Michele Ferrero
Entrepreneur from Dogliani (1925-2015) who turned his family's pastry shop in Alba into the Ferrero group: he created Nutella, and the Kinder, Tic Tac and Rocher lines.
Michele Ferrero (Dogliani, 1925 – Monte Carlo, 14 February 2015) was the entrepreneur who turned his family's pastry shop in Alba into the Ferrero group, one of the world's largest confectionery companies. He is behind Nutella, the Kinder line, Tic Tac and Ferrero Rocher; under his leadership the company's head office settled on the hills of Turin, at Pino Torinese, while production remained in the Langhe.[1][2]
The beginnings in Alba
Born in Dogliani, in the province of Cuneo, to Pietro Ferrero and Piera Cillario.[1] In 1942 his father opened a workshop in via Rattazzi in Alba, while his mother ran the shop in via Maestra; the Ferrero company was officially founded on 14 May 1946, and its first product was «Pasta Gianduja», or Giandujot, a hazelnut paste wrapped in tinfoil.[2] The name recalled the traditional Carnival mask, and the bar was cut into slices to spread on bread.[3] His uncle Giovanni organised the sales network with a fleet of small vans.[2]
On 2 March 1949 Pietro Ferrero died at 51, and leadership passed to his brother Giovanni, his widow Piera and Michele; when his uncle died in 1957, control of the company passed entirely to his nephew.[2] The citation with which Michele was made a Cavaliere del Lavoro in 1971 recalls that he had found himself at the head of the firm, after the deaths of its founders, when he was only 24.[4]
From Supercrema to Nutella
The spreadable cream had already been on the market since 1949 under the name Supercrema.[5] Michele Ferrero reworked it in 1962, increasing the cocoa and cocoa butter content, and in 1964, when the government restricted the use of superlatives in advertising, gave it a new name.[5] The first jar of Nutella, from the English nut, hazelnut, was produced and put on sale on 20 April 1964 in Alba, where the cream is still made today.[2][6] From the very beginning Ferrero planned to sell it outside Italy.[6]
As well as devising products, he was passionate about machinery: he personally travelled to Copenhagen to buy an 80-metre production line. In the same period the company grew to almost a thousand employees and built housing for those who wanted to live near the plant, the «Villaggi Ferrero».[2] In 1964 the head offices found a permanent home in Pino Torinese, in the hills around the Piedmontese capital, today part of the Metropolitan City of Turin.[2]
A global brand
Expansion abroad began early: in 1956 the first plant outside Italy opened in Stadtallendorf, Germany, with the launch of Mon Chéri; in 1960 came France, at Villers-Écalles near Rouen, and the plant at Pozzuolo Martesana, near Milan.[2] In 1971 the company had about 9,000 employees, three plants in Italy and two abroad.[4]
In the following years came the products that made the brand known on every continent: the Kinder line in 1968, Tic Tac in 1969, Ferrero Rocher in 1982.[5] 1972 brought Estathé, 1974 the Kinder Surprise.[2] In 1985 Ferrero opened two plants in southern Italy, at Balvano in Basilicata and Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi in Irpinia.[2] Michele led the group until 1997, remaining chairman afterwards, by which time annual sales had reached 4 billion euros; that year operational management passed to his sons Pietro and Giovanni.[5][2]
The Foundation and the bond with Alba
In 1983 he set up the Opera Sociale Ferrero in Alba, recognised as a foundation in 1991 and named after his parents and uncle: the Piera, Pietro and Giovanni Ferrero Foundation, which looks after former company employees and promotes cultural and artistic initiatives, under the motto «Work, Create, Give».[1] This is how Ferrero explained the choice:
«I have come to the conviction that the Ferrero Group must make a human and financial effort to tangibly thank its elderly, and in particular its pensioners, by providing them with a facility that is a centre of lasting, vital activity.»
On 26 April 2005, for his eightieth birthday, the city of Alba awarded him its gold medal.[2] A month later, on 26 May, the President of the Republic appointed him, on his own initiative, Cavaliere di Gran Croce of the Order of Merit.[7]
Death and legacy
Michele Ferrero died in Monte Carlo on 14 February 2015, at 89, after months of illness; according to Forbes rankings he was the richest man in Italy, with a personal fortune estimated at 23.4 billion dollars.[8][9] His son Pietro had died in 2011 in South Africa; Giovanni remained at the head of the group.[9][8] The mayor of Alba, Maurizio Marello, remarked: «Alba owes everything to Ferrero».[8] More than ten thousand people attended the funeral, held in Alba.[5]
On 29 September 2015 the former Piazza Savona, in the centre of Alba, was named after Michele Ferrero. Before thousands of people from Alba, the mayor read out messages from President Sergio Mattarella, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and the president of the Piedmont region Sergio Chiamparino, and described Ferrero as «the man who, more than anyone, freed Alba from poverty».[10] His son Giovanni promised: «Alba has stayed loyal to us for seventy years, we will stay loyal to the city of Alba».[10] In 2021 a silver coin from the Italian State Mint celebrated Nutella as the fruit of the insight of the «great entrepreneur, Michele Ferrero».[3]
Pages linking here
Related articles: Alba, Ferrero, Gianduja chocolate, Langhe, Nutella
Sources
- Fondazione Ferrero
- Ferrero
- Nutella (Ferrero)
- Presidenza della Repubblica —
- Il Post — 8 July 2018
- Il Post — 20 April 2024
- Presidenza della Repubblica — 26 May 2005
- Il Fatto Quotidiano — 14 February 2015
- Il Post — 14 February 2015
- Gazzetta d'Alba — 29 September 2015