Ferrero buys the Fresystem bell which produces the Cupiello-Corriere.it brioches

The Ferrero group goes shopping again. This time, in order to grow, look to Italy, after the billionaire shopping campaigns in the United States. The multinational led by executive chairman Giovanni Ferrero and CEO Lapo Civiletti buys Fresystem, a company from Campania, a market leader in the frozen bakery sector, i.e. baked goods for the Italian breakfast.

Revenues

Fresystem, founded in 1983 and acquired by the Simioli family in 1991, represents a point of reference for operators in the sector, says Ferrero. The company, which closed 2021 with a turnover of 60 million euros, which rose to 70 in 2022, operates in Italy through the production hub in Caivano (Naples). It produces and distributes Cupiello-branded items and operates as a third-party manufacturer. The strength of Fresystem is the use of fine ingredients, including the exclusive fresh sourdough, kept and regenerated daily in a dedicated area of ​​the factory, combined with innovative production processes and technologies, says the company. The acquisition is part of Ferrero’s strategic growth path in the enlarged market of sweet snacks and is placed in a high-potential segment. The operation thus consolidates Ferrero’s position in Italy, which remains a strategic hub for the Group both in terms of production and the market. The market for breakfast bars is an integration of the offer of sweet products which until now only concerned breakfast at home. The market for frozen bakery products is worth over 500 million, including bars and large chains.

The family

The group led by the Simili family (assisted in the operation by the advisor Vitale), which since 1991 has expanded to numerous heirs. Who have now decided to make the company grow internationally, joining a global group like Ferrero which will have to give a change of pace to the Italian company that collects 90% of the peninsula’s revenues. Imma Simioli, Cavaliere del Lavoro since 2012, has been in charge so far. At the moment Ferrero has no plans to change the current corporate structure.

Muffins and croissants

Fresystem produces bakery products for bars — brioches, muffins, puff pastries — under the Cupiello brand, a business that generates a significant portion of the Neapolitan company’s revenues. Then he works for large retailers and other commercial chains for which they make bulk baked goods. Finally, he makes brioches for Autogrill, McDonald’s and other chains. It also has its own brand — Cupiello — which can be found in bars. an old acquaintance of Ferrero for whom he has already been producing Nutella muffins since 2021 which are found in large chains such as Autogrill and McDonald’s. Ferrero has focused on the specificity of the product: the Campania company cultivates the mother yeast with which it makes the preparations. an excellence in quality from the point of view of the ingredients and the technology that allows the use of sourdough. In Italy, Ferrero has already bought the ICFC ice cream production in Mantua and the processing of hazelnuts in the Viterbo area, which will flow into Korvella.

Italian production hub

The Caivano plant becomes Ferrero’s second production center in Campania and joins the historic plant in Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi in the province of Avellino. Thus the production map in Italy expands, which already sees Pozzuolo Martesana for the creation of fresh products covered in chocolate such as Kinder Pinguino and the Fette al latte, plus the Fiesta, Kinder Delice. In addition of course to Alba, the historic heart of chocolate and Balvano in Basilicata where they sell Nutella Biscuits and snacks.

The season of acquisitions by Giovanni Ferrero continues – reaching 16 since 2015 – which in December took over the US ice creams of Wells.