The first official Nutella restaurant is opening in Chicago at the end of this month. Nutella Café will be the first restaurant owned and operated by Italian confectionery giant Ferrero, the makers of the beloved chocolate hazelnut spread, when it opens its doors on May 31 on 10 am. In addition to a long list of Nutella baked goods, breakfast items, and desserts, the eatery will also have a savory dish menu for a full meal. There have been temporary Nutella pop-ups in the past — including one at Harvey Nichols that closed in January of this year — as well as spots like the Nutella Bar at New York City’s Italian food emporium Eataly. However, this is the first restaurant run by the company itself.
Nutella’s history
After World War II, Italian pastry chef from Piedmont Pietro Ferrero had the idea to create a sweet chocolate pasta made with hazelnuts, sugar and the few cocoa available at the time. He shaped it into a loaf that could be sliced and served on bread and he named it ‘Giandujot’ after a famous local carnival character at the time. On May 14th 1946 the Ferrero Company was officially founded. In 1951 the delicious ‘Giandujot’ paste was transformed into a new product that could be easily spread on bread; it was called SuperCrema, the precursor of Nutella. In 1964 Pietro Ferrero’s son Michele applied his innovative genius and, by trial and error, he improved the recipe and created the first-ever jar of a new hazelnut and cocoa cream which was, however, still without a name. So he put his creative hat on again and invented the perfect solution for the world’s most famous spread: Nutella. It reached Germany and then France, Australia and the rest of the world. The newly-designed jars with the unmistakable iconic design were also well acclaimed with a great success.