Bertolli Inks Deal with Celebrity Chef Laura Vitale

Bertolli, the world’s lead­ing olive oil brand by sales, has announced a part­ner­ship with Italian-American chef Laura Vitale, star of the YouTube cook­ing show ​“Laura in the Kitchen” to high­light its com­mit­ment to qual­ity while play­ing up its authen­tic­ity and Italian her­itage.

A house­hold name in Italy with a large pres­ence in American super­mar­kets, Bertolli will use its col­lab­o­ra­tion with the social-media celebrity to focus on cook­ing and liv­ing well with Bertolli through recipes, nutri­tion and la dolce vita (“The Sweet Life”). Coinciding with the new part­ner­ship, Bertolli has also rolled out a new bot­tle design for its extra vir­gin olive oil.

“We’re excited to part­ner with Laura, whose rep­u­ta­tion for effort­less yet deli­cious Italian cook­ing aligns per­fectly with our new brand vision that pays homage to Bertolli’s his­tory while high­light­ing the value of authen­tic­ity and sim­plic­ity for bet­ter liv­ing,” Glenn Hartman, the chief exec­u­tive offi­cer at Deoleo North America, said in a state­ment. ​“Sleek and sophis­ti­cated imagery, as well as sim­ple mes­sag­ing on the new bot­tle illus­trate the brand’s arti­sanal pedi­gree, the legacy of Francesco Bertolli and our com­mit­ment to qual­ity.”

Naples-born Vitale, who immi­grated to the U.S. at age 12, devel­oped a love of Italian cook­ing from her grand­mother as a teenager. Known for her easy approach to food, she has more than 2 mil­lion YouTube sub­scribers. She is the author of the cook­book, ​“Laura in the Kitchen: Favorite Italian-American Recipes Made Easy” (Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony).

“The heart of the home is in the kitchen. Cooking should be about sim­plic­ity, food plea­sure and good vibes, as well as choos­ing the right healthy ingre­di­ents to help live a bet­ter life,” said Vitale. ​“I’m hon­ored to part­ner with Bertolli Olive Oil, a trusted brand I grew up cook­ing with and use to this day. I share many com­mon­al­i­ties with the brand, includ­ing a belief that cook­ing con­nects you to a per­son, like my grand­mother, or place, like Italy, and that hav­ing an Italian enthu­si­asm and pas­sion for liv­ing well comes through in sim­ple cook­ing with qual­ity ingre­di­ents.”

Bertolli’s new bot­tle, designed by pack­ag­ing firm Stranger and Stranger, fea­tures an oval shape that rep­re­sents the plazas in the heart of Lucca, the walled medieval Tuscan city where the brand was born, which is sur­rounded by rolling hills dot­ted with orchards of sil­ver-leaved olive trees.

Bertolli, which is owned by Deoleo, the world’s biggest olive-oil bot­tler, is one of the world’s most rec­og­niz­able labels. With its foray into the world of online cook­ing, the olive oil pro­ducer is aim­ing to estab­lish itself as an Italian lifestyle brand.