Oro Saiwa biscuits celebrate 70 years with 135 million revenues

It was born in Genoa in 1956 from an innovative idea (wrapping the biscuits while still warm to preserve their aroma) and with an evocative brand name, recalling both the perfect golden colour and the 'gold' standard. That is why it was not only one of the first industrial biscuits to appear in Italia but also one of the first cases of marketing applied to food. Today, Oro Saiwa remains a key player in Italian grocery shopping: number one in dry biscuits in terms of quantities sold, it is bought by 9 million households and has a €135 million sell-out. Now it is ready to celebrate its first 70 years with a new visual identity, a renewed logo and communication activities both in shops and on the media, with the new release of the advertising campaign with which for over 20 years it has ironically interpreted the many facets of the Italian breakfast.

"Oro Saiwa is an icon of Italian food and is among the local brands that we grow with care and attention because they are able to maintain a strong connection with consumers," says Silvia Bagliani, president and CEO of Mondelēz Italia, which has had it in its portfolio since 2007. The Italian branch is also the fourth most important in Europe for Mondelēz International, a colossus with 38.5 billion dollars of sales in 2025 (32.7 billion euros, ed.) present in over 150 countries with global, continental and "national" brands, with over €1.1 billion in sales in 2024.

"Oro Saiwa has always remained the same but has been able to evolve, as witnessed by the expansion of the range, with which it has also successfully landed in the world of snacks, a market that in Italia in 2025 grew by 4% compared to 2.3% for food," adds Bagliani. The more than 3 billion Oro Saiwa biscuits sold in a year are produced at the Capriata d'Orba plant exclusively with Italian soft wheat (36 thousand tonnes in 2025), which, starting next year, will be completely obtained from regenerative agriculture. In this plant in the Alessandria area (in which the company has invested 50 million euros over a decade) other Mondelēz brands are also processed, such as, Cipster and Tuc, which are also distributed abroad. These are joined byMilka, Oro Ciok, Mikado and Oreo with which the company is a leader in industrial confectionery and has grown considerably, also benefiting from a range expansion.

Biscuits, chocolate and sweet and savoury snacks are core categories for Mondelēz International, which has gradually abandoned other product sectors to focus on products that cater to new modes of consumption, from breakfast to snacks to after-dinner drinks. Products capable not only of fitting into the growing deconstruction of consumption but also of intercepting global food trends, such as protein, where the group entered in 2021, taking over the Grenade brand of bars, which then also arrived in Italia.

Attention to emerging consumer needs also drives innovation in thedairy world, which accounts for the other 50 per cent of the business in Italia. And in particular in Philadelphia, a brand with EUR 250 million in retail sales. "Year after year we have expanded the range by introducing new versions (e.g. protein, lactose free, plant based or with Greek yoghurt) which have been well received and which support the increase in sales, which grew by 5.8% in volume even in the first months of 2026," explains Bagliani. Leader in slices with Sottilette ("orphaned" by the Kraft brand since it was sold to Heinz), Mondelēz Italia presides over the world of fresh cheeses with Fattorie Osella, in which it controls 51% of the capital.