Orbe, Switzerland, November 21, 2007 - Nestlé today opened the new Nestlé Professional Beverage Centre, the company's first R&D facility entirely dedicated to its out-of-home beverage business. The new Beverage Centre, located at Nestlé's worldwide centre of expertise for coffee and cereals in Orbe, will benefit from R&D synergies of an industrial site which already employs over 1,100 people. The new facility was inaugurated by Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Nestlé's Chairman and CEO, and Jean-Claude Mermoud, Economic Affairs Minister of the Swiss Canton of Vaud, together with Marc Caira, Head of Nestlé Professional, and Claude Recordon, Mayor of Orbe.
The establishment of the new Beverage Centre comes in the wake of the announcement on 18 October 2007 that Nestlé is upgrading its existing FoodServices Strategic Business Division into Nestlé Professional, a globally-managed business unit dedicated to the out-of-home food and beverage market. This huge business opportunity has been identified as one of Nestlé's three axes for higher growth in the future. With sales exceeding CHF 6 billion per year and 10,000 employees in 97 countries, Nestlé is already world leader in the food services market. Nevertheless, the Group feels that the overall market opportunity will better be seized with a dedicated, segment-specific organisation, including the R&D facility inaugurated in Orbe today. Nestlé Professional will have full operational responsibility from 2008 and full financial responsibility from 2009.