Chobani founder honored at entrepreneur awards

NORWICH — Chobani, Inc. founder Hamdi Ulukaya is the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year for 2012.

The award encourages entrepreneurial activity and recognizes leaders and visionaries who demonstrate innovation, financial success, and personal commitment as they create and build businesses, according to Ernst & Young.

Ulukaya received his award at the Entrepreneur Of The Year gala in Palm Springs, Calif., where awards were also presented in 10 additional categories. A panel of judges selected the winners from 244 regional award recipients. Ulukaya also took top honors in the retail and consumer products category.

“Entrepreneurs continue to be a driving force in leading the economic recovery,” Bryan Pearce, Americas director for the awards, said in a release. “Their ability to see around corners and find new, better ways of doing things makes them an engine of growth. Ulukaya’s ability to not only see an opportunity in the market, but to reinvigorate and innovate an entire product category is inspiring.”

Ulukaya began his yogurt business in 2005 when he purchased a former Kraft yogurt plant in New Berlin. In 2007, he launched the Chobani brand with five former Kraft employees on board.

Today, Chobani is close to reaching $1 billion in sales, Ulukaya said during his award acceptance speech, and employs about 2,000 people in New York.

Since launching Chobani, the company has expanded to include Chobani Champions, a line of Greek yogurt for kids, and is building a new 900,000-square-foot plant in Idaho which will employ about 400 people to start. The company acquired Bead Foods in Australia in 2011, expanding the company’s reach overseas, and is planning to move into Canada as well.

Founded and produced by accounting firm Ernst & Young, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored by SAP America and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Contact DeLore at tdelore@tgbbj.com