From Cheese Farmer to Billionaire: The Story of Hamdi Ulukaya

This Turkish immigrant went from producing cheese on his family farm to building a company worth $2.1 billion.

I love an immigrant success story… pic.twitter.com/Iv0FzgJKlk

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

Hamdi Ulukaya was born in 1972 in eastern Turkey.

He was raised by a family of sheep farmers and learned how to make yogurt and cheese at an early age.

Yogurt would become a recurring theme in his life.

But he wouldn’t realize this until later…

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

In 1994 Ulukaya moved to the US, where he’d pursue a master’s degree.

As he explored a new life in the states, there was one thing on his mind:

Cheese.

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

Two years later, Ulukaya received a visit from his father.

They spent their time together, hitting the town and sampling cheese.

But there was a problem…

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

Hamdi’s dad wasn’t impressed by the local cheese.

And after some back and forth, he convinced Hamdi to bring the family’s cheese to the US.

It wasn’t easy…

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

By 2002 Hamdi started a small factory, imported his family’s cheese, and sold it locally.

But it didn’t work…

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

The cheese was great, but the demand wasn’t there.

No one seemed to care about Hamdi’s cheese outside of a few Greek restaurants.

He almost gave up.

Then something interesting happened.

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

In 2005, he saw this:

A piece of junk mail advertising an abandoned yogurt and cheese factory owned by Kraft.

So the next day he went to check it out.

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

In business, it’s essential to know why the owner is selling.

Kraft was heading in a different direction.

1) They were leaving the yogurt business.

2) The factory sat vacant for years.

3) The building was over 80 years old.

For Hamdi, this was a good deal.

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

The deal was under $1 million and everything in the factory still worked.

He just needed a team to get the ball rolling.

So he got an SBA loan for $800k and bought the factory.

It was an uphill battle from there…

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

Something was wrong with the factory he bought… it was missing a strainer.

After months of searching, he drove to Wisconsin to buy one for $50k.

It was on that trip that he came up with the name Chobani.

Chobani in Turkish means shepherd: a perfect homage to his family.

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

It took a few years for Ulukaya to perfect his yogurt.

It needed to be sweeter than Turkish yogurt but healthier than American yogurt.

To do this, he made some hard choices…

—-

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

Ingredients with more protein and less fat
Better fruit incorporation
Simple packaging

In 2007 Chobani was officially launched.

To make the most of his new venture Hamdi did a few things…
—-

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

Instead of going to local Greek restaurants, he went straight to big grocers.

And instead of paying cash to get on shelves, he paid in yogurt.

—

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

By year two, Chobani was generating eight figures in sales.

And in year five, he hit $1 billion.

—

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

What makes yogurt such a unique market?

In 2020 the global greek yogurt market was $27.4 billion.

There has been little innovation in Greek Yogurt in decades and the market is HUGE.

—-

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

Why I appreciate Hamdi’s success:

- He found a problem and came up with a solution
- He strategically used an SBA loan
- He iterated and tested over the years before launching

—-----

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

A random interesting learning about Hamdi:

He doesn’t know his exact birth date because his family was traversing the mountains when he was born.

America is an amazing place where a poor shepherd can come and create generational wealth from nothing…

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023

If you enjoy learning about cool business stories like Chobani, then:

1. RT the first tweet so your audience can see it too

2. Follow me here on Twitter at @SievaKozinsky

3. For deep dives, sign-up for my newsletter, The Business Academy, at https://t.co/MKhz7dYZUa

— Sieva Kozinsky (@SievaKozinsky) March 14, 2023