1866-1905

The key factor which drove the early history of the enterprise that would become The Nestlé Company was Henri Nestlé's search for a healthy, economical alternative to breastfeeding for mothers who could not feed their infants at the breast.

In the mid-1860s Nestlé, a trained pharmacist, began experimenting with various combinations of cow's milk, wheat flour and sugar in an attempt to develop an alternative source of infant nutrition for mothers who were unable to breast feed. His ultimate goal was to help combat the problem of infant mortality due to malnutrition.

He called the new product Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé. Nestlé's first customer was a premature infant who could tolerate neither his mother's milk nor any of the conventional substitutes, and had been given up for lost by local physicians.

People quickly recognized the value of the new product, after Nestlé's new formula saved the child's life and within a few years, Farine Lactée Nestlé was being marketed in much of Europe.

Henri Nestlé also showed early understanding of the power of branding. He had adopted his own coat of arms as a trademark; in his German dialect, Nestlé means 'little nest'. One of his agents suggested that the nest could be exchanged for the white cross of the Swiss flag. His response was firm: "I regret that I cannot allow you to change my nest for a Swiss cross .... I cannot have a different trademark in every country; anyone can make use of a cross, but no-one else may use my coat of arms."

Meanwhile, the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, founded in 1866 by Americans Charles and George Page, broadened its product line in the mid-1870s to include cheese and infant formulas.The Nestlé Company, which had been purchased from Henri Nestlé by Jules Monnerat in 1874, responded by launching a condensed milk product of its own. The two companies remained fierce competitors until their merger in 1905.

Some other important firsts occurred during those years. In 1875 Vevey resident Daniel Peter figured out how to combine milk and cocoa powder to create milk chocolate. Peter, a friend and neighbor of Henri Nestlé, started a company that quickly became the world's leading maker of chocolate and later merged with Nestlé. In 1882 Swiss miller Julius Maggi created a food product utilizing legumes that was quick to prepare and easy to digest.

His instant pea and bean soups helped launch Maggi & Company. By the turn of the century, his company was producing not only powdered soups, but also bouillon cubes, and sauces and flavorings.