The character arc of Hamdi Ulukaya
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born in 1972 to a Kurdish dairy farming family in Iliç, a village in Erzincan, Turkey, one of seven children, on a farm that made its own cheese and yogurt. Between then and now sit a semi-nomadic childhood herding flocks, a birth date he does not know and had to choose, a move to the United States in 1994, a job on an upstate farm, a father who told him to import the family feta, a wholesale cheese plant in 2002 that barely broke even after two years, a flier for a closed yogurt factory he threw away and then acted on in 2005, a recipe developed over nearly two years, and a billion dollars in annual sales. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Hamdi Ulukaya?
He threw the flier away. Then he bought the factory.
He was born to a Kurdish dairy farming family in a small village in eastern Turkey, one of seven children, on a farm near the Euphrates that kept sheep and goats and made its own cheese and yogurt. The family often lived semi-nomadically, moving with the flocks through the seasons. He does not know his exact birth date, because he was born during one of those mountain treks, and he uses 26 October.
In 1994, at twenty one, he moved to the United States to study English and, by his own account, to get away from the treatment of his community at home. He ended up taking a job on an upstate farm. When his father visited and tasted the local feta, he was unimpressed, and told his son to import the family's cheese from Turkey instead. It sold. So in 2002 he opened a small wholesale feta plant of his own in Johnstown, New York. Two years in, it had just about broken even.
In 2005 a flier arrived advertising a large defunct yogurt factory in upstate New York. He threw it away. Then he went back for it, and bought the place. He hired a handful of the people the previous owner had let go, brought a yogurt master over from Turkey, and the two of them spent nearly two years developing a recipe.
He could not afford advertising, so he spent the money on the product instead: a distinctive bowl-shaped pot to make it recognisable on a shelf, and in-store samples so people could taste it and buy it in the same minute. A sample truck gave away a hundred and fifty thousand full-size pots in the first year. When customers started ringing in to say they liked it, his small team went out and talked to them directly on blogs and social media, because that was free.
Two large retailers picked it up in 2009 and sales doubled every year to 2013. In December 2012 he opened the world's largest yogurt factory, a four hundred and fifty million dollar plant in Idaho, and the same year the company passed a billion dollars in annual sales and became the world's leading yogurt brand. He was named World Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013, bought a coffee roaster in 2015 and a brewery in 2023, and was appointed an advocate for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in July 2022. He says higher wages for employees lead to greater corporate success.
The moments
Hamdi Ulukaya's timeline.
The 1970s
A birthday he chose
Everyday. Nobody wrote the day down, so he picked one.
Moving with the flocks
Everyday, and it changed his direction. Cheese and yogurt made by hand, and a house that moved.
The 1990s
He leaves for America
Milestone, and it changed everything. Twenty one years old, a new language, and no way back for a while.
A job on a farm
Everyday. The same work as home, in a different country.
The 2000s
His father tastes the cheese
Milestone, and it changed everything. A father tries the local feta and is unimpressed.
A small cheese plant
Milestone, and it changed his direction. His own plant, named after the river the farm sat on.
Two years, barely breaking even
Setback, and it changed everything. Two years of work, and it had made nothing.
Leave the flier in the bin, or buy the factory
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: buy it, taken, or stay with the cheese. The company passed a billion dollars in annual sales by 2012 and became the world's leading yogurt brand.
The flier he threw away
Milestone, and it changed everything. In the bin, then out of the bin, then signed for.
He rehires the people let go
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The first people he hired were the ones who had just lost the job.
Two years on a recipe
Milestone, and it changed everything. Two years before there was anything to sell.
No advertising, so samples
Milestone, and it changed everything. A hundred and fifty thousand pots given away, because he could not buy adverts.
Two retailers say yes
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Two shelves, and then it doubled every year for four years.
The 2010s
The world's largest yogurt factory
Milestone, and it changed everything. Seven years from a closed factory to the biggest one in the world.
World Entrepreneur of the Year
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Named the best in the world at it.
A coffee roaster, then a brewery
Milestone. Two more old businesses, bought and restarted.
The 2020s
An advocate at the United Nations
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A farm boy from Erzincan, advocating at the United Nations.
A man who does not know what day he was born opened the biggest yogurt factory in the world. What he set moving is a line that begins with a flier in a bin, and the reminder that the opportunity you dismissed is sometimes still there the next morning if you go back for it.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His starts on a farm with no fixed address and a birthday he had to pick. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Hamdi Ulukaya: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Hamdi Ulukaya's character arc?
Why does Hamdi Ulukaya not know his birthday?
How did Hamdi Ulukaya start Chobani?
How did Hamdi Ulukaya market a product with no budget?
What did Hamdi Ulukaya do before yogurt?
What does Hamdi Ulukaya say about wages?
Where does this timeline of Hamdi Ulukaya's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Hamdi Ulukaya, English Wikipedia biography.
- Company records for the 2002 feta plant, the 2005 factory purchase, the Idaho plant opened in December 2012 and the billion dollars in annual sales.
- Award records for the Ernst and Young World Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013 and the United Nations appointment in July 2022.
- His birth date is one he uses rather than one recorded, because he was born during a family mountain trek.
- The politics behind his 1994 departure from Turkey are in the record and are deliberately not drawn here.