Ferrero is investing in the Estathé range: 400 million in revenue (+45% over 10 years)

Four hundred is the key figure for Estathé: that is the number of millions of packs produced in Italia each year from the tea leaf infusion made in Alba, and that is the number of millions of euros generated by this brand in 2025. That’s over 45 per cent more than ten years ago, with a significant increase in volume too. “And our ambition is to grow further because we have great faith in Estathé, the group’s third-largest brand behind Nutella and Kinder,” says Fabrizio Gavelli, chairman and managing director of Ferrero Commerciale Italia, which expects to close the year with €2 billion in revenue (out of the group’s total of €22.3 billion).

Ferrero invented this drink and stood by it even when, during its first decade on the market, the results were disappointing. Time, however, proved Michele Ferrero right; in 1972, he conceived and launched this genuine innovation for Italia: the first ready-to-drink iced tea, perfect for enjoying anywhere thanks to the convenient single-serve cup with a straw. And so he created a whole new market from scratch. Today, the ready-to-drink tea market is worth 500 million, and Estathè is the market leader. It is also the best-selling non-carbonated drink in Italia and the third best-selling soft drink in the world, behind the two top-selling Coca-Cola variants.

In its nearly 55 years on the market, Estathé has become a powerhouse brand for Ferrero and one of the iconic ‘Made in Italy’ drinks. So much so that – uniquely within Ferrero – it is not distributed in any other country. And, in another record-breaking feat, generates over 58 per cent of its sales between October and June: an unexpected result for a drink created to quench thirst naturally (and without bubbles) during the summer months.

Although consumption is spread over twelve months, Estathé’s image remains, however, closely linked to summer – a season for which this popular brand (found in 8 million households) is launching a host of new products. The most significant of these is the launch of Estathé Sport, with which the Ferrero Group is making its debut in the vibrant world of sports drinks, a sector worth over 600 quintali in sales in Italia, representing a turnover of around 100 million euros. As is always the case when it enters a new sector, Ferrero does so in an innovative way: in this instance, both the formulation (tea infusion with mineral salts) and the target audience (young people over 18) are innovative.

“In recent years, Estathé has seen steady growth in market share, even in complementary product lines such as ice cream, demonstrating its ability to innovate and cater to new consumption patterns and occasions whilst remaining unique and instantly recognisable,” emphasises Gavelli. This is also demonstrated by the launch of the limited-edition Tic Tac Estathé Limone, which will be available this summer. The other new development is the arrival of the canned version of Estathé Zero, for which singer-songwriter Alfa is the brand ambassador, and which is positioned in the most dynamic segment of the ready-to-drink tea market, where it accounts for 15 per cent by value and is experiencing double-digit growth.