Business can be a force for good.
That’s always been what Hamdi Ulukaya, our founder and global CEO, has believed in. That a company can strengthen communities. That it can change people’s lives for the better. It’s what first inspired Hamdi to take out a loan in 2005, buy an old yogurt plant in upstate New York and bring together a small group of passionate people to make the authentic, wholesome yogurt he remembered from his childhood.
He called the company Chobani.
A name inspired by the Turkish word for ‘shepherd’. Infused with the hard-working, care-giving spirit of the mountain farmer, and enriched by the quality of the yogurt he made – yogurt that was Delicious, Nutritious, Natural and Accessible (the same DNNA philosophy we craft all our products with today).