Stefano Zarrella joins the food startup Freda – and is an example of a new trend from the USA.
Stefano Zarrella becomes an entrepreneur: The food influencer invests in the Bavarian frozen food startup Freda and, together with the founders Philipp Kraiss and Christian Mahler, brings his own pizza onto the market. After more than a year of development, the product has been available online since Tuesday and nationwide at Kaufland and in selected Rewe stores.
The product was presented at a creator event in Cologne. According to the company, Zarrella worked on it for more than a year. “I didn’t want to make a pizza that just had my name on it,” Zarrella says. “I want to be behind it for the long term.” The pizza is topped with buffalo mozzarella from Naples and fresh basil. It is sold for 6.90 euros. So in the upper price segment for frozen pizzas.
Influencers become product developers
With the entry, the creator changes sides and shows a general trend: influencers are developing from pure advertising faces to co-developers of the products. This model has long been established in the USA. For example, the US influencer Logan Paul built his own consumer goods brand with his sports drink “Prime”, which now also cooperates with FC Bayern Munich.
For Zarrella, the project is also personal. His family once came to Germany from Italy and brought the food culture with them – his parents ran an Italian restaurant. He now wants to continue this passion for food with Freda.
