Nothing But Good: Chobani Founder Hamdi Ulukaya Named Ernst &
Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012 Retail and Consumer
Products Award Winner and Overall Award Winner
NORWICH, N.Y., Nov. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Hamdi Ulukaya,
Founder of Chobani, has been named the Ernst & Young
National Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012 Retail and
Consumer Products Award winner. Ulukaya was also awarded the
Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012
Overall Award, chosen from a group of 10 separate category
finalists. The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award is
the country's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs.
The award encourages entrepreneurial activity and recognizes
leaders and visionaries who demonstrate innovation, financial
success and personal commitment as they create and build
world-class businesses.
Ulukaya was recognized for bringing together his passion and
entrepreneurial vision to turn a start-up yogurt company into a
catalyst for America's Greek yogurt boom that has since changed the
way U.S. consumers think about and eat yogurt, ultimately
initiating a health revolution. He was honored at the Entrepreneur
Of The Year gala, the culminating event of the Ernst & Young
Strategic Growth Forum® in Palm Springs, Calif. The Forum is the nation's
premier gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies. Awards
were given in nine additional categories. All Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winners were selected by an
independent panel of judges from 244 regional award
recipients.
"Entrepreneurs continue to be a driving force in leading the
economic recovery. Their ability to see around corners and find
new, better ways of doing things makes them an engine of growth,"
said Bryan Pearce, Americas
Director, Entrepreneur Of The Year, Ernst & Young LLP."
Ulukaya's ability to not only see an opportunity in the market, but
to turn that opportunity into a nutritional phenomenon is inspiring
at a time when the news is frequently doom and gloom on market
growth."
Hamdi Ulukaya: a journey of
passion and unparalleled leadership
After leaving his family's dairy business in Turkey to pursue higher education in
the United States, Ulukaya
recognized a gap in America's dairy offerings and the opportunity
to tap a relatively untouched market: Greek yogurt. Instinctively
following his gut, he purchased an old Kraft yogurt plant in 2005
with the goal of bringing superior products to the U.S. market. He
spent his days endlessly perfecting a yogurt recipe that would
eventually, in 2007, come to be known as Chobani, or "shepherd" in
Turkish. Ulukaya worked with his four ex-Kraft employees to hand
package yogurt and fill orders. Seven years later, Ulukaya still
walks the floor every day to oversee operations and prides himself
on finding employees who share his same passion and work ethic.
Grassroots marketing done right
In less than four years, Ulukaya took Chobani's sales from
$50 million to almost $700 million per year. While other competitors
focus largely on mass marketing and TV advertising, Ulukaya has
kept his brand different from the rest. He has instead taken a more
creative, grassroots approach, capitalizing on social media and
word of mouth marketing to build a cult following around the brand.
With almost 600,000 Facebook fans, Chobani prides itself on being
engaged and connected with its growing community.
Nothing But Good: a champion for positive change
Despite rapid expansion of the Chobani brand, Ulukaya sticks by
his company's philosophy: "Nothing But Good." His philanthropic
initiatives have supported more than 50 groups globally. In 2010,
Ulukaya created the Shepherd's Gift Foundation, an independent
501c(3) in honor of his mother. The foundation contributes 10
percent of all Chobani post-tax profits to those working for
positive, long-lasting change.
Ulukaya's also using his vision to expand into new product lines
and grow Chobani's domestic and global footprints. He recently
launched Chobani Champions, the first Greek yogurt for kids.
Ulukaya is also undertaking a major expansion of the current
New York plant and is constructing
a new plant in Idaho that, when
finished, will be the largest yogurt plant in the country. On a
global scale, Ulukaya acquired Bead Foods in Australia in 2011 and is planning to move into
Canada as well.
Ulukaya's hard work, creativity, passion and leadership have
enabled him to be an inspiring global leader. Despite his success,
he will always stay true to his promise to make high quality,
fairly priced products so that everyone can have access to the best
tasting yogurt.
National Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012
Retail and Consumer Products finalists
In addition to Ulukaya, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of
The Year Retail and Consumer Products national finalists were:
Kyle Krause, President and
CEO, Kum & Go, L.C., based in West Des Moines, Iowa, a U.S.-based,
family-owned company that is the 5th largest
privately-held convenience store chain and currently has over 425
stores; David Overton, Chairman
and CEO, The Cheesecake Factory, based in Calabasas Hills, Calif., a small mom-and-pop
restaurant that grew into a national chain with 170 locations that
now leads the industry in sales per restaurant; Andrew Thomas Mack, CEO and Chairman of the
Board, Teavana Holdings, Inc., based in Atlanta, Ga., the first national,
multi-channel retailer focused on the fastest growing segment in
the tea industry, specialty loose teas.
Overall finalist awards were also given in the following nine
categories: Media, Entertainment and Communications; Real Estate,
Construction and Lodging; Distribution and Manufacturing; Emerging;
Energy, Cleantech and Natural Resources; Financial Services; Life
Sciences; Services; and Technology.
Video and photos
To view video clips of all of the Entrepreneur Of The Year
winners, please visit ey.com/us/eoy. Photos of the winners are also
available by request.
Sponsors
Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur
Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored in the United States by SAP America and the Ewing
Marion Kauffman Foundation.
About Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur Of The Year
Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most
prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award
makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial
activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution
of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and
achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind,
Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and
leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing
them through regional, national and global awards programs in more
than 140 cities in 50 countries.
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practice
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SOURCE Ernst & Young