Switzerland with Nestlé - Administration Building Nestlé (Nestle HQ) and meeting the Nestlé Global Digital Acceleration Team

There is a road named after Nestle in Vevey

The town of Vevey is intrinsically linked to global food brand, Nestlé.

Nestlé was founded in Vevey in 1867 and is still the site of the world headquarters of Nestlé today. Milk chocolate, used in many Nestlé products, was invented in Vevey by Daniel Peter in 1875.

The Alimentarium Museum, a modern museum for food and nutrition, opened in 1985 by the Nestlé foundation, is one of the most important buildings in Vevey, together with the Administration Building Nestlé (Nestle HQ).

How many of us in the world can boast of an office with a view like this?

Spacious backyard with fresh air and a gorgeous view

I had the rare opportunity to visit Nestle HQ and meet some of the amazing folks working there, including the Nestlé Global Digital Acceleration Team (DAT) – a group of Nestlé digital staff from around the world who were in Vevey for a digital immersion course.

As a geek working in the digital industry myself, I felt really honoured to get to tour the DAT office

The DAT office looks like the headquarters for the Avengers superheroes, with the team monitoring live, instantaneous brand conversations across the globe on digital and social media platforms.

Together with two other invited bloggers from Singapore, we did a presentation each on our digital and social media journey, sharing how we work with various brands.

When I mentioned about the planking phenomenon in Asia during my presentation, the DAT team picked up on the concept immediately and gamely posed for a group photo, planking in the office. Cool isn’t it?

Nestle global DAT staff planking in their office together with me - super awesome! — Nestle global DAT staff planking in their office together with me – super awesome!

Me with the coordinator for Nestle DAT, Ms Hannelore Grams

We were also given a tour of the office, include a visitor’s gallery showcasing the many food and nutrition brands under the Nestlé family.

Yes, Nestle sells formula milk, but as part of their corporate social responsibility, they also advocate breastfeeding

A display of how Nestle food items are sold in India — Chocolate, snacks and beverages

A China candy brand recently acquired by Nestle

Do you know Movenpick is a Nestle brand too?

A typical staff cubicle in Nestle HQ - all the window views are fantastic! — A typical staff cubicle in Nestle HQ – all the window views are fantastic!

There are art pieces like these throughout the building to add more live and colours

I was particularly impressed with a new product Nestlé launched recently in Europe – NesBaby. It is like Nespresso for babies. Instead of gourmet coffee, the machine dispenses baby formula milk packed in a capsule. This product can save so much time and hassle especially for night feeds! When I shared a picture of it on instagram, many of my friends who are parents with young kids wanted to find out more. Nestlé should really consider bringing this into Singapore.

We had lunch at the Nestlé staff restaurant which has a really awesome view of Lake Geneva. The food was pretty good too:

Menu for the day at the staff restaurant and cafeteria

All settled for lunch in the Nestle staff restaurant

I had this - grilled fish with couscous and veggies — I had this – grilled fish with couscous and veggies

Wide selection of food items and fruits for dessert

Sunset as witnessed from within the Nestle building

Most important of all, we did some shopping at the Nestlé staff shop, a supermarket stocked with just Nestlé brands:

Nestle brands only supermarket in the HQ building

Nesquik chocolate drink! I love this when I was little

Kids section

I hope my blog posts on Switzerland with Nestlé have given you a better understanding of the Nestlé brand and history as a whole.

Nestlé is a really big global food and nutrition brand, headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, with strong corporate and brand values. They did not grow into the largest food company in the world by chance, but built on solid faith and trust from us, the consumers.