"Hamdi Ulukaya was raised along the Euphrates River on a mountain in Eastern Turkey as the son of a shepherd, raising sheep and goats. After moving to the United States, he founded Chobani in 2005 with the mission and vision of making high-quality food more accessible.

Five years after selling the first cup of yogurt, Chobani was a billion-dollar brand, and today is the No. 1 yogurt brand in the U.S. The company has since expanded to an innovative modern food portfolio, adding coffee creamers and oat milk. In 2023, Chobani acquired La Colombe, a leading coffee roaster with a shared commitment to quality, craftmanship, and impact. As a result, the company began selling cold pressed espresso and lattes on tap at cafés across the country, as well as Ready to Drink (RTD) coffee beverages at retail. In 2025, Chobani acquired Daily Harvest, a mission driven company making it easier for people to eat more sustainably-grown fruits and vegetables.

As a leader in the food and beverage industry, Ulukaya built Chobani on the foundation that it would do well by doing good. He is well-known for his employee-first policies, including instituting innovative profit-sharing and paid parental leave programs for Chobani’s 3,000-plus employees, and implementing competitive hourly wage increases well above the federal rate. He has also become a leading voice in the movement to hire refugees, having discovered through his own experience hiring them that “the minute a refugee gets a job is the minute they stop being a refugee.”

Ulukaya also founded Tent Partnership for Refugees in 2016, a foundation that mobilizes the business community to connect refugees to work."