Ask the Experts The Interview
DEC. 2017
Why Big Business Profits from Doing Good Hamdi Ulukaya grew up in Eastern Turkey in a nomadic family that raised goats and sheep and made cheese. Now the yogurt-empire builder is changing the supermarket game by focusing on flavor, freshness, and social responsibility.
You’ve been called Chobani’s chief taster. How much yogurt do you eat a week? HAMDI ULUKAYA: Depends on where I am. If I’m in the office, I eat it because I like to eat it. If I’m doing a tasting, there are days [when I eat] 5 pounds. HUNTER LEWIS:
And what goes through your mind when you’re trying a new product that is being developed? Number one is, it’s got to be tasty. I also look for food memories. Every bite has to take you somewhere. That is what I try to do. I love apple pie, for example. I didn’t know about it before I got [to the United States] 20 years ago. I thought it was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. For years, I told my team let’s do apple pie. It wasn’t until recently that they nailed it. What do you think the supermarket yogurt case will look like in five years? It will be a lot simpler. You won’t see many brands. You won’t see any bad stuff in any products. You will see a lot of wholesomeness. And in the yogurt aisle you’ll see a lot of plain. People will be into taking the plain base—this pure simple milk and cultures—and being creative at home. You’ve been described as someone who trusts your gut. What should we know about gut health and probiotics? Everything happens in the gut. The whole body’s functionality is the healthiness of the gut. And more and more research is coming out that those healthy bacteria prevent diseases.
The healthiest way to preserve probiotics is in the form of yogurt, because it’s a great environment for them to grow. What is Chobani’s social mission to you? I don’t like check-the-box kind of stuff. I love being real. If you do it, you do it right, you do it real. I truly believe a business is the most effective change maker in today’s society—more than governments, more than NGOs, more than religious organizations. And it’s only effective if they really mean it. It’s not part of the profit. If you have strong beliefs and it’s in your DNA, then it will make a huge impact. Do you think food businesses will be able to survive if they don’t have a good social mission at the core? No. No company will survive. Today’s consumer knows who is doing it authentically and who is pretending.
HAMDI ULUKAYA Philanthropist and owner, founder, and CEO of Chobani
How do you define healthy? Simple ingredients. No chemicals. No ingredients that you don’t [recognize]. Healthy means it makes you feel good. You feel good about it. Healthy is safe, as is food safety. I worry about food safety more than anything else. People solve that problem by putting preservatives in there; they don’t have to worry about food safety. When you make natural food, food safety is extremely important.
FOR SO MANY PEOPLE, the holiday season brings to mind treasured memories from their childhoods celebrating with family and friends. But the reality is that during this time of year and always, millions of children in the U.S. and around the world are in desperate need of the support, protection, and care they deserve. Consider donating today to Save the Children (savethechildren.org), a charity that Chobani supports.
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