Hamdi Ulukaya

Quick Facts

Full Name	Hamdi Ulukaya
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Date Of Birth	Oct 26, 1972(1972-10-26)
Age	52
Birthplace	Erzincan
Country	Turkey
Birth City	Erzincan
Horoscope	Scorpio

Hamdi Ulukaya Biography

Hamdi Ulukaya is one of the most popular and richest Entrepreneur who was born on October 26, 1972 in Erzincan, Erzincan, Turkey.

Born to a dairy-farming family in 1972 in Erzincan, a small village in Turkey, Ulukaya immigrated as a young man to the U.S. in 1994 to study English and to take a few business courses. In an interview with CNN Money, Ulukaya said that he was very serious about Kurdish rights and left Turkey due to the Turkish state’s oppression of its Kurdish minority group. In 2002, he started a modest feta-cheese factory on the advice of his father.

Hamdi Ulukaya (born c. 26 October 1972) is a Kurdish billionaire businessman and philanthropist, based in the United States. Ulukaya is the owner, founder, chairman, and CEO of Chobani, the #1-selling strained yogurt (Greek-style) brand in the US. He established production facilities first in upstate New York, and since then has expanded. According to Forbes, his net worth as of June 2019 is US$2.0 billion. On April 26, 2016, Ulukaya announced to his employees that he would be giving them 10% of the shares in Chobani.

Hamdi Ulukaya Net Worth

Hamdi Ulukaya is one of the richest Entrepreneur from Turkey. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Hamdi Ulukaya 's net worth 2 billion USD (2020). (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

Hamdi Ulukaya was born in 1972 to a Kurdish family in Turkey. His family owned and operated a sheep, goat, and dairy farm near the Euphrates River in İliç, Erzincan Province, where they made cheese and yogurt. The family often led a seasonally semi-nomadic existence tending and herding their flocks. Ulukaya is uncertain of his exact birth date because he was born during one of the family’s mountain treks, although he uses October 26 as his birthday.

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

Hamdi Ulukaya height Not available right now. Hisham weight Not Known & body measurements will update soon.

Who is Hamdi Ulukaya Dating?

According to our records, Hamdi Ulukaya married to Louise Vongerichten , Ayşe Giray. As of December 1, 2023, Hamdi Ulukaya’s is not dating anyone.

Relationships Record : We have no records of past relationships for Hamdi Ulukaya. You may help us to build the dating records for Hamdi Ulukaya!

His larger success came from taking a major risk: Ulukaya purchased a large, defunct yogurt factory in upstate New York in 2005, in a region that had been the center of a dairy and cheese industry since the mid-nineteenth century. With no prior experience in the yogurt business, he has created a yogurt empire, Chobani, with facilities in several states. It achieved over $1 billion in annual sales in less than five years after launch, becoming the leading yogurt brand in the U.S. by 2011. The popularity of his Greek-style yogurt was associated with rising interest in the protein-rich, low-fat style yogurt; Greek yogurt’s market share in the U.S. rose from less than 1% in 2007 to more than 50% in 2013. Ernst & Young named Ulukaya as the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year in 2013, and Inc. magazine named him one of the most important entrepreneurs of the past decade in 2019.The success of his yogurt empire has made Ulukaya a billionaire; he has developed new employment centers in several regions, adding to the economy of relatively rural areas.

Facts & Trivia

Hisham Ranked on the list of most popular Entrepreneur. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in Turkey. Hamdi Ulukaya celebrates birthday on October 26 of every year.

After BJ’s and Costco began carrying Chobani in 2009, the company doubled its sales every year through 2013. With an eye on Australian and Asian markets, in 2011 Ulukaya acquired Melbourne dairy producer Bead Foods, and began manufacturing and selling Chobani in Australia. In mid 2012, he initiated an $88.5 million expansion for the company, acquiring 100 acres next to its upstate New York facility and building an 80,000-square-foot addition. The expansion was partially funded by $1.5 million in New York State grants for economic development.

What did Hamdi Ulukaya invent?

Ulukaya had the idea to make quality food to feed to his children and sell it on the mass market. Less than five years after purchasing the yogurt factory in 2005, the company achieved over $1 billion in annual sales, according to Bloomberg. By 2011, it became the leading U.S. yogurt brand.

What does Chobani mean in Turkish?

Chobani was founded in 2005 by the Turkish Kurd and businessman Hamdi Ulukaya. He chose the name Chobani as a variation of the modern Turkish word çoban, from Ottoman Turkish چوبان (čobân); itself derived from Persian چوپان (čupân) meaning ‘ shepherd ‘.

How much of Chobani does Hamdi Ulukaya own?

He established production facilities first in upstate New York, and since then has expanded. According to Forbes, his net worth as of June 2019 is $2 billion. On 26 April 2016, Ulukaya announced to his employees that he would be giving them 10% of the shares in Chobani.

Is Hamdi Ulukaya Greek?

Hamdi Ulukaya, known as the yogurt king, 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.

Who invented Greek yogurt?

What Americans know as Greek yogurt is a yogurt with most of the whey strained out, making it thicker. In Greece, it’s called straggisto (which simply translates to strained yogurt). Fage, a company that started in Athens, Greece , was the first to put “Greek” on yogurt labels as a way to describe the product.