Governance

Slow generational change in agri-food family businesses

According to the Aun Observatory (Aidaf, Unicredit Bocconi), transitions at the top take place at a high average age and governance is more closed to outsiders. Delay in closing the gender gap and only 18% of heirs have worked for at least a year outside the family business

by Maria Teresa Manuelli

23 March 2026

Solo nel 35,6% dei consigli di ammnistrazione delle aziende familiari del food & beverage conta almeno un terzo di donne

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Italia's food industry is gaining, but the baton is not being passed on. This is what emerges from an analysis of the accounts and governance of 1,137 family-controlled food companies or groups - from the charcuterie factories of Veneto to the pasta factories of the South, from the wines of the North-East to the preserves of Campania - which represent 66% of the more than 1,700 agrifood companies with a turnover of more than 20 million surveyed by the Aub Observatory (Aidaf, UniCredit, Bocconi). The numbers of the survey conducted uin exclusive for Food24 draw a contradictory picture: solid companies, but increasingly hesitant when it comes to changing the guard at the top.

Turnover and profitability

After the slowdown in 2021-2022, 2023 and 2024 mark a clear recovery. Average revenue growth returns strong: +4.9% in 2023 and +3.2% in 2024, while remaining slightly below non-family food in 2024 (+4.1%). The ratio of net financial position to margin (Ebitda) drops to 3.7, below non-family (4.3). Howeverthe Roi (return on investment) reaches 9.6 per cent, almost double the 5.5 per cent of non-families, while the Roe (return on equity) stands at 10.4 per cent against 4.5 per cent.

"A significant result because it goes against the national average, where the last two years have instead seen a drop in profitability," observes Fabio Quarato, lecturer and managing director of the Aidaf-Ey Chair in Family Business Strategy at Bocconi University.

Complicated transfer

It is when looking at succession that the picture becomes more complicated. Food families have a family member at the helm in 79.3% of cases (76.9% the Aub average) and 28.5% of leaders are over 70 years old, compared to 25.9% nationally. In boards, only 35.6% include at least one third women (39% the Aub average) and the presence of at least one non-family director stops at 52.4%, below the Observatory average (55.5%). The only positive sign concerns young people: 30.4% of boards include at least one person under 40, compared to 26.1% nationally.

The sector with the greatest financial strength is thus also the one in which generational transition occurs least often. After peaking at 2.3% in 2020, the share of companies making the transition dropped to 1% in 2024, when the Aub average stood at 1.6%.

"The numbers in the food sector tell of a sector that knows how to do business, but struggles with succession processes. Financial strength can become a factor that delays the transition, reducing external pressure to change,' Quarato explains. When it happens, the transition is most often accompanied by mentoring - the co-existence in the position of CEO between the outgoing founder and the successor. In 2015-2024, 42.4 per cent of cases followed this mode, compared to 34.4 per cent of the Aub average; in 2024 alone, the share reached 66.7 per cent.

Improve formation

The new food generations are the most educated: 89.2% have at least a diploma (80.6% the Aub average), with women at 95.7%. Their education is mainly oriented towards economic and financial disciplines (57.1%, compared to 50.4% nationally). But only 19.4% of successors have worked for at least one year outside the family business (24.3% the Aub average) and just 3.1% have gained experience abroad, less than half the national average (6.8%). A 'nextgen' that arrives at the top without having breathed different air risks being a limitation for a sector that competes in global markets and faces challenges - from digital transition to sustainability - that require openness to the outside world. Putting the pieces together - ageing leaders, slow transitions, unexposed heirs, closed governance - a risk emerges on the resilience of the entire system.

The Aub Observatory estimates that more than one third of Italian family businesses could be involved in a generational transition in the next decade. For food, where demographic pressure is greater than elsewhere, the window to act in an orderly manner is narrowing. The resources are there: healthy balance sheets, growing profitability, a new educated generation. The question is whether the owning families will know how to use them in time; and whether they will know how to do so by opening doors, as well as handing over the keys.

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