Iacocca Starts Spreading

04/24/96

Reuters reported that Lee Iacocca, Chrysler's former chairman, will debut a new margarine spread this year, trying to break it into the $1.8 billion non-butter spread market. Iacocca's new product, Olivio, will be made in part out of the thousands of gallons of olive oil that Iacocca's estate in Italy produces each year.

Olivia will be made by Iacocca's Boston-based firm, Nicola Corp., which is named after Iacocca's late father. Nicola touts Olivio as the only margarine made with extra light olive oil and containing less saturated fats than butter and no cholesterol. It will be introduced in the six New England states plus parts of New York and Pennsylvania this month; the spread will hit stores nationally by the end of 1997.

Iacocca and his estates in California and Tuscany, Italy will star in a $8 to $10 million dollar advertising campaign to hock the new product. Nicola Corp. has joined forces with RJR Nabisco to manufacture and distribute Olivio. They hope for a 2% share of the U.S. market.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel