- Company
- Chobani
- Role
- Founder & CEO
- Est. Net Worth
- $2 Billion (Est.)
- Stage
- Elite
- Industry
- Hospitality
Hamdi Ulukaya
Founder & CEO at Chobani
About
Hamdi Ulukaya founded Chobani in 2005 after purchasing a shuttered Kraft yogurt plant in upstate New York, building it into America's top-selling Greek yogurt brand. A Turkish-Kurdish immigrant, he is also known for his philanthropic work with refugees and his employee-ownership model at Chobani.
Current Company
Chobani — Founder & CEO
From a Shuttered Factory to America's Yogurt King
Hamdi Ulukaya founded Chobani in 2005 after noticing a flyer advertising the sale of a shuttered Kraft yogurt plant in South Edmeston, New York. Born in a Kurdish dairy-farming family in eastern Turkey, Hamdi Ulukaya had come to the United States in 1994 to study English and eventually started a small feta cheese business. The Kraft plant purchase was a gamble — Ulukaya took out an SBA loan, hired the factory's former employees, and spent nearly two years developing a Greek yogurt recipe thick enough to differentiate from the watery American yogurts dominating grocery shelves.
Chobani launched in 2007 and grew explosively. Within five years, it became the best-selling yogurt brand in America, capturing over 20% of the market. Hamdi Ulukaya built Chobani without private equity or venture capital in the early years, maintaining full ownership and control. The company is now valued at over $10 billion and has expanded into oat milk, coffee creamers, and other dairy-adjacent categories.
The Anti-Billionaire Billionaire
Hamdi Ulukaya is unusual among billionaire founders for his open commitment to stakeholder capitalism and refugee employment. He gave 10% of Chobani's equity to the company's roughly 2,000 employees through a profit-sharing program, a move that was widely covered as a radical act in consumer packaged goods. Hamdi Ulukaya also co-founded the Tent Partnership for Refugees, an organization that mobilizes the private sector to hire and support displaced people, and has personally pledged to give away the majority of his wealth.
As CEO, Hamdi Ulukaya continues to run Chobani with a focus on quality, accessibility, and community impact. The company's products are priced to compete with mainstream brands rather than premium health foods, a deliberate strategy rooted in Ulukaya's belief that better food shouldn't be a luxury. It's a model that has inspired a wave of mission-driven food brands while proving that doing right by workers and communities can coexist with building a multibillion-dollar company.