"Good Food, Good Life"

This morning consisted of a tour and meeting with Nestle headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland.  Nestle is a multinational company that is the world leader in nutrition and health components.    The first thing one thinks of when hearing the name Nestle is chocolate.  I know I’m guilty of that, but today I found out that they are much, much more than that.  From Gerber foods to Purina pet chow, Nestle has does it all as far as food and nutrition goes offering over 10,000 products around the world.

The company started when Henri Nestle developed the first milk food for infants in 1867.  This was to save the life of his neighbor’s child, whose mother was unable to breast feed.  Since that start, Nestle has continued to grow through strategic acquisitions and smart product launches following the 60/40 + rule, or that Nestle will not launch a product unless 60% of testers prefer their product to the competition.

Nestle is now the largest company in their industry and holds the highest market share at only 1.7%.  This shows just how much room the organization has to grow.  And they do grow, nearly 5-6% a year.  As it says above, Nestle is a multinational company with 9 nationalities on their Board and 80 nationalities within the corporation.

It was interesting to see Nestle’s strategy, growing from more than just a food provider to a nutrition company focused on health.  One of their two biggest growth areas is with Nestle Professional. These are products focused on convenience, taste, and the ability for out-of-home consumption.  The other product area is the PPPs for developing countries.  These micro-distribution products are smaller sized and cheaper priced for those areas that are still under development.

The Nestle organization sells 1 billion products every day, and these products are for all types of times through the day and used by all ages.  It’s stressed that most people actually live a Nestle day, even if they do not know it.  Regardless of whether you know you live Nestle days or not, getting to tour this organization could not had been more worth it.  Seeing this wellness company based on sound human values and principles is refreshing in today’s environment, but not nearly as refreshing as the free samples they gave out!