How Chobani Billionaire Hamdi Ulukaya Spearheaded The Greek Yogurt Revolution | Forbes

Billionaire yogurt entrepreneur Hamdi Ulukaya is known as the yogurt king. He is the founder of America's most popular Greek yogurt brand, Chobani. Ulukaya grew up in a Kurdish dairy-farming family in Turkey and raised sheep. He eventually left to study political science at Ankara University.
Ulukaya, who grew up in a nomadic community in eastern Turkey, a mountainous region of the country where the main source of income is agriculture, said he was inspired to raise the standards at farms across the U.S. after one of his visits to Idaho, where Chobani has a 900-employee plant. He heard about the plight of undocumented workers, who make up about 50% of the dairy workforce in the U.S. Many of these workers dread daily tasks, such as traveling to a supermarket to buy groceries, out of their fear of deportation.
Ulukaya has long been known as an innovator and someone whose company supports refugees and immigrants. Chobani-known for its Greek yogurt-becomes the first in the U.S. dairy industry to be certified with the Fair Trade seal of approval. The certification, bestowed by a nonprofit trade group called Fair Trade USA, indicates that Chobani-a $1.5 billion (2020 revenues) company with 2,200 employees-has been working with U.S. farms and cooperatives to improve working conditions.
Read the full profile on Forbes: www.forbes.com...
Subscribe to FORBES: www.youtube.co...
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: newsletters.ed...
Forbes on Facebook: forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: / forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: / forbes
More From Forbes: forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

[@AsMinor1977]

As a Greek I will take revenge by starting a baklava empire.

[@Onurozirmak]

It would be fair if you choose“Turkish Baklava” for the name

[@selma1477]

😂😂😂

[@justforgitsandshiggles5405]

Make sure to send Albanian refugees to Turkey

[@tellic2906]

Gaziantep pistachio baklava 😁

[@sergekulaksiz6924]

😂😂😂👍

[@azadmichael1433]

Hello is not Turkish btw, he is Kurdish

[@dadoody]

both -ish

[@sezenbilge]

Mrs Cam please check the Turkey map you are using. I do not know if you know where is Turkey.

[@loscarfgg]

Had I known, I wouldn’t be watching this video, no matter how many times you say “you know”. On the other hand. I like the series, you know!

[@watabevi4182]

😂

[@KakaomasterKexis]

KOBANÎ /CHOBANÎ KURDISH ROJAVA YOGURT ❤❤❤

[@ShatayaSatre]

Now it's yogurts every where. ALL KIND OF YOGURT, vegan, non dairy, oatmilk based. So many

[@merxasezman986]

great pride for the Kurds

[@piecesofme8531]

I swear half their revenue comes from me. 😍

[@Five2_]

Currently drinking the yogurt drink then I decided to search how it’s made

[@ash2xx1]

I'm eating a banana strawberry chaboni cup rn cus I got the munchies and then had the same question 😂 the best damn Greek yogurt!

[@JumpingCactuz]

I just finished my Mango one after smoking a bowl of green

[@reidos6420]

Vanilla and strawberry go down well with a bowl too🤙🏼

[@Motorsports-Madness]

pretty cool that i am in this video

[@Oscarnnanna]

A true inspiration

[@baki5749]

Its so ironic that biggest greek yogurt seller is turkish 💀

[@alikocer6756]

Kurdish

[@MyPingPongPath]

😂 it’s a financial selling tactic, most of the people know that yogurt comes from Greece but actually it’s Turkish

[@shawnli9775]

I ate so much yogurt of this brand. Never knew the CEO is like this haha

[@disneyfun8208]

So why is it called Greek yogurt? If I was Ulukaya, I would want my country’s name on it. As a Turk, I would love if more products are given credit to Turkey, it makes me feel more proud of my country. I just know that most Americans probably think it’s from Greece.

[@afd1040]

It sells more

[@VinceX-i4d]

You're right, it should be called Kurdish yogurt. He's a Kurd. He said it doesn't matter if it's called Greek, or Turkish yogurt, as long as it's good yogurt. It's definitely because of marketing, that he stuck with calling it Greek yogurt.

[@MysonEggAndHisbrotherCheese]

Because it always known as greek yoghurt at America, it literally named like that before him, most of the time it's not taste same as our turkish yoghurt too

[@_marwan_]

Well he isn't Turkish 😂 he is Kurdish

[@mirvan5478]

He Kurdish he don’t need to be proud of invader’s country

[@YasirAlsaidi]

The music though!

[@MyWalk3296]

Love him more please 💞

[@JL-mn9on]

choboni zero sugar is amazing

[@ckmuzi]

Bro the yogurt ain’t Greek that’s just a marketing tactic the yogurt is Turkish

[@bbyldrm]

A man studied in Turkey selling Turkish yogurt as Greek :s even the word is derived from Turkish

[@bensonkaile9606]

haha very fun

[@_marwan_]

Kurdish*

[@YasinDemir-g1j]

My village is near to the village ın which he was born and grown up. I can definitly say that he is right that here ın this region It's not diffucult to come by with delicousmilky Products.

[@kurdistan2000]

Kurdistan is proud of you!

[@morbidsearch]

Broke: More (clap) female (clap) CEOs Woke: More (clap) immigrant (clap) CEOs

[@raphaelsanchez2611]

Chobani is the best recipe from Home

[@Sn_SS95]

Türk yoğurdu desen bu kadar üzmezdin bizi

[@kaansener]

Çok kötü tadı var Türkiye’deki en kötü yoğurttan bile kötü Yunanlılara itelemiş işte kötü yoğurdu

[@noisno.6512]

Study: Mold in Chobani Outbreak Poses Serious Threat

[@piecesofme8531]

Link to study please

[@fizkall]

Yogurt is Turkish, the Greeks stole it from us, and its name is Turkish .

[@MrAlaister]

You know? No, i don’t.

[@brcerby]

The map in the video that shows Türkiye is not Türkiye! What do you try to do? Who did it ? Seach for a Türkiye map you ll see it. Correct this mistake please!

[@cabininthewoods7326]

A government loan, and now he's a billionaire.

[@BlingtingSam]

A Turk guy selling mideastern ancient yogurt under the Greek moniker without considering that Greeks stole/copied a lot of things from math to food.

[@_marwan_]

Kurdish*

[@CM30-e1q]

Nice story but with all respect she said nothing new, it's all from Wikipedia and she has a bad oratory with the "Humm" "like" "you know". Anyway, Hamdi built a really good company! And Chobani's products are amazing

[@BerkoEdits]

Yoghurt is Turkish, not Greek.

[@jaym9846]

Chobani is lightly and fluffy. Fage is rich and thick. Both are making me fat.

[@apakansaja8505]

Chobani shud bring back American manufacturing from China to America.

[@justforgitsandshiggles5405]

Philanthropy: helping invaders move into the country whose name you use to make a fortune.

[@yasinov1256]

Yogurt is a turkish word and a turkish thing, it’s called greek yogurt just for marketing

[@alpborakirte801]

Farklıymış galiba. Daha çok bizim meyveli yoğurtlarımız gibi şekerli kremamsı

[@TrulyGodsSon]

Pretty wild a citizen of turkey applied for a SBA loan for over $700k and got it.

[@alSta1]

Yea it's a.ss backwards

[@bostonluyasar7045]

by rebranding the turkish yogurt as greek yogurt

[@OttomanKiller]

did you make yogurt in the steppes of mongolia re?

[@funekamadaza6275]

I'm Prosper Madaza Nthate

[@nightowlinsesh]

Lost 90lbs off this stuff lmao

[@onderxozalp]

How come a turkish man produces greek yogurt?a turkish reporter deniz cam says greek yogurt.it is not greek yogurt.yogurt is turkush.you can say just yogurt.unbllevable.

[@onderxozalp]

@@peacekeeper6582 then why does he has an turkish id card and passpot.its not polirical debate.its literatual fact.some people could think that there is a country called kurdistan.

[@onderxozalp]

ok.

[@SD-ft5xj]

@@peacekeeper6582 Turkish is a nationality meaning the citizen of Turkey. Turkey is a multiethnic state. His ethnicity is Kurdish but his nationality is Turkish.

[@SD-ft5xj]

@@peacekeeper6582that’s whataboutism. He is a citizen of turkey, he is turkish of kurdish descent.

[@SD-ft5xj]

@@peacekeeper6582 i said that he is Kurdish myself? Lol. He is a citizen of Turkey + Turkish is a nationality and citizens of 🇹🇷 are called Turkish. Do you have a single brain cell or something lol

[@primaryendo]

THE GREEK YOGURT REVOLUTION

[@SıradanAadam]

Look at the founder of cobha and where he is from...

[@mirvan5478]

Look at founder of choba ethnicity

[@edizyldz3160]

Can somebody ask him, why he sales turkish yoghurt as greek yoğurt in usa? Even he is turkish. 😂😂😂😂😂 Cheating people to make money.

[@muhendiseksper7026]

İt is Turkish yoğurt 🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🧿🧿🧿💯💯💯

[@mirvan5478]

In your dream it’s Kurdish yogurt, t*rk

[@geniuspharmacist]

But we're supposed to believe that the system is rigged in favor of the "old white man". LMAO 🤣😂

[@chickemtruck9500]

Lets go Brandon

[@argarg6203]

1st papi

[@tommyjohansen1887]

It's snot in a cup.

[@aaliyahetc.6687]

delicious

[@piecesofme8531]

Hater

[@mikeriley3556]

biji Kurdistan

[@renatobaritone8578]

Here’s another Turk denying his origins. I say Turk because this guy is Kurdish but raised in Turkey. He put a shepherd on the yogurt brand. It’s from the word ‘çoban’ which means shepherd. Anyway, why Greek yogurt? If I said Turkish yogurt in America, it wouldn’t work, so he added a lot of value with Greek yogurt. Pity