Nestlé

Nestlé S.A. is a Swiss multinational corporation that processes and sells food and drink. Its headquarters are in Vevey, Switzerland. Since 2014, it has been the world’s largest publicly owned food company when measured by revenue and similar benchmarks. In 2017, it placed 64th on the Fortune Global 500, and in 2023, it ranked 50th on the Forbes Global 2000.

The company’s product range includes coffee and tea, candy and confectionery, bottled water, infant formula and baby food, dairy products and ice cream, frozen foods, breakfast cereals, dry packaged foods and snacks, pet foods, and medical food. Twenty-nine of its brands each generate over 1 billion CHF (roughly US$1.1 billion) in annual sales. These include Nespresso, Nescafé, Nestea, Kit Kat, Smarties, Nesquik, Stouffer Corporation, Vittel, and Maggi. As of 2025, Nestlé runs 335 factories across 185 countries and employs about 271,000 people. It is also a major shareholder in L’Oréal, the largest cosmetics company globally.

Nestlé was created in 1905 through the merger of two earlier companies: the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, founded in 1866 by brothers George Ham Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1867 by Henri Nestlé. The company grew substantially during World War I and again after World War II, broadening its product line beyond condensed milk and infant formula. It also expanded through many corporate acquisitions.

Nestlé has faced long-standing criticism for its business practices. In the 1970s, a boycott was organized over the company’s promotion of infant formula in developing countries, which was seen as discouraging breastfeeding. It has also been criticized for links to child labor, forced labor, and deforestation in West African cocoa production, fined for price-fixing cartels, and criticized for its water extraction methods and contribution to plastic pollution.

**History**

**1866–1900: Founding and early years**

Nestlé’s origins go back to the 1860s, when two separate Swiss enterprises were founded that would later combine to form the company. Over the following decades, these two competitors expanded their operations across Europe and the United States.

In 1866, Charles Page, the U.S. consul to Switzerland, and his brother George Ham Page, both from Lee County, Illinois, set up the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company in Cham, Switzerland. Its first British factory opened in Chippenham, Wiltshire, in 1873.

In 1867, Henri Nestlé developed a milk-based baby food and soon began selling it from Vevey, Switzerland. The next year, Daniel Peter started a seven-year effort to perfect a milk chocolate manufacturing process. Nestlé provided the solution Peter needed to remove all water from the milk added to his chocolate, preventing mildew.

Henri Nestlé retired in 1875. The company, now under new ownership, kept his name as Société Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé. In 1877, Anglo-Swiss added milk-based baby foods to its product line. The following year, the Nestlé Company added condensed milk, making the two firms direct competitors. In 1879, Nestlé merged with milk chocolate inventor Daniel Peter.

**1901–1989: Mergers**

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Henri Nestlé and his successors helped develop the Swiss chocolate industry alongside the Peter, Kohler, and Cailler families. In 1904, Daniel Peter and Charles-Amédée Kohler (son of the founder of a chocolate factory from 1830) became partners and founded Société générale suisse des chocolats Peter et Kohler réunis. In 1911, this company merged with Cailler. In 1929, Peter, Cailler, Kohler, Chocolats Suisses finally merged with the Nestlé group. An earlier 1904 partnership between Peter and Nestlé had already allowed milk chocolate production in the United States, at the Fulton plant.

In 1905, Nestlé and Anglo-Swiss merged to become the Nestlé and Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company. That name lasted until 1947, when it became Nestlé Alimentana SA after the acquisition of Fabrique de Produits Maggi SA (founded 1884) and its holding company, Alimentana SA, of Kempttal, Switzerland. The current name was adopted in 1977. By the early 1900s, the company had factories in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain. World War I created demand for dairy products through government contracts, and by the war’s end, Nestlé’s production had more than doubled.

In January 1919, Nestlé bought two condensed milk plants in Oregon from Geibisch and Joplin for $250,000—one in Bandon, the other in Milwaukie. The company expanded them considerably, processing 250,000 pounds of condensed milk daily at the Bandon plant.

After World War I, government contracts ended, and consumers returned to fresh milk. Nestlé’s management responded by streamlining operations and reducing debt. The 1920s saw the company’s first expansion into new products, with chocolate manufacturing becoming its second most important activity. White chocolate was created in the following decade as the Milkybar. Louis Dapples served as CEO until 1937, when Édouard Muller took over; Muller died in 1948.

Nestlé felt the effects of World War II immediately. Profits fell from US$20 million in 1938 to US$6 million in 1939. Factories were set up in developing countries, especially in South America. During the war, Nestlé introduced its newest product, Nescafé (“Nestlé’s Coffee”), which became a staple drink of the U.S. military. The company also had a contract to supply the German army. Production and sales rose in the wartime economy.

The end of World War II marked the start of a dynamic phase for Nestlé. Growth accelerated, and many companies were acquired. In 1947, Nestlé merged with Maggi.