Top 10 Astonishing Facts about Hamdi Ulukaya

A portrait of Hamdi Ulukaya. Photo By Chobani. Wikimedia .

Top 10 Astonishing Facts about Hamdi Ulukaya

Hamdi Ulukaya is a US-based entrepreneur and philanthropist of Kurdish origin. With a net worth of US $2.0 billion, he is one of the most successful businessmen in the US. The son of a dairy farmer who migrated from Turkey to the US to study English, he is now the owner and C.E.O of the United States’ most popular strained yogurt brand: Chobani.

He is a compassionate leader and he has developed an employee-oriented culture at his company.

1 He is of Kurdish Origin

Hamdi Ulukaya was born to a dairy-farming Kurdish family on 26^th October 1972 in Ilic, a small village in Turkey’s Erzincan Province.

His parent Emine Ulukaya, often led a seasonally semi-nomadic existence tending and herding their flocks.

He had six siblings and his family owned and operated a sheep, goat, and dairy farm near the Euphrates River in Ilic, Erzincan Province, where they made cheese and yogurt.

He studied political science at Ankara University.

2 He is a Divorcee

Between 1997 to 1999, he married Ayse Giray, a Turkish doctor, however their marriage didn’t last long. They never had a child together.

In 2015, he had a son, Aga, with Alida Boer.

In 2018, he married Louise Vongerichten, co-founder and President of Food Dreams Foundation, founder of sustainable children’s wear brand, Mon Coeur.

Louise is of French-American nationality.

The couple has two children, Miran and Leyla.

3 He Immigrated to the U.S. as Student

 In 1994, Ulukaya moved to the United States to study English at Adelphi University, Long Island, New York.

In 1997, he moved upstate and transferred to the University at Albany, State University of New York where he enrolled in a few business courses.

He ended up taking a job on an upstate farm.

 He opened a small wholesale feta cheese plant of his own, called Euphrates, in Johnstown, New York in 2002.

4 He is the Co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Chobani

A cup of Chobani Greek Yogurt. Photo by Famartin. Wikicommons.

He started a small cheese factory in upstate New York in 2002.

In the spring of 2005, Ulukaya noticed a piece of junk mail advertising a fully equipped yogurt factory for sale in South Edmeston, New York, 65 miles west of his feta cheese factory.

The 80-year-old factory had been closed by Kraft Foods.

With a loan from the Small Business Administration, he bought an old yogurt plant in 2005 with $700,000.

He hired the first four people from the previous 55, and worked on the recipe inspired by his heritage.

By early 2006 he begun making private-label American-style yogurt as a contract manufacturer for other companies, just to bring in some revenue.

He launched Chobani yoghurt in 2007 and it was received really well by people.

He used different and unique approaches that other larger companies did not use.

He insisted that Chobani should be stocked in the dairy aisle rather than the gourmet section.

He also negotiated with retailers over their slotting fees by paying it over time as the yogurt sold.

Lastly, he worked really hard to determine the right unit selling price to fund future growth.

5 He Developed a Yoghurt Recipe Inspired by his Heritage

A Chobani Store in New York City Photo by By Jess Hawsor. Wikicommons.

He decided to make an alternative to American-style yoghurt, preferring the yogurt he grew up with in Turkey.

He hired a yogurt master from Turkey, Mustafa Dogan, with whom he spent nearly two years developing his own yogurt recipe.

6 Ayse Giray Filed a Lawsuit Against Hamdi for the Business.

After years of their divorce when the business was in the high sky, Ayse Giray, his former wife, sued Hamdi for a 53 percent stake in the $2 billion-plus worth company claiming her family had lent him $500,000 for the business back then.

She also claimed Hamdi stole the recipe for his yogurts, however, those accusations were proven unfounded and dropped.

Also, back in 2004, the Albany residents Hikmatullah Siraj and Mohammed Siraj sued Hamdi claiming that he promised them a 50-percent stake in the Euphrates in exchange for the money.

They even claimed he owned them 112,000 following their investments of around $324 in 1999.

7 He Believes that Higher Wages for Employees Leads to Greater Corporate Success

Ulukaya said that businessmen should promote a sense of purpose in their corporate culture to create a climate of positive change in business and the world, and companies should focus on humanity and not just on their bottom lines.

He created job training program together with the College of Southern Idaho and the Chobani Foundation.

 In 2017, Chobani started offering six weeks off paid leave to new parents as a result of Ulukaya’s own experience.

The policy ensures that Chobani employees have the needed time to bond with their newborns, and it covers adoption, foster care and same-sex couples as well.

8 He Owns the World’s Largest Yogurt Factory in Twin Falls, Idaho

Statue at Twin Falls, Idaho. By Tommyers89.Wikicommons.

In 2012, he opened a huge yoghurt factory in Idaho worth $450 million.

 Chobani has more than $1 billion in annual sales in 2012, and it became the world’s leading yogurt brand.

 By 2017, Chobani reached a US market share of Greek yogurt of over 50%, and Chobani expanded internationally to Australia, Mexico, and by 2021 it exports also to China, Malaysia and Thailand.

9 He is a Devoted Humanitarian

In 2015 he launched the Tent Foundation to help refugees.

He has donated to many Muslim charities associated with Iraq and Syria and has explored philanthropic avenues for helping refugees around the world.

 Ulukaya has hired refugees from around the world from regions across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

He  launched Hamdi Ulukya  initiative to train Turkish entrepreneurs who are running existing starts up or planning on new venture.

10 Chobani’s Shares has Less Value in Stock Market

Chobani did not reveal many details when the award was disclosed in 2016, reported that shares were based on tenure.

It is  estimated that at a $3 billion valuation, the average employee payout would be $150,000, while the earliest employees’ stakes could possibly reach over $1million.

However, Chobani has not yet gone public, thus rendered the stocks useless to the employees.