Chobani CEO Honored as Disruptive Innovator
Chobani President, Founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya was recognized at the fourth annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards as a catalyst for change in the packaged goods industry.
In 2005, Ulukaya, a Turkish immigrant, bought an old Kraft dairy plant that was being shuttered. He immediately hired four employees who had lost their jobs when Kraft closed its doors, and later that year brought family friend and Master Yogurt Maker, Mustafa Dogan, to Central New York from Turkey to help craft the recipe for Chobani.
In just five short years, Ulukaya's steadfast focus to make high quality yogurt, made with only natural ingredients, affordable and accessible to everyone — combined with his entrepreneurial spirit and ability to catalyze a consumer-led movement — has grown Chobani (www.chobani.com) into a $1 billion business. Dubbed “the Steve Jobs of yogurt” by Forbes, Ulukaya also founded Chobani’s Shepherd’s Gift Foundation to donate 10 percent of company profits to organizations worldwide.
In 2005, Ulukaya, a Turkish immigrant, bought an old Kraft dairy plant that was being shuttered. He immediately hired four employees who had lost their jobs when Kraft closed its doors, and later that year brought family friend and Master Yogurt Maker, Mustafa Dogan, to Central New York from Turkey to help craft the recipe for Chobani.
In just five short years, Ulukaya's steadfast focus to make high quality yogurt, made with only natural ingredients, affordable and accessible to everyone — combined with his entrepreneurial spirit and ability to catalyze a consumer-led movement — has grown Chobani (www.chobani.com) into a $1 billion business. Dubbed “the Steve Jobs of yogurt” by Forbes, Ulukaya also founded Chobani’s Shepherd’s Gift Foundation to donate 10 percent of company profits to organizations worldwide.
Today, as the No. 1 selling Greek Yogurt brand in America, Chobani continues to transform the yogurt aisle using consumer insights, with recent product innovations that take yogurt beyond breakfast, like Chobani Bite, Chobani Champions Tubes for kids and Chobani Flip.
"Innovation isn't all about technology. At its core, innovation is about change — being bold enough to challenge the simplest idea and looking for ways to do it better," says Ulukaya. "Together, this group of honorees represents that change, and I'm honored to share in this celebration of innovating and disrupting."
"Innovation isn't all about technology. At its core, innovation is about change — being bold enough to challenge the simplest idea and looking for ways to do it better," says Ulukaya. "Together, this group of honorees represents that change, and I'm honored to share in this celebration of innovating and disrupting."
The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), in association with the Disruptor Foundation and Harvard Business School Professor Clay Christensen (a.k.a. father of Disruptive Innovation Theory) honored innovators, pioneers and game-changers across various disciplines and domains at the fourth annual awards ceremony, hosted by NYU Stern School of Business on April 26, 2013. The ceremony showcased the applications of and advancements in disruptive innovation theory that have spread far beyond the original technological and industrial realms.
Visit www.tribecadisruptiveinnovationawards.com for a full list of award winners, including legendary choreographer Twyla Tharp; I F*cking Love Science/Science is Awesome Creator Elise Andrew; Garrett Camp, Founder, StumbleUpon and Uber; Urban Dictionary Creator Aaron Peckham; and Psy, South Korean Artist/Global Phenomenon.
Chobani's most recent honor confirms that the company is on an award-winning roll thanks to its dedication to innovation. Other recent recognitions include.
Chobani's most recent honor confirms that the company is on an award-winning roll thanks to its dedication to innovation. Other recent recognitions include.
- Food Engineering‘s Plant of the Year Award for Chobani's state-of-the-art facility in Twin Falls, Idahom which was built in just 326 days following a $450 million investment and is the largest yogurt manufacturing facility in the world
- CGT's 2012 Most Innovative Company Award for continually driving growth through product and/or process innovation in 2011/2012.