Hamdi Ulukaya addresses employees at the
Twin Falls, Idaho, production facility, the
world’s largest yogurt plant (pictured below).
The Chobani timeline
A DREAM MADE REAL
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33
This Febru-
ary Chobani
celebrates
its 10th
anniversary
as a national
brand.
ment of all Chobani flavors and products,
which are made with natural, non-GMO
(genetically modified organism) ingre-
dients, including milk from local farms,
and without any preservatives, artificial
ingredients or artificial colors.He says he
is proud to serve his yogurt to his 2-year-
old son.
The birth of his son also made him
re-evaluate his parental leave policy, and
in 2016 he included six-week paid leave for
all new parents. Earlier in the year,
Chobani, which already pays employees
well above both the state and federal minimum wage and offers full health care benefits and a company-sponsored retirement
plan to all full-time employees, announced
that 2,000 full-time employees would participate in a profit-sharing program.
Ulukaya says he wanted to be able to provide more than just a salary to his employees, who helped to create Chobani’s success.
“I think everybody has a responsibility
in this. Not only a government or state; it’s
the businesses,” he says. “Every one of us
has the responsibility. And shortcutting on
people’s wages or people’s benefits is not
helping the businesses either. You take care
of your people well, you make sure that they
get right compensation and they live com-
fortably, your business will [be] sky-high.”
For entrepreneurs, Chobani has
introduced the Chobani Food Incubator,
a program located at Chobani headquar-
ters that supports innovative early-stage
food and beverage startups with grants
and mentorship from Chobani’s leaders
in operations, finance, sales and market-
ing. It also provides examples for young
entrepreneurs on how to be effective busi-
ness owners.
“I love the field of business because it
has creativity, it has leadership, it has
community, it has sustainability,” Ulukaya
says. “So you create profit to be able to sus-
tain. And if you put all of this in the right
motive, not only [do] you create wealth for
your shareholders and your company’s
members and yourself—[there] is nothing
wrong with that; this country is built on
that and it’s a free enterprise—but, at the
same time, you can lift our community. We
can help the environment. We can reach
out to the people who are in need. These
are also fundamentals of the business.” C
Hamdi
Ulukaya buys
a closed
yogurt plant
in South
Edmeston,
New York.
Chobani
Greek yogurt
is sold na-
tionally.
Chobani
launches in
Australia.
Chobani
becomes and
continues to
be an official
sponsor of the
U.S. Olympics.
Chobani SoHo,
the first of
three brick-
and-mortar
Chobani cafés,
opens in New
York City.
Chobani opens
its second U.S.
production
facility, in Twin
Falls, Idaho.
Chobani
becomes the
No. 1-selling
Greek yogurt in
the U.S.
Ulukaya
forms the Tent
Foundation,
a nonprofit
committed to ending
the global
refugee crisis.
Ulukaya joins
the Giving Pledge,
a commitment to
give more than half
of his wealth to
philanthropy.
Chobani launches
in Mexico.
Chobani announces
profit-sharing
program for
employees.
2005 2008 2010 2011 2012 2012 2016 2015 2018
