Ernst & Young names Chobani’s Ulukaya 2013 World Entrepreneur of the Year

NEW BERLIN — Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of Chobani, Inc., the top-selling Greek yogurt brand in the U.S., was named the 2013 World Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young LLP last weekend. Ulukaya was chosen from a group of more than 50 country winners from around the world for the honor.

“I am deeply honored to receive this award from Ernst & Young and in the company of such amazing fellow business leaders from around the world. What began as just my personal commitment to make delicious and nutritious Greek yogurt accessible to everyone has turned into a 3,000-person-strong company serving three markets around the world,” Ulukaya said in a news release.

He received the prize on June 8 at a ceremony in Monte Carlo.

Ernst & Young started its Entrepreneur of the Year program 27 years ago to recognize the world’s most successful and innovative entrepreneurs. Ernst & Young is a global provider of assurance, tax, transaction, and advisory services. It employs 167,000 people worldwide.

Ulukaya won the World Entrepreneur of the Year award just eight months after Ernst & Young named him its 2012 U.S. Entrepreneur of the Year.

“These high-growth companies are thinking differently and disrupting the norm to create entirely new industries and categories. We are particularly excited to see this year’s World Entrepreneur of the Year winner from the U.S. — innovating an entire product category and propelling economic and job growth here in the states as well as abroad,” Bryan Pearce, Americas director, Entrepreneur of the Year, Ernst & Young said in the release.

 Ulukaya started Chobani in Chenango County in 2005, after leaving his family’s dairy business to move to the U.S. to learn English. The company’s first order shipped in 2007. Since then, Chobani’s annual sales have increased to $1 billion in 2012, according to the release. Last year, Chobani expanded to Twin Falls, Idaho, and it is the largest yogurt plant in the world; Chobani products are available nationwide, and in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Chobani says it uses milk from local-area farms and supplies 10 percent of its annual profits to charities worldwide through the Shepherd’s Gift Foundation. Its products are kosher-certified and offer double the amount of protein per serving of regular yogurt.

 “I look forward to our next 3,000 employees and sharing our food philosophy with even more consumers as we expand into new markets,” Ulukaya said in the release.