SOUTH EDMESTON — Greek yogurt maker Chobani is this year’s winner of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2012 Entrepreneurial Success of the Year Award.
KeyBank, N.A. nominated Chobani and the Small Business Administration (SBA) selected the company for its dramatic growth in sales, employees, and business size as well as for its charitable contributions.
Chobani got its start in 2005 using an SBA-backed loan to purchase a closed Kraft Foods plant in South Edmeston in Chenango County. The company started with five employees and a yogurt product sold to a single grocery store. Today, Chobani is the top-selling yogurt in the country, shipping 1.7 million cases a week to stores nationwide, according to the SBA.
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In 2011, Chobani expanded its operations abroad and began selling in Australia and Canada.
The company employs more than 1,200 people and will hire another 400 later this year when it opens a new production facility in Twin Falls, Idaho. The 900,000-square-foot, high-efficiency facility will be the largest yogurt plant in the country.
Chobani founder, president, and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya will accept the SBA’s Syracuse District and Regional awards at a luncheon May 2 in Albany. He will accept the national award during the SBA’s National Small Business Week celebration May 22 in Washington, D.C.
Contact DeLore at tgregory@tgbbj.com
