Swedish-Italian siblings Bianca, Benjamin and Oliver Ingrosso bring their shared love of pasta and cooking to their new food brand Mino, which offers premium Italian ingredients in Swedish groceries. We meet with the Ingrosso trio to discuss their new venture
The Ingrosso siblings go hard for pasta. “They have obviously spent all of their lives behind the stove in the kitchen, cooking pasta,” says influencer, reality star and entrepreneur Bianca Ingrosso, pointing to her two brothers, Oliver, a cookbook author and the man behind trendy Italian restaurant Olli, and pop star Benjamin, whose Instagram reveals a true obsession with Italian food (and food in general, really). “Oliver taught me how to cook – how to slice onions and stuff,” adds Benjamin.
Growing up half-Italian (on their father’s side), family dinners were naturally pasta-oriented. Only problem was the struggle to procure high quality Italian ingredients – most notably the niche cheeses and pasta shapes – in Sweden. “The conversation was always, why can’t we get this stuff? Why can’t we get the cheese we use at family dinners on Sundays?” Says Oliver. “And from the beginning, we always said, ‘We’re going to do it ourselves when we grow up’. And now we’re actually sitting here, doing it.” He pauses and adds, “Well… we aren’t actually grown up. But we’re doing it anyways.”
Photo: Robin Bøe
Photo: Robin Bøe
Enter Mino, the Ingrosso trio’s brand new Italian food brand. With the help of CEO Daniel Warence (who offers years of food business experience as well as a baking education), Mino is their long-held fantasy come to life, bringing deep-cut pasta shapes and premium canned tomatoes to the shelves of ICA (there will be more products – they’re currently in their cheese-testing phase – and, hopefully, more retailers to come). “When we started talking, I saw huge potential and their passion and skill set and I just said, ‘I have to be a part of this’,” says Warence. “And [Daniel] works his ass off,” adds Bianca.
As for the name, it’s lifted from the tail end of the Italian version of Benjamin: Benjamino. “He’s had the biggest dream since he was a child that he wanted you to refer to him as an Italian boy,” says Bianca of Benjamin. Benjamin nods, adding, “I’m half-Italian, I don’t look Italian and my older siblings look more Italian than me.” This led to a classic sibling ruse growing up. “We tricked him that he was adopted,” says Oliver. “Once Benjamin called our father because he thought he was adopted and our father picked up the phone and he had something else to do so he wasn’t concentrating.” The tale goes that when Benjamin asked his father if he was in fact adopted, his dad, not paying attention, simply responded ‘Yeah, yeah, 100 per cent’. The Ingrossos are all laughing now at the memory, which concludes with Benjamin really convinced he was adopted for a couple of weeks. Benjamin composes himself and concludes, “Our Nonno, our grandfather, who passed away last year, was the only one who called me Benjamino.”
Photo: Robin Bøe
Bringing Mino to life was a labour of love several years in the making. “It’s harder than you think from the start – having your own brand,” says Benjamin (it’s a challenge Bianca, who has a growing portfolio of businesses including Caia cosmetics, knows all too well). “It would end up with us at 2AM in my kitchen, cooking four different pasta shapes and setting the al dente time. I’ll be like, ‘I think this one is done’ and Oliver will say ‘No, it needs 30 more seconds’.” Getting the suggested pasta cooking time right was a particularly important detail, given that Oliver and Benjamin never “trusted” the minutes on other pasta packages. Bianca interjects with a bombshell: “No one could imagine that I am the best one at noticing when it’s al dente.” Benjamin confirms this with enthusiastic “100 per cent”. “And I’m also the best at salting the water,” Bianca adds. So what is the correct cooking time and salt-to-water ratio? At this question the siblings erupt into a lengthy chorus on pasta shapes and sauces that makes my eyes cross and my mouth water. The short answer comes from Oliver: “It depends”.
Speaking of the packaging, Mino’s is a pleasing eggshell with soothing blue-grey lettering. “We all grew up with art in different ways and I’ve always been longing to have a pasta that you can have out, next to a painting or something, just for the look of it,” he says. “And then you open it up and it’s the best you can find.” At a factory in northern Italy, the pasta takes three days to come together between the dough-making, resting and drying time. “It’s a proper journey for the pasta,” says Oliver, proudly.
Photo: Robin Bøe
Starting a business with one’s siblings isn’t for everyone, but for the Ingrossos, things are running smoothly so far. “We have always been like our own little family when the other parts of the family were a bit chaotic,” says Bianca, noting that at times, Oliver was like “a father” to herself and Benjamin. “We have a lot of respect for each other and that’s why we gravitate towards each other every single day. We don’t have big egos that get in the way.” Perhaps they’ll argue for a moment over which pecorino tastes the best, but ultimately they’re good at coming to a joint decision. “It was hard to choose the best one because they were all so good,” notes Benjamin.
And there’s one more thing that drives the siblings towards success beyond their mutual respect and love of pasta. “I also think we have something to prove,” says Oliver, breaking into a laugh. “…To the other people in the family. That you can actually work together and still be a family.”