Hamdi Ulukay Executive Summary

Hamdi Ulukaya, an immigrant from Turkey, effectively used his extensive technical, leadership and analytical skills to enhance the development of Chobani. When Ulukaya immigrated to New York in 1994, he found an opportunity to create a successful yogurt empire. This did not stem from the mere 3,000 dollars he had originally started with when he came to learn English and business here in the United States. His yogurt franchise came to be by his ability to employ and utilize various managerial skills of business management; his technical expertise, his analytical skills, and his conceptual skills. These abilities were what he applied to create the yogurt powerhouse we see in Chobani today. When he came to New York, he never thought about making

As he mentions, he was raised with his mother making delicious yogurt dishes and drinks for meals, as yogurt is a prominent source of the Turkish diet. One of the precursors for the need of managerial technical expertise is the “specialized knowledge and training required to perform jobs related to their area of management” (Ferrell 195) As a manger, Ulukaya has a hands on, real life experience when it comes to understanding the work required in the creation and process surrounding yogurt products. As a manager of his own yogurt company, the knowledge surrounding the products he produces, and sells is extremely

Chobani first started by buying a yogurt plant from Kraft in South Edmeston, New York. Before buying it, he visualized the market needs for yogurt and he thought about the risk of buying it. This has helped to bolster his leadership skills as well. As a leader, the technical and analytical skills which he acquired were supplemental to his many strengths as a leader. Taking a more hands on approach to the ways in which he runs his company, Ulukaya often times works on the production floor. He goes as far as to test many of the batches of the yogurt that is produced himself. Ulukaya eats around 6 of his Chobani yogurt cups in one day; “On a tasting day at a plant, he typically consumes five pounds of yogurt” (Pannet, WSJ) Ulukaya puts in the effort to demonstrate to his workers and to consumers the level of consistency that must be put into creating a wholesome product such as his Chobani yogurts. He strives to make the yogurt seem as close to his mother’s recipe as he possibly can, so he regulates and oversees the process of many batches when he goes to visit. Ulukaya strong sense of analytical skills factored into his success. In the end, Chobani became a billion-dollar industry generating a billion a year, and his skills as a manager, which he continues to show is a large factor for this