The Italian family behind Nutella, Kinder and Ferrero-Rocher: who created these brands?

Alba is a small town in the heart of Piedmont, Italy. It's surrounded by rolling hills, endless vineyards, and hazelnut groves. Today, it's world-renowned for its white truffles and wines, but in the 1940s, it was primarily a post-war town clinging to traditional crafts. It was in this setting, in a building on Via Rattazzi, that master pastry chef Pietro Ferrero opened a small confectionery workshop in 1942. He worked almost in secret, testing, adjusting, and perfecting a recipe with a long history: gianduia cream, created in Turin at the beginning of the 19th century as a response to a cocoa shortage. What Ferrero sought was his own version, lighter in cocoa but rich in hazelnuts, mixed with sugar, and stable enough to spread on bread. In 1946, this spread became the first official product of his workshop. Its success was immediate: it was both delicious and affordable.

The discovery was the direct precursor to today's Nutella. That humble spread, born from a time of scarcity and ingenuity, would eventually become the starting point of a family empire that is now a global confectionery giant. More than eight decades later, the Ferrero Group is a multinational company present in over 170 countries, with some 40 production plants and a portfolio of iconic brands, such as Nutella, Kinder, Ferrero Rocher, Tic Tac, and Mon Chéri. Despite this colossal size, the company remains in the hands of the founding family, now in its third generation. "Tradition is like a bow: the tighter the string, the farther we can shoot the arrows of modernity and innovation," explains Giovanni Ferrero, the group's current executive chairman, poetically.

The Ferrero Expansion

The strength of that first recipe fueled growth that, in just a few years, outgrew the boundaries of Alba. By the 1950s, the family understood that the future lay beyond the local area. In 1956, Ferrero opened its first factory abroad, in Stadtallendorf, Germany—an unusual move for an Italian company at the time. Shortly after, France became the family's second major production center, and from there, the brand made its definitive leap across Europe. This strategy, driven by Michele Ferrero—Pietro's son and the true architect of modern Ferrero—combined two simple yet crucial ideas: constant product innovation and adaptation to the tastes of each country. This led to the creation of products that are now part of Europe's collective memory: Nutella in a glass jar (1964), Kinder Chocolate (1968), Tic Tac mints (1969), and the legendary Kinder Surprise (1974). Each launch solidified a way of working that transformed family creativity into global bestsellers. By the late seventies, Ferrero was already producing in Italy, Germany, France, and Belgium, and had made a strong entry into the United States.

The big leap: the Ferrero chocolate

Ferrero's big global leap came in the 1980s with a product capable of making luxury an everyday gesture: the Ferrero Rocher. Created in 1982, this golden chocolate—a whole hazelnut, cocoa cream, and a crisp chocolate shell—embodied the DNA the brand wanted to convey: quality, sophisticated appearance, and an affordable price. Its meteoric success, reinforced by iconic advertising campaigns, placed Ferrero in a new international league and consolidated its leadership in the chocolate segment. In the mid-1980s, Michele Ferrero's sons—Pietro and Giovanni—formally joined the group's management. Both had grown up surrounded by factories, recipes, and business trips. Together they accelerated Ferrero's growth in markets such as the United States, Latin America, and Asia, while further professionalizing the management of a business that was growing exponentially: the group was already producing millions of units of Rocher, Tic Tac, and Kinder, and opening plants at a steady pace, from Poland to Brazil, from Canada to Australia. In 2011, the sudden death of Pietro Ferrero at the age of 47 while cycling in South Africa shook the group and left Giovanni at the helm of the entire empire. With a discreet and reserved style, he has since led a company that generates more than €15 billion in annual revenue and employs more than 45,000 people.