Rome, N.Y. — With nearly $4 billion in sales a year and demand for his Greek yogurt rising, Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya decided last year he needed to build another manufacturing plant. He realized it had to be big so the plant could meet the company’s growing production needs. That meant he had to find a sizeable plot of land. Next, he needed a place with many dairy farms because the plant was going to need a lot of milk — 12 million pounds a day. And finally, he needed a place where he could find workers to fill the 1,000 jobs the plant would create. Since he had yogurt plants in Twin Falls, Idaho, and South Edmeston in Upstate New York, he decided it would make sense to build his next one somewhere between the two states. In the end, instead of looking in the middle of the country, he leaned hard into Rome, N.Y. The city of 32,000 is just 45 miles north of the former Kraft Foods dairy plant where Chobani got its start and grew into the most popular Greek yogurt in the U.S. “Chobani is New York, and I am New York made,” he told about 200 people who gathered in Rome Tuesday for the announcement. The site he picked for the 1.4-million-square-foot facility sits at the end of a runway, an area called the Triangle at Griffiss Business and Technology Park, a former U.S. Air Force Base. Construction is expected to start later this year. Ulukaya said he hopes to have the plant up and running by 2027. New York already is spending more than $23 million from the state’s FAST NY program to complete infrastructure and transportation improvements. In addition, New York is pledging to provide up to $73 million in Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits to Chobani. Companies in the program earn tax credits over a period of up to 10 years if they meet and maintain job and investment thresholds. Ulukaya said he is confident of finding the people to work at the plant, just as he has done in South Edmeston, where he employs about 1,100 people. A native of Turkey, Ulukaya has long embraced and promoted hiring refugees and immigrants. Utica, just a 20-minute drive from Rome, has a decades-long tradition of accepting people from other countries. Some work now at Chobani’s South Edmeston plant. Ulukaya said his commitment to continuing hiring immigrants remains, despite a campaign by President Donald Trump to expel many immigrants from the country. He said Chobani has always obeyed immigration laws in its hiring practices and will continue to do so. “I’ve been around here 20 years, and policies change back and forth,” said Ulukaya, who came to the U.S. from Turkey at the age of 22. “This investment to me, I have no questions (about) the future of the country, the future of the state.” Finding enough milk suppliers could be a challenge for his company, but Ulukaya said he is confident he will succeed on that front, too. Once the new plant reaches full capacity, the company would buy an estimated 6 billion pounds of milk a year, creating more economic opportunity for the state’s dairy industry. This single factory could use about a third of New York’s current milk production. Once built, the new plant is expected to help Chobani meet its production needs for years to come. But to hear Ulukaya tell it, his company won’t be done growing any time soon. “What drives us, every single one of us, we come to work every day, try to make something really beautiful and give it to the world,” he said. “And we don’t accept the status quo. You want to stay entrepreneurial, spend a lot of time on food, a lot of time on people.” The Rome plan will produce more than just Chobani’s Greek yogurt, the top-selling Greek yogurt brand in the nation. It will also make protein shakes, coffee creamers, coffee drinks and “some other innovations that I will keep as a surprise later on,” he said. Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente said the county recently acquired a nearby golf course in case Chobani needs room for another expansion some day. “Chobani is a great family,” he said. “They’re part of our family in this county. You’re going to see something spectacular here in a short amount of time.” Rick Moriarty covers business news and consumer issues. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact him anytime: Email | X | Facebook | 315-470-3148