Company Profile
History
New ideas and inimitable products: That’s what Ferrero is all about. The Company has made its name around the world thanks to products that everyone loves and which, over the years, have become market leaders.
Creativity makes Ferrero products unique and sets them apart from the rest. Creativity is applied not only to concepts, but to all aspects of our business including our production facilities, research programmes and marketing strategies. It has made us one of the most successful confectionery manufacturers in the world.
Ferrero is an Italian confectionery company, privately owned by the Ferrero Family. It traces its origins back to Alba, a small city near Turin in Northern Italy. Ferrero was first established in Alba on 1st August 1944. However due to the war, its registration as a business with The Chamber of Commerce dates to the 14th May 1946.
1944 was the turning point for the Ferrero Family. The prolonged war made luxury items (including chocolate) very expensive and less attainable. It was in this uncertain climate that Pietro Ferrero opened his first confectionery workshop in Alba. Here he used locally grown hazelnuts to make a variety of spreads as an affordable alternative to chocolate.
Pietro Ferrero’s brother Giovanni used his commercial talents to great effect by promoting the new spread as an affordable and delicious delicacy and as an alternative to costly chocolate. His sales skills were very successful and resulted in huge orders to fulfill demand and hence a rapid growth in production. Over fifty people were employed at the factory by the end of its first year.
Following the death of Pietro Ferrero in 1949 and of his brother Giovanni the year after, the company was entrusted to Pietro’s young son Michele, who managed it with the help and skillful knowledge of his mother Piera Cillario. Michele’s keen interest in research and his strategic foresight, led him to realise that the business could only grow by expanding its operations abroad and venturing into foreign markets.
The great and undisputed leading force behind the Group: Mr. Michele Ferrero, with his indefatigable desire to be always at the cutting edge, by revolutionising the eating habits of millions of consumers.
And now Ferrero’s story has reached the third generation. Pietro and Giovanni Ferrero, sons of Michele and Maria Franca, worked together at the top of the Group as Managing Directors for more than 10 years. In April 2011, Pietro Ferrero tragically died in South Africa while working on a humanitarian mission, inspired and driven by him, that aimed to relaunch the Ferrero Social Enterprises.
Today, Giovanni Ferrero continues to run the Company successfully, aiming to reach even more ambitious goals and ensuring that the company inspiration and motivation that was so strongly shared with his parents and his brother. Today, just as yesterday, it is a structure based on solid family values.
Getting A Worldwide Market
In 1956 the first Ferrero plant abroad was established in Germany, which marked the prelude for things to come such as the rapid expansion of the Ferrero name into the European Common Market. In 1958 production began in France and gradually, other plants were established in many other European countries as well as in USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Australia and Asia. At the same time Ferrero was expanding its Italian facilities both industrially and commercially. New factories were founded at Pozzuolo Martesana (MI), Avellino and more recently Balvano (PZ) and S.Angelo (AV). Sales have since continued to grow, along with the product range.
Today Ferrero is the leading confectionery manufacturer in Europe and one of the largest in the world, with a strong identity of its own, thanks to a product range based on true innovation, exquisite quality and a unique selling proposition. Around the world, Ferrero has contributed to making confectionery items an everyday consumption experience enjoyed by all.
….In Paris, Isabelle is having breakfast with bread and Nutella….
….In Moscow, Anna is giving her children Kinder Surprise….
….In Sydney Connie is enjoying refreshing taste of Tic Tac….
….And in Alba someone is inventing a new Ferrero Product.
Whenever people enjoy a Ferrero specialty, the whole world agrees: it’s a unique consumption experience. It’s an experience that is repeated every day in over one-hundred different countries worldwide and a success that Ferrero does not take for granted. Everyday there are new targets, new goals to reach and new products to invent. There are new consumer desires to satisfy and it is for each of our consumers: from the child who opens Kinder Surprise to the adult who indulges in a Ferrero Rocher, the Group will continue to move forward towards the future with enthusiasm, determination and creativity.
In Australia And New Zealand
Ferrero Australia Pty. Ltd, the commercial organisation was established in 1974. Sales of Ferrero’s most popular brand names such as: Nutella, Tic Tac, Ferrero Rocher, Kinder Surprise and Bueno have been launched in the Australian and New Zealand markets and have consistently grown with increasing market presence.
The manufacturing plant Ferrero Australasia Pty. Ltd was established in Lithgow New South Wales in 1976 and is a major employer in the town. By 1977 the first locally manufactured Tic Tac mints was sold onto the Australian market. The popular spread Nutella commenced production in 1978. Australian produced Tic Tac and Nutella continue to be sold in Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. Ferrero Australasia has a certified safety system based on HACCP principles a quality management system based on ISO9001 an environmental management system based on ISO14001 all certified by SAI Global. The factory operates an occupational health and safety system based on AS4801.
