ÜLKER

Our company’s story began because our beloved uncle Asım and our honorary chairman and dear father Sabri Ülker had great confidence in Turkey. They always believed in the future of this country despite the hard times they had to face.  Restrictions on biscuit production caused by economic difficulties, and their hard work, laid the foundations of the Ülker we know today.

Each son inherits the wisdom of his father. We have witnessed Sabri Ülker’s ambition, determination, endless patience, enthusiasm for innovation and production capacity, respect for consumers, dedication to technology, passion for investing and patriotism. Despite his age, our father still leads us and inspires us with the same ambition and excitement that he had in those early days. That inspiration is the strength that underlies our 65years of success. The wisdom he handed down to us is the basis of the essential values of Ülker. These values are timeless.  They will always be our guide. To understand Ülker, one must understand the root of these values. Ülker, which was once a small factory producing only one type of biscuit, has become an integrated food production giant with more than 1,800 different products and 200 sub-brands. Despite massive changes that the company has undergone, these values have remained unchanged. Ülker is solely a food manufacturer. All investments in non-food sectors are made to support our main field of activity.

Recently Ülker has been experiencing rapid changes and growth. The company has grown because of new investments, technological upgrades, institutionalization, formation of new companies and entry into new markets. The search for opportunities to grow is ongoing, and we are always on the lookout for ways to increase efficiency, support innovation, and strengthen our technological infrastructure and human resources. These priorities will play a major role in Ülker’s success throughout the twenty-first century. The company will adapt to the changing world while preserving the company’s essential values. This growth and restructuring will help to transform Ülker into a player in the global arena.

Today’s world is very different from the world in which Ülker was born. In those days, our forefathers had to wait days to find out about world events; our children have news from the entire world at their fingertips. Thanks to television, events on the other side of the world are broadcast as they happen. Technological developments and globalization affect the economy as much as they affect all aspects of our lives.

Thanks to globalization, we can reach customers thousands of miles away, as if they are next-door neighbors. The world has shrunk to such an extent that generations around the world now have the chance to grow up with Ülker, just like children in Turkey. When a Heathrow Airport immigration officer sees our surname on a passport and asks, “Are you in the biscuit business? - This is my kids’ favorite brand”, or when people in Trinidad and Tobago and Germany can simultaneously consume Ülker products, this tells us that, as a Turkish brand, we have an obligation to understand other countries as well as our own.

This also tells us that we have to manage this era of change by closely monitoring developments in Turkey and the rest of the world. Because of ever-changing consumer trends and developments in food technology, the term “food” is being redefined.  Consumers not only expect high quality, healthy, hygienic and fresh products, they also expect products that are convenient and functional. As Ülker, we are not content to simply follow trends in the international food sector; we also strive to meet the highest expectations of our customers by creating trends aided by the innovation of our IT, management and R&D teams.

By reaching millions of people, we add “flavor” to their lives. The extent of our success is not based on mere figures or market share. The real of measurement of our success is the satisfaction we have created with our idiosyncratic approach. Consumer satisfaction surveys indicate that Ülker has an important market share but, more importantly, it also has an important place in people’s hearts.

Ülker has always been responsive to Turkey’s social development. The concept we have of social responsibility is illustrated by our contributions to education, sports, the environment and health. We will continue to create more successful projects, in partnership with relevant non-governmental organizations.

Our founders believed in the future of Turkey, and time has proved them to be right. As a manager of a brand born in this country, I have faith in the future of both Ülker and Turkey.

Murat Ülker
Chairman of the Board