Nestlé is a multinational packaged food company founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It resulted from a merger in 1905 between the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company for milk products established in 1866 by the Page Brothers in Cham, Switzerland and the Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé Company set up in 1866 by Henri Nestlé to provide an infant food product. Several of Nestlé's brands are globally renowned, which made the company a global market leader in many product lines, including milk, chocolate, confectionery, bottled water, coffee, ice cream, food seasoning and pet foods. The company stock is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange.

Pronunciation

Some people in the English-speaking countries pronounce Nestlé's IPAEng: /ˈnɛsəlz/, as in the English verb nestle. This was the pronunciation used in company merchandising in Australia and the UK for much of the 20th century, e.g. Nestlé's Milkybar, and is still used today in some regions such as the Black Country.

In TV ads in the United States, Nestlé's is pronounced /ˈnɛstliːz/ or /ˈnɛsliːz/. The common pronunciation of Nestlé in Australia is now 1, due to the alteration of its pronunciation in advertising over recent years. However, the brand is derived from the founder's family name from the French-speaking part of Switzerland, where Nestlé is pronounced 2 or 3 (this pronunciation used in Vietnam also). In China, Nestlé is called 雀巢 (què cháo in pinyin). In Thailand, it is เนสเล่.

History

The company dates to 1867, when two separate Swiss enterprises were founded that would later form the core of Nestlé. In August of that year, Charles A. and George Page, brothers from the United States, established the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company in Cham, Switzerland. In September, in nearby Vevey, Henri Nestlé developed a milk-based baby food and soon began marketing it. In the succeeding decades both enterprises aggressively expanded their businesses throughout Europe and the United States. (Henri Nestlé retired in 1875, but the company, under new ownership, retained his name as Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé.) 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 1905, however, the companies merged to become the Nestlé and Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, retaining that name until 1947, when the name Nestlé Alimentana SA was taken as a result of the acquisition of Fabrique de Produits Maggi SA (founded 1884) and its holding company, Alimentana SA of Kempttal, Switzerland. Maggi was a major manufacturer of soup mixes and related foodstuffs. The company's current name was adopted in 1977. By the early 1900s, the company was operating factories in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Spain. World War I created new demand for dairy products in the form of government contracts. By the end of the war, Nestlé's production more than doubled.