Nestlé S.A. is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation .
It is the largest food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics.
It is headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, and operates factories in more than 80 countries.
Nestlé currently has over 2000 brands with a wide range of products including coffee, bottled water, milkshakes and other beverages, candies, breakfast cereals, infant foods, performance and healthcare nutrition, seasonings, soups and sauces, frozen and refrigerated foods, ice cream and pet food. The company also produces pharmaceuticals.
Nestlé’s origin dates back to the 1860s, when two separate Swiss enterprises were founded that would later form Nestlé. In the following decades, the two competing enterprises expanded their businesses throughout Europe and the United States.
In 1866, Charles Page (US consul to Switzerland) and George Page, brothers from Lee County, Illinois, USA, established the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company in Cham, Switzerland.
In 1867, Nestlé’s founder, German-born pharmacist Henri Nestlé, launches his ‘farine lactée’ (‘flour with milk’) in Vevey, Switzerland. It combines cow’s milk, wheat flour and sugar, and Nestlé develops it for consumption by infants who cannot be breastfed, to tackle high mortality rates. Around this time he starts using the now famous ‘Nest’ logo.
The Nestlé company also plays a role in the development of milk chocolate from 1875, when it supplies his Vevey neighbour Daniel Peter with condensed milk, which Peter uses to develop the first such commercial product in the 1880s.
In 1875, Henri Nestlé sells his company and factory in Vevey to three local businessmen. They employ chemists and skilled workers to help expand production and sales.
In 1877, Anglo-Swiss added milk-based baby foods to its products, and in the following year the Nestlé company added condensed milk, so that the firms became direct and fierce rivals.
In 1879, Nestlé merged with milk chocolate inventor Daniel Peter.
In 1882 Anglo-Swiss expands into the US, but the death of George Page frustrates its plans. In 1902 it sells its US-based operations, which paves the way for an eventual merger with Nestlé.
In 1904, François-Louis Cailler, Charles Amédée Kohler, Daniel Peter, and Henri Nestlé participated in the creation and development of Swiss chocolate, marketing the first chocolate – milk Nestlé. It was created as a competitor to the more-established, and North American chocolate bar segment-leader Hershey bar, and was even created in a similar form as their competitor.
The history of white chocolate is largely unclear, but the general consensus, is that Nestlé was the first to develop white chocolate commercially in 1936 in Switzerland. The story is that it was a way to use up excess milk powder that had been produced for World War I and was no longer in demand.”
Nestlé began developing a coffee brand in 1930, at the initiative of the Brazilian government, to help to preserve the substantial surplus of the annual Brazilian coffee harvest. Max Morgenthaler led the development project. Nestlé introduced the new product under the brand name “Nescafé” on 1 April 1938.
In 1948, Nestlé launched a drink mix for chocolate-flavored milk called Nestle Quik in the United States – this was released in Europe during the 1950s as Nesquik. Since 1999, the brand has been known as Nesquik worldwide.
The company has made a number of corporate acquisitions, including Crosse & Blackwell in 1950, Findus in 1963, Libby’s in 1971, Rowntree Mackintosh in 1988, Klim in 1998, and Gerber in 2007.
In 2016, Nestlé, ocelebrated its 150th anniversary.
According to Nestlé, Nestlé Milk Chocolate was discontinued in 2016.
The most espressos made in one hour by a team is 21,000 and was achieved by Nestlé Portugal (Portugal) in Carvalhal, Portugal, on 17 February 2017. The espressos were prepared by a team of 250 people.
The largest chocolate firework was made by Nestlé, measuring 3 m (9.8 ft) high and 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in diameter and containing 60 kg (132 lb) of Swiss Cailler chocolates. The firework was released at the Hechtplatz, Zürich, Switzerland on 31 December 2002. The chocolate firework was lit and it exploded, releasing the 60 kg (132 lb) of chocolates.
The largest human ice cream cone consists of 478 participants and was achieved by Nestlé (China) Ltd. Ice Cream Business Unit (China) in Qingdao, Shandong, China, on 18 December 2019.