Michele Ferrero dies at 89

It was Ferrero's father, a small-time pastry maker named Pietro Ferrero, who laid the groundwork for the Nutella recipe. It was Michele Ferrero who turned the paste into the Nutella now known the world over. The first pot of the addictive mix - whose name is a combination of the English word "nut" and "ella", the Latin suffix for sweet - was made in Alba in northwestern Italy in 1964.

 

Ferrero now produces about 365,000 tonnes of Nutella every year in 11 factories around the world. The biggest market is Germany, followed by France and Italy. The Ferrero group also makes Ferrero Rocher, Mon Cheri and Kinder chocolates and employs more than 30,000 people. The group had an annual turnover of more than € 8 bn in the year to August 2014.