Billy
The Ferreros: Nutella, Tic Tac and Kinder made Italy's richest family
Shaan's Billy of the Week is the Ferrero family, the secretive Italian dynasty behind Ferrero Rocher, Nutella, Tic Tac and Kinder. The family-owned company does roughly $20B a year in revenue, and the third-generation heir who runs it, worth about $32B, is the richest man in Italy.
“Turns out this family invented Nutella. They invented Tic Tacs. They invented like a whole bunch of Kinder, the Kinder bars and Kinder eggs. They invented like several of these like really big things. And now they own a whole bunch of other businesses. So I want to tell you the story of this, this company that's, it's one of the most secretive family-owned businesses in the world. They do like $20 billion a year in revenue. The founder is the, the, main guy, the, the heir, he runs the company and is the richest man in Italy.”
Story
Nutella started as a hard chocolate stick nobody could spread
In post-WWII Italy, when chocolate was a luxury, the Ferrero founder sold a hard, butter-stick-shaped chocolate meant for toast, and customers complained it didn't spread. He fixed the form factor with a creamy jarred version called Super Crema, which his son later reworked and renamed Nutella after the government banned 'Crema' in the name.
“So he tries the bar. People don't like it. They're complaining. They're like, it's too hard, doesn't spread easily. So he's like, okay, I got to solve the spread problem. And he comes up with a jar with like a creamy chocolate, like a jam, basically. And it's like a precursor to Nutella. It wasn't quite Nutella yet. But the idea was like, make it super spreadable, put it in a jar, and it was called Super Crema.”
Steal thisWhen customers like the idea but complain about the format, fix the form factor before you touch the product.