A Long History of Research
With a research history of over 150 years, Nestlé has always been at the forefront of food science and nutrition research. Our scientists have continuously driven the R&D effort with world-changing innovations ranging from the first milk food for babies to instant coffee and espresso.
1849. Henri Nestlé sets up a laboratory.
Henri Nestlé, a pharmacist's assistant from Frankfurt, Germany, settled in Vevey, Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Geneva in the 1830s and installed his own personal laboratory. He was both an inventor and an entrepreneur.
1867. Nestlé's first product.
The product that marked the beginning of Nestlé’s corporate history "Farine Lactée Nestlé" (Nestlé's Milk Food) was the world's first infant food. It was also the direct result of research. It met an urgent need at the time, since infant mortality was still very high in Europe, and enjoyed immediate international success.
1875. Nestlé's first chemist.
When Henri Nestlé withdrew from active business life in 1875, he made sure that the company which carried his name continued his scientific tradition. A chemist was hired with the mission to devise analytical methods to check the quality of the Company's two main raw materials: milk and cereals. As the Company expanded, similar laboratories were installed in other Nestlé factories around the world. So the nucleus of today's international R&D network existed long ago.
1929.
Nestlé acquired the traditional Swiss chocolate companies Cailler, Peter and Kohler. The Company inherited Daniel Peter's milk chocolate, a breakthrough invention dating from 1875.
1938. Nescafé, the world's first soluble coffee.
Thanks to expertise gained in the field of powdered milk, a research team under the leadership of Max Morgenthaler created one of Nestlé's key inventions: soluble coffee.
1947.
Nestlé acquired the Maggi Group, thus becoming heir to Julius Maggi's 1908 invention, the stock cube.
1950. A forerunner to the NRC.
Soon after the Maggi acquisition, the traditional research laboratories at Vevey were upgraded to become the Group's "Central Laboratories" and moved to entirely new facilities specially built for that purpose in the adjacent town of La Tour-de-Peilz, which today house the headquarters of Nestlé Switzerland.
Expanding into new areas.
1960-1985. New expertises through acquisitions (canned food: Crosse & Blackwell acquisition, frozen food: Findus acquisition and petfood: Carnation acquisition
Deepening expertise.
Other acquisitions have brought deeper knowledge and experience in familiar fields:
1988, culinary. Buitoni acquisition.
1988, chocolate. Rowntree acquisition.
Most of the companies acquired brought their own R&D facilities into the marriage with Nestlé. At one point, there were 25 R&D centers in the Group.
1987. The Nestlé Research Center (NRC) is born.
Expansion of the Group and technological progress had reached such a level that a new R&D complex, focused on basic research, became necessary: the Nestlé Research Center (NRC) at Vers-chez-les-Blanc on the outskirts of Lausanne. It was built during Helmut Maucher's term as CEO confirming his commitment to R&D and its importance for the Group as a whole.
A proud past, a bright future.
R&D is deeply anchored in our history, and Nestlé scientists can be proud of the enormous contribution they and their colleagues, both past and present, have made to food technology, by bringing together many domains of expertise.