Ferrero U.S.A., Inc. history

The Ferrero story begins in the shadow of World War I. In 1923, after serving in the military, Pietro Ferrero opened a pastry shop in Dogliani, in northwestern Italy.

The following year he married 21-year-old Piera Cillario, who gave birth to a son, Michele, in 1925.The family spent the next decade moving between cities, as Pietro perfected his skills at other shops.

Then, in 1938, he moved to East Africa with a plan to sell biscuits to the Italian troops dispatched there by Mussolini.

1942: Pietro Ferrero moves his pastry shop to Alba.

Ferrero called his new paste "pasta gianduja," which he began selling in 1946.

Production quickly resumed however, and, in 1949, Ferrero introduced the Supercrema, also known as "Il Cremino."

1954: Gianduja brand name is changed to Nutella for the Italian market.

In 1956, the company opened its first foreign plant in Allendorf, near Frankfurt, and began producing its hazelnut spread, which it dubbed Cremalba for the German market.

In 1957, at age 52, Giovanni suffered a fatal heart attack.

Ferrero entered France in 1959, buying a confectionery company, Prevost et Grenier in Villers-Ecalles.

In 1961, the company rolled out the Nutella paste--called "La Tartinoise"--for the French market and expanded its French production plant.

Ultimately, they landed on Nutella and began shipping jars under the new moniker in April 1964.Ferrero's expansion rolled on to Switzerland and Ireland and as far as Ecuador, Australia and Hong Kong.

1968: Kinder brand of chocolate products for children debuts.

Ferrero entered the United States market in 1969 with Tic Tac® mints and continues to win hearts and share joy with Ferrero Rocher®, Nutella®, Kinder® and Fannie May chocolates.

Ferrero began developing products for the new brand, rolling out the first of the Kinder line in 1974.

One of the most iconic brands of the Ferrero Group was created in 1982 in Alba, a small town in the hills of Piedmont in Italy.

By 1986, annual sales reached 926 billion lira, about $1.5 billion in current dollars.As the company grew, Michele left nothing to chance.

In 1989, burgeoning Kinder product introduced a new hit product: the Kinder Surprise.

1997: Company opens new $100 million production facility in Brazil.

In 2000, the company, which already marketed its Pocket Coffee drink, launched a new ready-to-drink tea beverage, Estathé. That year, the company also launched a new chocolate, Mon Amour, a counterpart to the highly successful Mon Cheri.

With sales rising to EUR 4.4 billion at the end of 2001, Ferrero announced that it was interested in seeking international partnerships as a means of continuing to grow.

2002: Ferrero announces its interest in forming international partnerships.

His brother, also named Pietro, with whom he ran Ferrero as co-chief executive for 14 years, died of a heart attack in 2011 at age 47.

When Columbia University began offering the spread (a blend mainly of cocoa, sugar, hazelnuts and milk) at a dining hall in 2013, students smuggled it out like bandits, sending costs up a reported $5,000 in a week.

So in 2015 he bought the venerable British chocolatier Thorntons for $170 million.