‘Nestle Was Founded With The idea Of Offering Nutritional Products To Consumers’...

Henri Nestle founded his company in 1886 with the idea of offering nutritional products to consumers. Nestle is now one of the world’s biggest food and beverage company. The company is also known for its interesting famous logo which also has a long and very interesting story.

The Nestle logo was launched by Henri Nestle in 1868 on the basis of the meaning of his name in German little nest, and of his family emblem symbolizing all the good values of nurturing such as family, warmth, and caring. In 1938, the traditional nest design was combined with the Nestle name to form what is called the combined mark.

In 1966, the design was simplified. In 1988, the worm in the mother bird beak was removed and the fledglings became two instead of three. It is said that it was meant to better illustrate the activities of the company and to reflect the average modern family of two children.

The logo we know now has just been simplified. The tree is supposed to represent an oak and the bird’s thrushes. Henri Nestle established a strong identity for his company through the nest image that Nestle still uses today.

Henri Nestle had two big visions. First, he envisioned Nestle as an international company: Nestle products found their way into five European countries four months after launch. Second, he wanted his own brand. Private label’s already existed, but he was one of the first to create a manufacturer’s brand.

When distributors asked him why he did not put the Swiss flag on his product, he is said to have replied, “Anyone can use the Swiss flag, but only I can use my coat of arms. It will be my seal of quality”. His house and first factory were in Vevey, Switzerland. This location now houses Nestle’s headquarters.

Henri Nestle was born in 1814 in Frankfurt Germany. He was the eleventh of fourteen children of Johann Ulrich Matthias Nestle and Anna-Maria Catharina Ehemann. Henri Nestle’s father by tradition inherited the business of his father Johann Ulrich Nestle and became a glazier (a person whose trade is fitting glass into windows and doors) . The Nestle family has its origin in Southern Swabian Germany.

The Nestle family tree began with three brothers Hans, Henri and Samuel (representing the three young birds in the nest). The father of these three sons was born circa 1495 (515 years ago). For over five generations glazier was passed down from father to son.

Before Henri Nestle turned 20 in 1836, he had completed a 4-year apprenticeship with J. E. Stein, a pharmacist, and practiced his profession after fleeing the German riots in 1833 to settle in Vevey on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. At the end of 1839, he was officially authorized to perform chemical experiments, make up prescriptions, and sell medicines.

In 1843, Henri Nestle bought into one of the region’s most progressive and versatile industries at that time, the production of rapeseeds. He also became involved in the production of nut oils (used to fuel oil lamps), liqueurs, rum, absinth and vinegar.

Thereafter, he began manufacturing and selling carbonated mineral water and lemonade, although during the crisis years from 1845 to 1847 Nestle gave up mineral water production. In 1857 he began concentrating on gas lighting and fertilizers.

He slowly gravitated towards foods and foodstuffs, experimenting with various recipes for baby-food to help mothers who were unable to breastfeed.

In the mid-1860s he began to produce farine lactee, a baby food that combined milk with wheat flour from which acid and starch had been removed.

Based on his own description of the farine lactee he said “it is wholesome Swiss milk and a cereal component baked by a special process of my invention”. In 1867, he fed this to a premature baby boy whose mother was dangerously ill herself; the boy survived, and Nestle’s reputation skyrocketed.

The following year he opened an office in London to cope with the quantity of orders, and within five years was exporting to South America and Australia.

He passionately believed the product was revolutionary, and that it represented much more than milk laced with nutritional ingredients.

Henri Nestle sought to prove that the cereal’s unique composition provided undernourished infants with the correct balance of nutrients required for good health and growth.

In an age of high infant mortality, this was no idle endeavor. He established sales offices in Great Britain, France and Germany in 1868 and in the United States the following year.

He sold his company in 1875 for a million francs to a consortium headed by Jules Monnerat and retired but the company, under new ownership, retained his name as Farine Lact Nestle. He then went to live with his family where they helped people with small loans and publicly contributed towards improving the local infrastructure.

Nestle bought out Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk in 1905, and chocolate makers Peter, Cailler and Kohler – pioneers in making milk chocolate – in 1929; although he had always concentrated on milk alone, he started to diversify. Benefiting from massive surpluses of coffee beans in the 1930s, Nestle launched the world’s first instant coffee – Nescafe – in 1938. However, sales of the instant coffee were boosted by the US military.

In 1947, Nestle took over Maggi, the Swiss manufacturer of soup mixes and related foodstuffs. The soup and stock cube enterprise was established by Julius Maggi. Maggi cubes have been for decades one of the most frequently recognized and purchased food products in Nigeria.

Since the 1880s, when Nestle’s condensed milk travelled the African continent in rucksacks and continuing today, with hundreds of products available from Cairo to Cape Town, African consumers have come to see Nestle as part of their daily lives.

Starting with the company’s first African factory in 1927 (South Africa), it now has twenty-seven factories, plus numerous distribution and management centers. In Africa, it directly employs more than 11500 people; and tens of thousands of additional people are employed as its suppliers and distributors.

Nigerian consumers recognize Nestle’s products for the same nutritional quality and value that it is known for, but products are made to match local culture and taste. Southern and Eastern Africa remains the company’s largest market on the continent, offering the most diverse product range.

Over the last six years, Central and West Africa and Maghreb regions have been growing steadily. The top selling product categories are shelf dairies , which includes powdered beverages, soluble coffees, bottled water, breakfast cereals, condensed milks; and culinary, which includes bouillon, sauces and seasonings. Infant formula sales account for less than 4% of total sales in Africa. Ice cream and powdered beverages, such as Milo, are among the leading categories.

In fact, continuous improvements in technology and transportation have helped Nestle ice creams and yoghurts dominate in Egypt. In 2003, they grew in value by 12% and 30.5% respectively. Nestle established presence in Nigeria in 1961 and has since built a factory in Agbara with various distribution centers in Nigeria.

Henri Nestlé’s sense of scientific innovation, combined with an instinct for marketing and a global ambition continues to shape and drive the company today. More than 200 years after the birth of its founder, Nestlé’s activities bear testament to a remarkable continuity.

Although the company has increased the number of its products and markets several times over, its passion for quality and the use of the latest scientific research to improve the nutritional value of its products remain unchanged.

Much like Henri Nestlé, confronted with the special nutritional needs of babies, the company constantly aims to improve the quality of life of our consumers at all stages of their existence, whatever their situation and offer them healthier and tastier food and beverage choices. Henri Nestle died of heart attack on July 7th 1890.

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