Barilla to launch restaurants in U.S.




Barilla SpA, the 135-year-old, family-owned Italian pasta company, is counteracting sluggish demand in Europe with an effort to build demand globally, especially in the U.S.,

the

Wall Street Journal

reported.

To increase its U.S. brand recognition, the company will launch a chain of Barilla-branded restaurants next year. Last February, it launched a line of microwavable meals in the U.S.

Guido Barilla, 54, great-grandson of the founder, has been chairman since 2003. A new non-family CEO, Claudio Colzani, will join the company in October; he was chief customer officer at Unilever in the U.S.

The company is also divesting itself of non-core assets, the

Journal

article said. It has sold a Spanish bakery-products producer and has put a German bread maker up for sale. The

Journal

report said Barilla will use the funds from asset sales to finance expansion plans in pasta and pasta-related businesses in the U.S. and South America.

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In 2011, Barilla’s bakery business made up 60% of its sales, down from about 67% in 2006. Pasta, sauces and flour constituted 37% of the company’s revenue last year, up from 26% in 2006, according to the

Journal

report.

The company has been selling dry pasta in the U.S. since the mid-1990s. Of Barilla’s total 3.6 billion revenue last year, 365 million euros ($457 million) came from the U.S., up from 220 million euros in 2005, the article said. (Source:

Wall Street Journal,

Aug. 31, 2012.)

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