Hamdi Ulukaya thinks entrepreneurs need to flip the “CEO playbook” that has dominated business for decades. “What is this all about?” asks the founder of the blockbuster Chobani yogurt brand in a recent TED Talk.
His answer: “Corporate America says it’s about profits. Mainstream business says it’s about money. The CEO playbook says it’s about shareholders. And so much is sacrificed for it – it’s factories, communities, jobs.”
Ulukaya cites his own thriving business as evidence that the traditional way is not the only way – and argues that entrepreneurial leaders need to think about their roles in new ways. Or as he boldly declares: “It’s time to admit that the playbook that has guided CEOs for the last 40 years is broken.”
From the Mountains of Turkey to America’s Favorite Yogurt
Ulukaya’s company Chobani derives its name from the Turkish word çoban, meaning shepherd. Ulukaya grew up in the mountainous regions of eastern Turkey, often listening to shepherds’ stories as a child. His parents were dairy producers.
Ulukaya moved to the US as a young adult to study English and business. When his father came to visit, he suggested that his son make cheese, as he noticed a lack of quality cheese in America. So in 2002, Ulukaya opened a small cheese company called Euphrates – its name derived from the legendary river that flows near Ulukaya’s childhood hometown.
Ulukaya admits that he “really hated business.” He even dropped out of the business program he attended in New York before graduating. Then he saw a for-sale flyer advertising an old yogurt factory that was shutting down. Ulukaya threw the flyer in the trash, before deciding on a whim to visit the factory.
How an Old Factory Spurred Hamdi Ulukaya’s Success
Kraft Foods, one of the largest food brands in America, had decided to close and sell their 85-year-old yogurt factory. Profits had dropped. The walls were peeling. And the plant’s 55 employees had little hope to find new work in a dying factory town.
This is what Ulukaya noticed first: the faces of 55 people with uncertain futures. Despite warnings from his attorney, Ulukaya risked everything to invest in the plant. He purchased the factory using loans and launched a new business with four of the original employees.
By 2012, Chobani had re-employed all those original 55 employees… and a thousand more. The company reached $1 billion in annual sales and had become the best-selling yogurt in America. The town – once a dying, impoverished place – thrived again. Shortly after, Chobani opened a second branch in Twin Falls, Idaho, helping to reduce the local unemployment rate from 6.3% to 2.4%.
In 2016, the company gave 10% of its share to its employees, 30% of which are immigrants and refugees. The same year, Chobani opened a food incubator for entrepreneurs. In 2017, it invested $20 million to expand activities in sustainability and research and development.
Hamdi Ulukaya Insists It’s Time to Change the “CEO Playbook”
“I’m not a businessman – I don’t come from that tradition,” says Ulukaya. But there is no denying that he has an entrepreneurial genius – and that his unorthodox corporate approach has paid dividends, both financial and social.
At the core of his corporate conduct, Ulukaya focuses on people: employees, community members, and consumers.
“Spreadsheets are lazy: they don’t tell you about people, they don’t tell you about communities,
he says. “But unfortunately, this is how too many decisions are made today.”
