You prefer to do Room at home or at the bar? It's one of those nice dilemmas in which you often stumble, like the one between shower and bathroom, between blondes and dark hairs. For breakfast in Italy, rich in key products, from chocolate with hazelnuts to traditional baked goods, it is a serious matter and two top-level champions are competing on this terrain: Ferrero and Barilla.
The recent acquisition by the Piedmontese house of Fresystem it was perhaps the card that best defined a game that started 5 years ago.
Ferrero acquires Fresystem, leader in the frozen bakery sector
The Ferrero group, led by the executive president John Ferrero and by the CEO Lapo Civiletti, after the billionaire shopping campaigns in the United States has turned to Campania for the purchase of Fresystem, a market leader in the "frozen bakery" sector, i.e. bakery products for the "Italian breakfast", said a press release. In this way Ferrero wanted to give a clear signal to the competitor Barilla: I stay in your breakfast-at-home territory, but I differentiate myself by turning to bars.
Ferrero and Barilla: great stories of Italian entrepreneurship
The two companies, known throughout the world and which have made the history of Italian entrepreneurship, have stories that began in the Sixties, stories that have always run parallel without intertwining the products, according to a reconstruction by Milano Finanza.
Two giants, of colossal dimensions: around 13 billion in revenues (for a billion in profits) and almost 40 employees for Ferrero; approximately 4 billion in revenues (a profit of 229 million) and over 8.700 employees for Barilla, both nominated Unesco Creative Cities of gastronomy.
Ferrero, in its Piedmontese land it differed above all for the Nutella and chocolates in general, Barilla, in its Parma area, has stood out for bakery products such as those of Mulino Bianco.
The turning point in 2018: Barilla invades the field of Ferrero's chocolate creams
Then there was the pitch invasion in the 2018: Barilla has officially decided to break that silent non-aggression pact, according to a reconstruction by Milano Finanza, with the launch of the Pan di Stelle cream based on exclusively selected Italian hazelnuts and chocolate, in an agreement signed with Nutkao which had also inaugurated the new factory in Govone for the occasion, just a few kilometers from Alba, right in Piedmont.
Ferrero she responded promptly a year later, invading the breakfast contestant's turf and busting i Nutella Biscuits, accompanying them with an unprecedented advertising campaign. Remember that these biscuits are in a short time become unobtainable and one has even been unleashed hunting on online platforms (Amazon and eBay in particular) on which they could be purchased, however, at a tripled price: 9-10 euros per kilo instead of the approximately 3 euros recommended by Ferrero. According to data from Iri, the company that records sales, 5,9 million packs would have been sold in the first four weeks alone.
But here it is Barilla launch a new attack: a month later launch the Pan di Stelle biscuit cream, starting to ride the battle against thePalm oil which a few years earlier had begun to cause some headaches for the colossus of Alba. In short, since 2018, the battle seems to have moved to almost all product categories
The horse move comes with frozen foods for bars
With the purchase of the group from Campania last week Fresystem, Ferrero actually makes a double move: it differentiates itself with frozen bakery products with a market that worth over 500 million, between bars and large chains, but is consolidated in the field of breakfasts. “Fresystem represents a point of reference for operators in the sector” said Ferrero in a note.
The Campania-based company, which has been owned by the Simioli family since 1991, has its core business in contract manufacturing for large groups: one out of four croissants sold in Italy comes from the Fresystem factory. They can be found in Autogrills, cafes and restaurants, they are those of the big food brands, from Unilever to Nestlé to Chef Express, up to even McDonald's. For Ferrero, he has been producing Nutella muffins since 2021, which can be found, for example, at the Autogrill and McDonald's. It closed 2021 with a turnover of 60 million euros, which rose to 70 in 2022.
Ferrero's recent shopping
Last December Ferrero announced a maxi-acquisition in the United States, signing an agreement for the acquisition of Wells, the world's family-owned ice cream company, operating under the Blue Bunny, Blue Ribbon Classics, Bomb Pop and Halo Top brands. Previously, in June 2021 acquired Burton's Biscuit Company by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board fund. They are also part of the group Thornotons, the biscuit maker Delacre, the sweets of Ferrara Candy, the chocolate of Fannie May, the confectionary division of Kellogg's, the ice creams of Ice Cream Maker, the cookies of kelsen and the fingers Fulfill Nutrition.
