Barilla - Italian leader in pasta and bread

Barilla is an Italian convenience foods and ready meals group that has proverbial eggs in a variety of baskets - it sells pasta, sauces and a range of bakery products and is the leader in a number of geographical markets.

Exporting 2.8 million tonnes of food products to over 125 nations every year and employing more than 18,000 people worldwide, Barilla is a huge company that also manages over 20 different brands.
 
Its last financial year brought increases in both revenues and profits - in spite of the recession - and a greater focus on health and nutrition through the establishment of a new thinktank to look into related issues.

Key categories and brands

Barilla operates in three key convenience foods and ready meals product segments - pasta, sauces and bakery - through two main business units, Barilla G e R Fratelli and Lieken. Its main pasta brands are Barilla - a global brand - as well as Voiello.
 
The company produces pasta for the Greek market under the Misko brand, for Turkey under the Filiz banner and for Mexico through the Yemina and Vesta brands.
 
In the bakery products sector, Barilla brands include Mulino Bianco, Pavesi and Golden Toast.  

The firm also makes bakery products - specifically rye and wheat-based foods - for the Swedish market under the Wasa brand.
 
Barilla's Harry's bakery brand operates in France, while La Bella Easo makes products for the Spanish market and Kamps - a bakery retail
chain - and Fritz Lieken are aimed at German consumers.
 
Ready-to-eat pasta sauces are made under the Barilla brand, while healthy bakery and other foods are produced through the Alixir brand - which may become more important in the future depending on how the firm's activities in the nutritional research sector pan out.
 
Barilla holds market leader positions in the pasta sauces sector in continental Europe, the bakery products market in Italy and the crispbread business in Scandinavia.
 
It makes about 1,500 individual products in total.

Company information
Barilla's history stretches back to 1877, when it was founded as a single pasta and bread shop in Parma, Italy - where its headquarters are also located today. The company is privately held and has more than 50 production sites worldwide. It gained full control of the Kamps and Harry's brands in 2007.