Hamdi Ulukaya

Hamdi Ulukaya is best known as the founder and CEO of Chobani, the massively popular Greek yogurt brand. He established the company in 2005 with the goal of bringing authentic strained yogurt to the American market. Under his leadership, Chobani grew into a billion-dollar enterprise.

Hamdi Ulukaya started Chobani in 2005 by purchasing a closed, defunct yogurt factory in upstate New York. He used a small business loan to buy the facility, which was previously operated by Kraft Foods. He then hired several former employees and worked to perfect his strained yogurt recipe before launching it nationwide.

Hamdi Ulukaya acquired his first factory in upstate New York, specifically in the town of New Berlin. He purchased the shuttered facility after seeing an advertisement for its sale. This location served as the initial manufacturing hub where the first batches of Chobani Greek yogurt were produced.

Hamdi Ulukaya is a Turkish-born entrepreneur who grew up in a nomadic Kurdish family. Before immigrating to the United States in the mid-1990s, his family traditionally raised sheep and produced dairy products like feta cheese. He eventually moved to New York to learn English and study business before founding his yogurt empire.