an advertisement for a yogurt factory in South Edmeston, New York, that Kraft was closing. With a loan backed by the US Small Business Administration, he bought the plant and hired several of its former workers. He spent about two years developing a recipe for strained Greek style yogurt, which at the time was a small niche in American supermarkets.
Chobani went on sale in 2007, at first in a store in Long Island and then in mainstream supermarket chains. The thicker, higher protein yogurt caught on quickly, and within a few years Chobani was the best selling yogurt brand in the United States. Its success changed the American yogurt market, pushing large rivals to launch their own Greek products. To keep up with demand, the company opened a large plant in Twin Falls, Idaho, in 2012.
The fast growth strained the company's finances, and in 2014 it took a large loan from the private equity firm TPG to fund expansion. Chobani later broadened its range to plant based products, oat milk, coffee creamers and ready to drink coffee, and in 2023 it bought the coffee company La Colombe. Ulukaya has kept majority ownership throughout, and the value of his stake has grown with the company's sales.
Part of Chobani's early success came from Ulukaya's insistence on natural ingredients and on persuading supermarkets to stock the yogurt in the main dairy aisle rather than in specialty sections. The company also invested heavily in its own production capacity instead of relying on contract manufacturers, which allowed it to keep up with demand when sales accelerated.
Companies and holdings
Ulukaya's main asset is Chobani, which he runs as chief executive. The company's operations include:
- Yogurt and dairy products under the Chobani brand, sold across the United States and in other markets including Australia.
- Oat based drinks, creamers and other plant based products.
- La Colombe, a coffee roaster and maker of canned coffee drinks.
- Manufacturing plants in New York, Idaho and Australia, with a further large plant announced in Rome, New York.
Chobani has also run an incubator programme that invests in and mentors small food startups. In 2016 Ulukaya gave Chobani employees shares that could be worth up to about ten percent of the company if it were sold or listed, an unusual move for a private company.
Early life and career
Ulukaya was born in 1972 in Erzincan Province in eastern Turkey, into a Kurdish family of dairy farmers and cheese makers. He grew up around the family's sheep and goats and learned to make yogurt and cheese. He studied political science at Ankara University before moving to the United States in 1994.
In New York he studied English and took business courses while working on a farm in upstate New York. Encouraged by his father, who visited and found American feta disappointing, he started a feta cheese company called Euphrates in the early 2000s. The business was modest, but it gave him experience in dairy production and sales in the US, which he drew on when he decided to buy the Kraft factory.
Philanthropy and public life
Ulukaya is known for his work on behalf of refugees. In 2015 he signed the Giving Pledge, committing to give away most of his wealth during his lifetime or after his death. The following year he founded the Tent Partnership for Refugees, which encourages large companies to hire, train and support refugees, and which now counts many multinational businesses as members. Chobani has also employed a significant number of refugees at its plants.
He speaks often about responsible business, fair pay and the role of companies in their communities, and he has supported the town of Twin Falls and the area around South Edmeston with local investments. His advocacy has drawn criticism from some political commentators who oppose refugee resettlement, but he has continued to promote the issue publicly through speeches and interviews.