# Chobani: Hamdi Ulukaya (2022)

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2025-07-14
- Length: 1h 28m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-07-14-chobani-hamdi-ulukaya-2022

## Summary

Hamdi Ulukaya, founder of Chobani, recounts buying an abandoned yogurt factory for $700,000 in 2005 and scaling it into a billion-dollar brand by introducing Greek-style yogurt to the U.S. market. He details the operational struggles of early production, including sourcing centrifuges and packaging, and the rapid growth that led to a 2013 mold recall and a near-bankruptcy crisis. Ulukaya explains his decision to reject private equity buyout offers to maintain control, his hiring of refugees, and the eventual restructuring with TPG and a professional CEO to manage the company's enterprise-level expansion.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-07-14-chobani-hamdi-ulukaya-2022#t=0) Introduction: Hamdi Ulukaya and Chobani's Origin
- [4:42](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-07-14-chobani-hamdi-ulukaya-2022#t=282) Early Life in Turkey and Immigration to the U.S.
- [20:32](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-07-14-chobani-hamdi-ulukaya-2022#t=1232) Starting Euphrates Cheese and Learning the Business
- [36:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-07-14-chobani-hamdi-ulukaya-2022#t=2196) Buying the Abandoned Yogurt Factory for $700,000
- [50:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-07-14-chobani-hamdi-ulukaya-2022#t=3022) Product Design: Centrifuges, Packaging, and Greek Yogurt Process
- [56:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-07-14-chobani-hamdi-ulukaya-2022#t=3379) Retail Strategy: ShopRite Listing Fees and Rapid Growth
- [1:05:49](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-07-14-chobani-hamdi-ulukaya-2022#t=3949) Scaling Production and Hiring Refugees
- [1:15:54](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-07-14-chobani-hamdi-ulukaya-2022#t=4554) The 2013 Mold Recall and Near-Bankruptcy Crisis
- [1:22:58](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-07-14-chobani-hamdi-ulukaya-2022#t=4978) Leadership Transition, TPG Investment, and Company Values

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Quality & yield](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/quality-and-yield)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies, companies scaling up, large enterprises

## Mentioned

- Chobani (company)
- Euphrates (company)
- ShopRite (company)
- Craft (company)
- TPG (company)
- Loch Colombe (company)
- Daily Harvest (company)
- Danone (company)
- General Mills (company)
- Whole Foods (company)
- Costco (company)
- Key Bank (company)
- US Bank (company)
- SBA (other)
- QuickBooks (tool)

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- [Founder Feature: Ehime Eigbe-Akindele of Sweet Kiwi](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-02-07-founder-feature-ehime-eigbe-akindele-of-sweet-kiwi) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [Founder Feature: Charlie Gentry of TruJoy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2024-10-25-founder-feature-charlie-gentry-of-trujoy) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
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- [#95 GT Dave - Founder & CEO of GT’s Living Foods: 25+ years of building the kombucha industry one batch at a time](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2023-06-20-95-gt-dave-founder-ceo-of-gts-living-foods-25-years-of-building-the-kombucha-ind) (The Startup CPG Podcast)

## Citing this page

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