Small Town, Big Profit;

 
"For me, it proves the need for small businesses. Every small business will give you an entrepreneurial way of looking at things. I guarantee you that for every plant that closes, if you gave it to one small-business person in that community, he or she would find a way to make it work. The small-business attitude is you always find a way to make it work."-Hamdi Ulukaya

In the past few years, yogurt popularity has swept across the nation. People have been fascinated with the giant health hype associated with the yogurt world. There are nutrients and pro-biotics in every bite, and health nuts love that! There are millions of different types and flavors of yogurt. The most recent yogurt craze was Greek yogurt. “Greek” yogurt doesn’t mean that it came from Greece. It was developed in the central Mediterranean area, but most commonly found in Greece. “Greek” yogurt just refers to the straining process used in the making of yogurt. Greek yogurt is thicker than normal yogurt, due to the fact that it uses three times more milk and boil off almost all of the water. This creates a rich taste, a texture similar to sour cream and practically zero fat content. The reason that Greek yogurt comes back to the small town level is a little town called New Berlin, NY.

In 2005 there was a Kraft factory plant that was being shut down. Workers were being laid off and the community was crumbling. Then a man names Hamdi Ulukaya, came along and picked up the pieces of this fallen factory. Mr. Ulukaya was born and raised in Turkey. He was born and raised on a cow and sheep farm raising animals and making yogurt and cheese. Mr. Ulukaya came to the United States in 2004 with the intent to learn English and attend a business school. This didn’t work out as planned, seeing as how he quickly dropped out of school. He decided to start up a small cheese manufacturing business through advice from his father, in saying “They don’t have very good cheese there.” He had some moderate success in this business pursuit of making and manufacturing feta cheese. It was then, in 2005, that he stumbled across the ad for a yogurt manufacturing plant, previously owned by Kraft foods. Despite the advice from his friends, he once again pursued this business venture with lack of any real resources and education.

Needless to say, it was a huge success.

Mr. Ulukaya bought the plant. He hired a few of the workers that were let go from the previous factory, along with a “yogurt master” (a family friend from Turkey). They all set to work on coming up with their perfect dream product; Chobani Yogurt. This 18 month long venture soon paid off. They launched their perfected product of Greek yogurt in 2007. Selling mostly to small grocer stores around New York, they had no idea of how instant it would become a hit. They were soon requested to distribute their product to larger well-known stores like BJ’s and Sam’s Club. With the increase in demand, the factory began hiring and continued to produce. This demand grew and grew until they distributed nationally.

Chobani’s factory now employs over 1,200 people in the upstate area. They have roughly$1 billion dollar revenue in annual sales, which continues to grow. Chobani ships anywhere from 1.5-1.7 million cases of yogurt to grocery stores across America every week. Success for Mr. Ulukaya, some might say, was pure luck: being in the right place with the right idea at the right time. However, this success all took place in a small town; A town that most would overlook and never hear about. Not only is his business in a rural town, but he supports and invests in small business and contributes to the business cycle.