Out of sheer necessity, an Italian confectioner replaced chocolate with nuts after World War II. The enthusiasm for his Supercrema was the basis for the success of a company that today ensures that people all over the world give their chérie a little kiss.

Creativity often arises from simple need. This is probably why Pietro Ferrero, a confectioner and chocolatier from Alba, was so lucky that chocolate was in short supply in post-war Italy. There was only one thing in abundance: nuts, which fell at Ferrero's feet during walks around Alba.

Well, they weren't just any nuts, but the fine "Tonda gentile delle Langhe" variety, also called "Round from Piedmont." Sometime in 1946, Ferrero unceremoniously replaced cocoa beans with nuts in a recipe, mixing them with cocoa powder, milk and sugar. He called the finished dessert "Giandujot." It cost only one-sixth of chocolate products to make and sell. Ferrero shaped it into a kind of bread loaf, which he carefully wrapped in foil. So his "Giandujot" was quite firm and was cut for customers like a loaf of bread.

Company legend has it that Pietro and his brother Giovanni happened to watch their "Giandujot" melting on a sunny day. They are said to have liked the creamy version better, especially since it could be spread effortlessly on bread.

According to another version, the citizens of Alba were victims of a heat wave in 1949, the giandujot bread could not be cooled properly and melted. Whatever the case, the evidence is that the pragmatist Ferrero began to simply fill his product into jars. And that Pietro Ferrero did not live to see the great breakthrough of his idea. His son Michele, then just 24 years old, took over the young company and launched this version on the market under the name Supercrema. Old photos show a flat jar with a red plastic lid.

Supercrema was a resounding success. It is said that Ferrero had to increase its team from five employees to 995 in just three years to cope with demand. Michele Ferrero would neither confirm nor deny such a thing: The entrepreneur always knew that discretion was essential for a quiet life.

Then, in the 1960s, Italian lawmakers decided to ban superlatives like "mega" and "super" in food products. This apparently suited Michele just fine. After all, he had long since had his sights set on extensive internationalization. Michele was looking for a brand name that would work everywhere. Supercrema" finally became "Nutella. It was inspired by the English word for nut and the soft-sounding feminine ending "ella. The first can of Nutella rolled off the production line at the end of April 1964. This marked the beginning of an almost unique success story. Mon Chéri, Rocher, Kinder, Duplo, Giotto, Küsschen - throughout the decades, Ferrero relied on organic growth, products designed in-house, manufactured in its own factories, distributed through its own channels. He always avoided partnerships, as well as excursions into new business areas that were not part of Ferrero's core competence. Officially, the patriarch handed over management of the company to his sons Giovanni and Pietro in 1997. But Michele is still active behind the scenes. This became clear in 2010 when there was speculation that Ferrero might take over the chocolate manufacturer Cadbury. Financing was secured, and Cadbury was actually also a good fit for Ferrero because it had a strong position in countries where Ferrero is weak. But at the last moment, "la famiglia" decided against the takeover. In Alba, it was said that Michele had taken his sons to prayer. One of the reasons may have been that Cadbury employs almost twice as many people with roughly the same sales.

Nevertheless, the small confectionery has now become a group of companies with 50 branches on five continents and around 22,000 employees. According to the company, Ferrero now has a worldwide turnover of around seven billion euros. The only thing that neither the company nor Ferrero himself talk about is the fact that Michele Ferrero is now the richest Italian, with a greater fortune than Berlusconi. ®

Text: Jörg Zipprick