Championing the UK in a competitive global marketplace
Many people will be familiar with some of Britain’s best loved brands like Nutella, Kinder, Tic Tac and Ferrero Rocher. But what of the company behind them? How much do people know about Ferrero?
Ferrero is a family-owned, sweet-packaged foods business founded in 1946 in Alba, Italy, and has become one of the largest chocolate confectionary companies in the world. We have been present in the UK since 1966 and have grown and steadily invested in this country ever since.
In recent years we have added some well-loved UK brands to our iconic global portfolio. Some, like Thorntons, Eat Natural and Fulfil, are owned and managed as part of the Ferrero Group. Other acquisitions such as Fox’s Biscuits and Burtons Biscuits are owned and managed as related companies in FBC UK, separately to the Ferrero Group.
What lies behind this growth? Great brands and great tasting products of course, but also great investment. The hundreds of millions of pounds involved makes Ferrero and Ferrero related companies the second largest investor of Italian origin in the UK, at a time when overall investment in UK food and drink has fallen by a third in the last four years (source ONS). The Ferrero ecosystem in this country now has a turnover of more than £1bn employing more than 4,500 people with 10 factories across the UK. We also support more than 10,000 jobs, 90 per cent of which are outside London.
At Ferrero, quality is at the heart of everything we do with an entrepreneurial and innovative spirit that has been crafted for generations. We care about our heritage and our family values, quality and excellence, our respect for people and the planet and the communities in which we work.
As a responsible business, our approach is to help consumers enjoy our products thoughtfully and our core nutritional principles underpin everything we do. Our small portions help people enjoy their favourite foods as part of a balanced diet with over 90 per cent of our products available in portions containing less than 150 calories.
We also partner with the English Football League in the Community and the Scottish Professional Football League Trust to deliver our unbranded Joy of moving programme in schools across the UK. Over the last 10 years we have helped more than 600,000 children to get active through play and delivered over 3 million additional hours of learning in schools.
Ferrero also works with partner organisations to promote and support the use of sustainable ingredients. We have a long-standing commitment to sourcing and promoting sustainable palm oil (and are ranked #2 for our efforts by the WWF in their 2024 global scorecard). We believe there is more to be done to promote awareness of sustainable palm oil, and we work closely with our charity partners Chester Zoo to raise awareness in schools and communities across the UK.
We are excited about the opportunities presented by a new government and parliamentary term and want to work closely with a wide range of stakeholders to make further progress on many of the areas outlined above. In doing so, we are confident that we can play our
part and help the UK thrive in a globally competitive marketplace.
To get in touch with us directly, email CorporateAffairs.uk@ferrero.com or visit ferrero.co.uk.
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