Bringing joy with Quality at Heart

Our heritage

Ferrero started as a small family ‘pasticceria’ in Italy in 1946. Today, it has become one of the world’s largest players in the Sweet Packaged Foods category and is home to some of the most iconic and loved brands. But even after three quarters of a century since the company began, some things have remained the same – our family values, our dedication to quality, and our determination to deliver the best for our consumers.

From our approach to helping to protect the environment and our commitment to sourcing ingredients responsibly, to our dedication to promoting responsible consumption and empowering our people, our values continue to provide a strong foundation and are a guiding force as the company continues to evolve and grow.

These cornerstones have made some of our unique and iconic brands, like Nutella, Kinder and Ferrero Rocher, family favourites across the UK and Ireland.


Ferrero in the UK

The UK and Ireland have played an incredibly important role in the growth and development of the Ferrero business. Since Ferrero entered the UK market in 1966, we have been providing UK consumers with our carefully crafted unique products. We established our presence in the UK with Nutella. Did you know that this iconic spread has an interesting history – due to the cocoa shortage after the Second World War, a spread was created by mixing together hazelnuts and cocoa paste, called ‘Giandujot’ this has evolved into the much loved Nutella that we all know today.

In 1970, Ferrero launched the Fresh Mint Tic Tac, the first “pocket mint” to hit UK stores with the Lime & Orange flavour following just a few years later.

In 1974, we launched our iconic Kinder Surprise in the UK, combining the delicious taste of Kinder chocolate and a toy in every egg, to create a world of fun and entertainment that helps children to develop their imagination. Sixteen years later in 1990, Kinder Chocolate bars made its debut in the UK, delighting children with small, individually wrapped treats while also reassuring parents at the same time with our approach to responsible consumption.

With the acquisition of Thorntons in 2015, we brought together two highly complementary businesses that share the same passion for innovative brand growth, underpinned by a proud heritage and a culture built upon family foundations. Since then, we have significantly invested in developing and building a strategic plan that shapes the future of Thorntons. In fact, our factory in Alfreton has recently become a centre of excellence for assortments and model figures for the Ferrero Group, and we are continuing that journey by producing more Thorntons and Ferrero assortment products for the international market, as well as innovations for the UK market such as Thorntons Pearls, and remastering Thorntons Classic and Thorntons Continental.

Most recently, with the acquisitions of Eat Natural and Fulfil, we have further grown our presence in the UK and expanded into new markets and category segments that meet the evolving needs and trends of our consumers.

Over recent years, the Ferrero UK and Ireland region has continued to grow from strength to strength with our distinctive brands, campaigns and category leadership all while keeping Quality at the Heart of everything we do.


Our dedication to quality
At Ferrero, we always say that the difference between ‘good’ and ‘great’ lies in the smallest details.

Our products

A top priority for us has always been to produce high-quality products for our consumers, and we do just that thanks to our continuous dedication to innovation, increasing investment in our brands, the strengthening of our internal R&D activities, and investing in improving and expanding our manufacturing plants and equipment.

In fact, we are so passionate about quality that, at any one time, Ferrero researchers are working on more than 100 new products, but only the very best of these will come to market. But our dedication doesn’t stop there, as well as creating products, we also invent the technology to make them – our highly skilled Ferrero engineers undertake the unique design and assembly of our machines themselves! No matter how good an idea is, we will only proceed if we can produce a product expertly and efficiently while delivering a taste that our consumers love.

We combine modern methods with a long-standing passion that lives across all stages of our value chain, from sourcing and product development all the way to our business partners and our final consumer.


Our commitment to sustainability

But it’s not just about our investment in the creation of our products – we have always taken a responsible approach to the ethical and sustainable sourcing of our key ingredients, while respecting people and the planet. Innovation plays an important role across our value chains, for example, through our partnership with Earthworm Foundation, we use Starling satellite technology to monitor land coverage change, supporting our commitment to secure a deforestation-free and exploitation-free palm oil supply chain.

We use a range of innovations such as this across all parts of our business, all of which have played a pivotal role in helping to bring our consumers the products they love responsibly.

With strong investments in innovation, our dedication to quality and the desire to create moments of joy, what makes Ferrero unique is cultivating an approach that is based on sustainability, quality and family values. In fact, Ferrero is now ranked as the top food company in the 2022 Reputation Institute’s 100 most reputable companies list, but we recognise that it’s more than just the way we create our iconic products – it’s also about the passionate people behind them.

Our people

We have always believed that a diverse and inclusive workforce and culture of strong values is crucial to long-term business success. That is why we are passionate about providing our people with policies that help support them through all stages of their lives such as extra paid leave to support those going through their journey of adoption, fertility treatments and surrogacy, paid leave for those who experience pregnancy loss and paid leave for those who are caregivers. As we grow and diversify, we are on a journey of continuous learning and adapting to meet our goal of building a better place to work. Our people are our biggest assets, and in nurturing them, we provide the means to succeed personally and professionally throughout their journey with Ferrero.

We continue to support the business by engaging and inspiring our workforce who are the driving force behind our Quality at Heart ethos.

Looking ahead

Our determination to bring you only the very best lies at the heart of everything we do. We know that it's these details that matter to guarantee the quality of our unique products and brands.

As a result of our continuous dedication to innovation, quality and excellence whilst staying true to our family values, we are proud to have provided, and continue to provide, our consumers with our unique brands that are loved generation after generation. This dedication is reflected in our desire to bring joyful moments to our consumers with products that deliver a great taste but are also produced in a way that also protects people and our planet.