Henri Nestle has been in business for a short time – only seven years. However, he left his name to the company, which has now grown into the world’s largest producer of food and confectionery, Nestlé SA. It is also the largest shareholder in the French cosmetics group L’Oreal. Over the years, the Nestle brand has generated significant revenue from the sale of baby food, water, coffee, candy, milk, ice cream, snacks and pet food – Nescafe, Kit Kat, Nesquik, Vittel and Maggi ‘is just part of what is produced by hundreds of factories around the world.
Every Saturday, Delfi Bizness publishes the twists and turns of the unusual history of famous companies in the “Brand Story” section. You can tell all the stories in this series read here.
And it all started with an ordinary German named Heinrich Nestle (1814-1890). Heinrich Nestle was born in the German city of Frankfurt am Main into the family of a glazier, and by the way, the masters of this trade have been known in his family since the 14th century. Nestle’s ancestors were from the Black Forest in southern Germany, where in the local Swabian dialect “Nestle” meant “nest.” That’s why the current Nestlé company logo, which is essentially the coat of arms of the Nestlé family, has a socket. The three birds in it symbolize the three brothers, from whom, according to legend, the Nestle family originated, and the bird that feeds them is Germany.
So Heinrich Nestle was a real German with roots. After graduating from high school, he was not the eldest son of the family (Heinrich was the 11th child out of 14!), He did not inherit the traditional family occupation, but became an apprentice to a pharmacist.
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