Saturday saw the death of Italy’s richest man, Nutella billionaire Michele Ferrero (89).
His father Pietro’s great idea in the scarce post-war years was to create a chocolate-like sweet using cheaper hazelnuts, which were abundant in the countryside around Alba, instead of expensive cocoa.
He is alleged to have been so excited at the discovery of the successful recipe that he woke up his wife at midnight - she was sleeping - and he made her taste it with spoons….
No record exists re what happened next (!), except to say that his idea resulted in a new blend where a kilo of so-called “pasta gianduja” cost the equivalent of 30 cents in today’s money compared with €1.50 for a kilo of chocolate.
Michele Ferrero’s privately-owned firm is now famous for Nutella spread, Ferrero Rocher chocolates, Kinder eggs and Tic Tac sweets, turning over €8.1bn in 2013.
‘Never patronise a child,’
Ferrero’s greatest skill was knowing what children want, and never talking down to them, a strategy that anyone with savvy grandchildren will endorse…. Ferrero started in the family business when he was 20 and was leading it by 32, growing by undercutting the fine chocolates market with products that boasted “more milk, less chocolate”.
A simple idea, consistently applied and value that is obvious to all...
A template for re-newing Tesco?
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