In this article we are going to briefly review the history of one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world, Nestlé.

It was in the 1860s that Henri Nestlé, a pharmacist, developed a specific food for babies who could not breastfeed. He first used this successfully on a premature baby who could not tolerate his mother’s breast milk. This product saved the boy’s life and people soon began to see its value. Soon Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé was being sold throughout Europe.

In 1905 Nestlé merged with a condensed milk company. In the early 1900s they had factories in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and Spain. With the outbreak of the First World War, there was a great demand for these products. By the end of the war, Nestlé’s production more than doubled.

Unfortunately, after the war, the contracts ran out and the buying public went back to fresh milk. In response to this, Nestlé simplified its operation and reduced its debt. By the 1920s, the company had expanded its operations and chocolate was its number two selling product.

Then World War II broke out and Nestlé immediately felt the effects. Its profits fell from $20 million a year before 1938 to less than $6 million a year in 1939. Despite this, Nestlé began setting up factories in developing countries hoping for a turnaround at the end of the war. Ironically, the war was responsible for Nestlé introducing one of its most popular products, Nescafé instant coffee, which was the number one drink for the United States Army.

The end of World War II, as Nestlé predicted, was the beginning of a great period of growth for the company. Nestlé acquired many other companies during this time. In 1947 they merged with Maggi, Crosse & Blackwell in 1960, Libbys in 1971 and Stouffers in 1973.

In the mid-1970s, Nestlé’s growth in the developing world offset its slowdown in more developed countries like the United States. By the mid-1980s, they had acquired several additional companies, the largest of which was the American company Carnation.

After the mid-1990s, due to the breaking down of trade barriers, Nestlé enjoyed what was probably its highest growth ever. His acquisitions included the giant company Ralston Purina, which sells mainly pet food.

Despite Nestlé’s diversification, they are and always will be known primarily for their ever-popular chocolate bars and drinks, such as the Nestlé Crunch bar, which is now also converted into an ice cream bar, Nestlé Quick, which is a powdered milk chocolate flavored, Nestlé Carnation, another popular chocolate drink, Kit Kat Bar, Smarties, Nestlé Maxibon, Nestlé Extreme and a host of other products, a list that would take days to sift through.

In closing, it should be noted that much of Nestlé’s success was a stroke of good luck. It seems that a man named Daniel Peter figured out exactly how to combine milk and cocoa powder. The result was milk chocolate. Well, it turned out that Peter was a good friend of Henri Nestle’s. Peter founded the company, but it was eventually taken over by Nestlé as was destined to be.