He Turned His Jar Of Chocolate Into Billions!

the origin of this jar is much deeper than it seems if you watched our Ferrero Rocher video then you'll know half the story but this is the other half born between the chaos of Napoleon and Hitler growing through generations of tragedy and fighting to keep secrets worth billions a brand at War since its Inception this is the dark history of Nutella in the Northwestern Italian region of Piedmont something Monumental kicked off the 19th century amidst the wreckage of the Napoleonic Wars here in Piedmont there was a small but dramatic change in the chocolate industry the region was already known for producing the best chocolate in the world with bakeries around Europe relying on the local industry when blockades cut off trade to and from the region chocolatiers needed to ration their supplies the city of Turin just over 10 miles away began adding hazelnut to make their chocolate supplies last longer nobody knew it yet but this small decision would lead to a domino effect ending with the most iconic spread of all time Nutella 150 years before Nutella hit the shelves Jean duya was created a mixture of hazelnut paste in dark chocolate resulting in smooth soft bars with a thick creamy taste but when the Wars ended and Coco became available again zhanduya lost its appeal people preferred pure chocolate but a man named Pietro Ferrero opening his first pastry shop in Turin was determined to change that Pietro and his brother Giovanni launched the business in 1933 selling cakes pastries and chocolates but didn't find immediate success undeterred by their momentary setback the brothers decided instead to settle the business in the small town of Alba where a chocolate Fortune would begin from there Pietro began a factory to create pasta janduya his twist on the war rationed Innovation that came out of Turin the previous Century it was thicker creamier and denser meaning it could be cut into slices and put on bread quickly earning popularity among young families Pietro sold 660 pounds in the first year alone we when World War II hit while Adolf Hitler in the Third Reich were marching through Europe and cutting off National borders cocoa supplies went short and once again forcing people to turn to Chocolate hazelnut mixes to fix their cravings and many in Italy turned to Pietro's newest product a hazelnut wedge which was affordably available for around 5 cents U.S each the recipe wasn't quite perfected yet though that was left to Pietro's son Michelle who would transform his father's name and his pasta zhanduya into a global addiction but only after suffering two family tragedies Michelle's father had imprinted on him a deep appreciation for confectionary but when Pietro Ferrero suddenly died at age 50 in 1949. Michelle wasn't yet ready to take on the mantle as the business and family patriarch that responsibility temporarily was handed to Pietro's brother Giovanni Ferrero who had been successful in other businesses since their young days as budding entrepreneurs in Turin under Giovanni's command the Ferrero Corporation expanded to North American and Asian markets throughout the 1950s together with Michelle they release a range of products from the sultanino candy and the crema block to pralines named Sherry each of them having varying degrees of success but one product would come to stand out more than all the others and its Origins are subject to Fierce debate that continues today both accounts include some fortuitous weather and a sudden realization on on a hot summer day in Alba blocks of pasta janduya melted from their solid form into a more liquid consistency but instead of complaining retailers reported back to Michelle that they were delighted with the change the spreadability was perfect for eating with bread another telling begins inside ferrero's Alba Warehouse itself where similarly the mixture melted the quick thinking staff put it into jars to avoid any waste either way the pasta zanduya of Michelle's father was now a thing of the past a new product was born converting it into a thick spreadable consistency was the way forward now ferrero's main focus was what they called super Crema ganduya sold in bakeries all over Italy quickly taking hold it was a regional sensation but it wasn't quite ready to go Global yet for that it would need a new name a new are and a stroke of Genius chapter 3 a marketing genius the 1960s were Michelle's time to shine after his uncle Giovanni prematurely died in 1955. just six years after his brother the rightful heir to the Ferrero Empire Michelle was left with no choice but to step up and fill his father's shoes rather than crumbling Under Pressure Michelle quickly proved that leadership and Innovation were in his blood his first order of business was to fine-tune the super chroma zhanduya which he identified as the product with the most potential staying loyal to his father's original recipe the new formula had just seven ingredients and the same chocolate hazelnut taste that his customers had come to love but having a quality product wasn't enough Michelle was competing in the emerging climate of mass marketing and he knew that he also needed a new newer more marketable identity to achieve wider appeal so he released the spread under a new name Nutella combining the English word nut with the suffix Ella which is used in Italian with sweet adjectives Michelle now had a catchy name to grab the Public's attention and it would play well in markets all around the world manufactured out of the Ferrero Factory in Alba Nutella was put in an equally distinctive eight-sided glass jar Michelle launched a nationwide campaign throwing money at publicity placing advertisements on popular television programs and making Nutella into a household name Michelle also expands into the World of Sports sponsoring athletes and events most notably the iconic Giro de Italia bicycle race where Michelle sends the trenino dibimbi Ferrero truck to ring with cyclists making headlines around Europe these these ingenious strategies pay off Big Time Nutella is quickly transformed from a local Piedmont favorite into an Italian staple most popular among children Ferrero then released smaller 30 gram plastic containers better suited for small quantities targeted not children Nutella has been able to Market its product by touting supposed health benefits without disclosing the high sugar and fat content but one serving which is determined as two tablespoons contains 11 grams of fat and 21 grams of sugar and early after its release Nutella advertised that only 5 000 calories showed how nutritional it was this has meant the company has been under constant scrutiny for its nutritional value but Michelle powers on honing his Market to become a family-friendly breakfast spread offering a tasty alternative to breakfast cereal just like his father's pasta it was best enjoyed on a slice of bread chapter 4 The Perils of success by 1970 the Ferrero company is turning over the equivalent of 1.2 billion dollars a year that means rapid expansion to other countries and building factories around the world all this to keep up with the hunger for Nutella that Michelle's marketing has created German French and UK markets are all a hit cementing Nutella as Europe's favorite spread used on toast in pastries and for a range of other uses one of its most successful markets becomes the United States which it enters in the 1980s popping up as a rival to the ultra popular Peanut Butter but a huge problem is looming scalability hits a wall when the company drains the global supply of hazelnuts there are simply not enough to keep keep up with demand one jar of Nutella contains an average of over 90 hazelnuts the solution Ferrero begins to plant its own hazelnut trees that's why since the 1990s over 6.6 million trees have been planted including a 70 million dollar investment into hazelnut trees in Australia the company's other products like Ferrero Rocher also rely on the availability of hazelnuts forcing them to get serious about sustainability over the coming decades the company would become responsible for 25 of global hazelnut production the scale of the operation has grown to gargantuan proportions there is now even a world Nutella day where fans are invited to post pictures of themselves enjoying Nutella products and Nutella has found its way onto an Italian postage service stamp cementing its association with Italian national identity from a small Factory in Alba employing just over 100 people during Pietro ferrero's time Michelle oversaw an expansion to over 30 000 people worldwide when he died in 2015 Michelle was one of the richest men in Europe with a net worth of 26 and a half billion dollars the company then officially moved into the hands of the third generation in the Ferrero Dynasty but already with Decades of experience they have been well equipped to battle some of the biggest controversies in the company's history chapter 5 the present at the helm is Giovanni Ferrero who managed the company since 1997 together with his brother Pietro until Pietro tragically died in a bicycling accident in 2011. with the passing of their father Michelle Giovanni has inherited the throne under his Direction ferrero's annual turnover has jumped to a record 15 billion dollars in 2022 thanks to Company products like Ferrero Rocher Kinder and Tic Tacs but undeniably Nutella is the Crown Jewel of the collection ajar is sold every two and a half seconds the product has never been more popular which has brought its own problems in 2018 a discount on Nutella at a major French Supermarket which slashed prices by up to 70 percent caused a violent Riot where police had to be called in to restore peace but the issues go deeper than Supermarket riots for years the company has been under Fire for its dependence on palm oil according to Ferrero this kind of oil is the only way to guarantee special spreadability which is vital for Nutella the company uses a whopping 170 000 metric tons a year the problem is that many plantations which are in tropical climates need to clear huge sections of forest before beginning to grow palm oil resulting in a dramatic drop in Wildlife biodiversity and damaging ecology public backlash threatened to put a dent in ferrero's prestigious reputation one French Minister even publicly called for a boycott of the product on National Television because of its linked to massive deforestation and global warming in 2017 the European Food Safety Authority ruled that palm oil is a potential Health concern researchers concluded that palm oil when heated up through the manufacturing process creates contaminants that could damage DNA and be carcinogenic but a war of public relations Is Something the Ferrero family has been engaged in since the 1950s when Michelle promoted Nutella as a healthy breakfast Nutella has pivoted to using 100 sustainable palm oil they even managed to force the French minister to apologize through continued environmental efforts Ferrero is deflecting the negative association with palm oil the company has also addressed health concerns guaranteeing that all its products containing palm oil are totally safe for consumption in 2018 Ferrero purchased Nestle's entire U.S confection business weakening its Arch Rivals grip on the biggest Market in the world and reinforcing their place as the second largest chocolate producer on the planet chapter 6 keeping it in the family Giovanni Ferrero Micah's father has remained fiercely committed to the Integrity of the generational business since its Inception in 1962 the recipe of Nutella has only slightly been altered containing sugar vegetable oils hazelnuts cocoa skimmed powder whey powder soy lexicon and vanillin what is contained in this vegetable oil is a closely guarded secret through both Michelle and Giovanni's management periods the company has voluntarily lost lawsuits just to protect its Secrets tours of their Alba plant is still forbidden to avoid industrial Espionage in other areas Ferrero has used litigation to aggressively protect its name a new york-based dessert shop named nuteria was hit with the threat of a lawsuit for its name which was based on its products most of all of which contained Nutella in the same year Nutella opened up its very own Cafe in Chicago any official association with Nutella is risky but the brand has been helped immensely by the integration of Nutella into thousands of recipes from cheesecake and Tiramisu to pancakes and popcorn Nutella has become an essential ingredient just as much as it has a product on its own with humble beginnings more than a century ago Pietro Ferrero was able to turn the ravages of War into a unique Regional product his son Michelle waged a war of his own with Relentless and expensive marketing spreading Nutella beyond the borders of Italy and creating an image of Health Nutella has become integrated with thousands of cooking recipes and is celebrated as an iconic Italian brand now against a barrage of environmental and health accusations Nutella has once again reinvented itself this time as a sustainable company under the direction of Giovanni Ferrero the company has grown to record Heights ballooning his personal net worth to 32 billion dollars and safeguarding the family Dynasty having been through many iterations since Pietro's pasta janduya Nutella is a story of evolution making it one of the most resilient companies in the world not only surviving wartime but thriving during them

Channel: Business Stories

Views: 1,072

Keywords: Business Stories, nutella, nutella documentary, nutella story, nutella history, nutella founder, nutella ceo, story of nutella

Id: T6Y0uBr3tGI

Length: 16min 21sec (981 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 11 2023