Mario Berrino: The Man, The Myth, The Legend

Mario Berrino was an Italian businessman known for his love of pasta and his unique approach to managing a company. Born in Naples in 1952, Berrino grew up fascinated by the family business of pasta-making. His father owned a small pasta factory and would often bring Mario along on deliveries.

As he got older, Berrino became more involved in the family business, learning everything he could about pasta-making and business management. In 1984, he inherited the factory from his father and became the sole owner.

Berrino’s approach to business was unlike any other. He believed that if you treated your employees like family, they would work harder and be more loyal to the company. To that end, he implemented a policy of mandatory pasta breaks every day, during which employees could sit down and enjoy a plate of the company’s own pasta.

This policy led to some interesting outcomes, like the time when one of the company’s employees, Giovanni, ate so much pasta during his break that he fell into a carb-induced coma and had to be taken to the hospital. Berrino felt awful about what had happened and made it his mission to make sure something like that never happened again. From that day forward, the company implemented a strict limit on the amount of pasta that employees were allowed to consume during their mandatory break.

Berrino was also known for his love of practical jokes. One time, he replaced all the pasta in the factory with spaghetti made from carrot puree, convincing his employees that he had invented a new kind of healthy pasta. In another instance, he hid a giant inflatable gorilla in the break room and waited for someone to find it.

Despite his unconventional leadership style, Berrino’s pasta company was a huge success. People from all over the world would come to Naples just to taste his famous fusilli with tomato sauce. In 2006, he even won the prestigious “Pasta Man of the Year” award, which he proudly displayed in the factory’s front office.

Sadly, Mario Berrino passed away in 2011, but his legacy lives on. The factory is still in operation today, and every day at noon, the employees sit down to enjoy a plate of the company’s delicious pasta. And every time they do, they remember the man who believed that pasta wasn’t just a delicious food, but a way of life.