How a Turkish Immigrant Made a Billion Dollars in Eight Years by Selling…Yogurt

1. How a Turkish Immigrant Made a Billion Dollars in Eight Years by Selling…Yogurt By: Amanda Elkins Natalie Spies Sue Han Luke Martin

2. Chobani: The New Yogurt Craze • Let’s take a closer look at the product: Chobani • Greek yogurt is “strained” yogurt. • It takes about 3 cups of milk to make 1 cup of Chobani. • It is high in protein which makes it very filling, and contains little to no fat. • Chobani also has no preservatives in it. • Overall, Greek yogurt now accounts for 36% of the $6.5 billion in total US yogurt sales (it is $2.34 billion industry); before Chobani, Greek yogurt accounted for 2% of the industry

3. Hamdi Ulukaya: “The Turkish King of Greek Yogurt” • Ulukaya, a Turkish immigrant, did farm work while he attended classes at State University of New York at Albany. • In school, he started his own feta cheese company for restaurants and food distributors (still owns today) • In August 2005, he bought an old KRAFT food plant and he hired 5 people: • 4 ex-KRAFT employees • 1 yogurt maker from Turkey

4. Why is this relevant? • We will analyze 3 parts of what Ulukaya and his company, Chobani, stand for: • Goal-Setting • Leadership • Organizational Culture

5. Goal Setting: Ch. 6 Kyle O’Brien and Ulukaya set a goal of selling 20,000 cases of Chobani a week by the end of 36 months of business. • Specific • Measurable: 20,000 cases of yogurt • Attainable • Realistic • Time bound: 36 months

6. Leadership: Ch. 12 • Ulukaya started out as a manager and became a leader • Changed the yogurt industry • Autocratic leadership style: uses strong, directive actions to control the rules, regulations, activities, and relationships in the work environment • Also Democratic leadership style: uses interaction and collaboration with followers to direct the work and work environment • Self efficacy (Ch. 2) feeds into his leadership ability “Workers offer hugs and handshakes while calling out ‘Hamdi,’ and ‘Boss.’”

7. Organizational Culture: Ch. 16 • Organizational culture: A pattern of basic assumptions that are considered valid and that are taught to new members as the way to perceive, think, and feel in the organization. • Strong culture: Organizational culture with a consensus on the values that drive the company

8. Organizational Culture: Ch. 16 “He told [his staffers]that if they detected unwelcome changes in him, they had his permission to punch him in the face. ‘I was serious,’ he said.” • Culture of empowerment and quality • Focus on continuous improvement (TQM, Ch. 1) makes cultures that produce high product and service quality • Time off for employee rest

9. Closing • Autocratic and Democratic Leadership Style • Started as a manager and progressed into a leader. • Goal-Setting elements met all points of the SMART acronym.