Consumption

Not only Salone: the Milan 'brand' conquers food and drives purchases

Sales of food bearing the word Milan on the label are growing twice as fast as average spending

by Manuela Soressi

27 April 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Marketing and identity
Souvenirs and imitation attempts
Milan is also an American oval cookie

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

For design and fashion, Milan has been a prestigious 'label' for decades, in sport and cosmetics it has become so more recently, and now it is also establishing itself as an added value in the world of food. Compared to the nearly one thousand brands that contain the word 'Milan' registered in the EU (from Prada to Pomellato, from Deborah to Breil), there are about sixty food products sold in large-scale distribution that bear the name of the Lombard capital on the label or present themselves as 'Milanese'.

They range from chops to ready-made risotto, from coffee blends to beer, from sugared almonds to panettone. Adding together supermarkets, hypermarkets and self-service shops, they develop 35.8 million euro in sales, 8.3% more than in the previous 12 months, the GS1 Italy Immagino Observatory reports. The quantities ending up in shopping trolleys have also increased (+5.4%) and at twice the rate of the overall grocery sales. This is thanks to consumer interest, as it was the demand component that drove sales.

Marketing and Identity Matters

It is not surprising, therefore, that companies also emphasise their Milanese heritage on the label (such as Vergani and T'A) or that they have started to do so, such as Campari and Vitavigor, which in 2016 introduced the naming 'I Grissini di Milano' on its packaging.

"This reference conveys values such as style, quality and refinement, which are already rooted in the international collective imagination and have contributed to supporting the 22% average annual increase in sales between large-scale distribution, catering and foodservice," says Federica Bigiogera, sales and marketing manager of the company created by her grandfather, who in 1958 invented the 'Super Grissin de Milan', different in its 'closure' from the classic Turin one. Today, breadsticks with a reproduction of Milan Cathedral arrive in over 30 countries.

There are more than 40 countries where Citterio ships its Salame Milano, created by Giuseppe Citterio in 1871 and which achieves 55% of its sales abroad, particularly in Switzerland (where it is also a traditional and popular Christmas gift). "We are the only major competitor to produce it in the Milan area, and we respect our original recipe from 1878, with 100% Italian meat and natural fermentation," explains marketing director Alessandro Riva. "For us, Milan is an added value, especially abroad, where it is a distinctive and interesting factor, especially since the Expo made it a tourist destination and made its gastronomic excellence be discovered.

Souvenirs and imitation attempts

The 9.6 million visitors who landed under the Madonnina in 2025 often returned home with a gastronomic souvenir (such as panettoncini, now sold all year round) and easily found a few 'Milanese' products in the shops of their home countries too, such as Knorr Milanese risotto in a Knorr bag in Germany the Fleury Michon Milanese schnitzel in France, the Nescafé Milano espresso in the UK, or the dozens of variants of 'milanesa' and 'milaneza' (schnitzel) sold in South America, where this term, imported in the wake of Italian emigrants, has become synonymous with breaded and fried foods (bananas included).

Milan is also an American oval cookie

But the world's best-selling Milan-labelled product has nothing to do with Made in Italy. It is an oval biscuit, formed by two cat's tongues joined by a chocolate filling, created in 1957 by the American Pepperidge Farm (Campbell's group) and named after the European confectionery tradition.
It has become iconic in the US, where it is one of the best-selling premium biscuits, is offered in some 20 variants and exports the name of Milan to over 45 countries. Today, it would no longer be possible to call it that: as of 2024, to use the name 'Milano' as part of a brand requires the authorisation of the Milan municipality, which grants it on a ten-year basis only if the use is consistent with the values and identity of the area and if the brand conveys a positive image of the Lombard capital.