Henri Nestlé

Henri Nestlé (born Heinrich Nestle; August 10, 1814 – July 7, 1890) was a German-born Swiss confectioner and
Henri Nestlé
the founder of Nestlé, the world's largest food and beverage company,[1] as well as one of the main creators of
condensed milk.

Contents
Early life
Career
Personal life
References
Sources
External links

Henri Nestlé

Early life Born Heinrich Nestle

August 10, 1814
Heinrich Nestle was born on 10 August 1814, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.[2] He was the eleventh of fourteen
Frankfurt am Main,
children of Johann Ulrich Matthias Nestle and Anna-Maria Catharina Ehemant. Nestle's father, by tradition,
Germany
inherited the business of his father, Johann Ulrich Nestle, and became a glazier in Töngesgasse. The later Lord
Died July 7, 1890 (aged 75)
Mayor of Frankfurt am Main, Gustav Edmund Nestle, was his brother.[3]
Montreux, Switzerland
The Nestle family has its roots in western Swabia, predominantly in boroughs of the Black Forest such as Occupation Confectioner
Dornstetten, Freudenstadt, Mindersbach, Nagold, and Sulz am Neckar. In the Swabian dialect, "Nestle" is a small The founder of Nestlé
bird's nest. The name Nestle also has different variations, including Nästlin, Nästlen, Nestlin, Nestlen, and Niestle.

The Nestle family tree began with three brothers (thus the three young birds in the nest being fed by their mother on the family coat of arms) from
Mindersbach, called Hans, Heinrich, and Samuel Nestlin. The father of these three sons was born circa 1495. Hans, the eldest, was born in 1520 and had a son
with the same name, who later became mayor of Nagold. His son Ulrich was a barber and his fifth son was the first glazier in the family. For over five
generations, this profession was passed down from father to son. Additionally, the Nestles provided a number of mayors for the boroughs of Dornstetten,
Freudenstadt, Nagold, and Sulz am Neckar.
Career
Before Nestlé turned 22 in 1836, he completed a four-year apprenticeship with J. E. Stein, an owner of a pharmacy. At some stage between 1834 and 1839 he
migrated, for reasons unknown, to Switzerland.[4] At the end of 1839, he was officially authorized in Lausanne, Switzerland, to perform chemical experiments,
make up prescriptions, and sell medicines. During this time, he changed his name to Henri Nestlé in order to adapt better to the new social conditions in
French-speaking Vevey, Switzerland, where he eventually settled.

In 1843, Nestlé bought into one of the region's most progressive and versatile industries at that time, the production of rapeseeds. He also became involved in
the production of nut oils (used to fuel oil lamps), liqueurs, rum, absinthe, and vinegar. He also began manufacturing and selling carbonated mineral water and
lemonade, although during the European food crisis in the 1840s, Nestlé gave up mineral water production. In 1857 he began concentrating on gas lighting and
fertilizers.

Though it is not known when Nestlé started working on his infant formula project, by 1867, Nestlé had produced a viable powdered milk product.[5] His interest
is known to have been spurred by several factors. Although Nestlé and his wife were childless, they were aware of the high death rate among infants. Nestlé
would have been aware of Justus von Liebig's work in developing an infant formula.[2] In addition, fresh milk was not always available in large towns, and
women in higher society were starting to view breast feeding as an "unfashionable" option.[2]

Nestlé combined cow’s milk with grain and sugar to produce a substitute for breast milk.[5] Moreover, he and his friend Jean Balthasar Schnetzler, a scientist in
human nutrition, removed the acid and the starch in wheat flour because they were difficult for babies to digest.[6] Initially called "kindermehl," or "children
flour," his product had an advantage over Liebig's "soup for infants" in that it was much easier to prepare, needing only to be boiled prior to feeding, and it soon
proved to be a viable option for infants who were unable to breast feed.[2][5] People quickly recognized the value of the new product, and soon Farine Lactée
Henri Nestlé, "Henri Nestlé's Milk Flour" in French, was being sold in much of Europe. By the 1870s, Nestlé's Infant Food, made with malt, cow's milk, sugar,
and wheat flour, was selling in the US for $0.50 a bottle.

Nestlé's milk-condensation process enabled the chocolatier Daniel Peter, of Vevey, to perfect his milk chocolate formulation in 1875, after seven years of effort,
and the two men subsequently formed a partnership which resulted, four years later, in 1879, in the organisation of the Nestlé Company, which eventually
became one of the largest of Europe-based confection industries.

Personal life
Nestlé and Anna Clémentine Thérèse Ehemant were married in Frankfurt, Germany on 23 May 1860.[7]

Nestlé sold his company in 1875 to his business associates and then lived with his family alternately in Montreux and Glion, where they helped people with
small loans and publicly contributed towards improving the local infrastructure. In Glion he moved into a house later known as Villa Nestlé.

Nestlé died of a heart attack in Glion on July 7, 1890. He was buried at Territet Cemetery in Montreux.[8]

References
 1. "Nestlé tops list of largest food companies in the world" (https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2017/05/24/worlds-largest-food-and-beverage-
companies-2017-nestle-pepsi-and-coca-cola-dominate-the-landscape/#6ef7ec6e3a69). Forbes. Retrieved May 28, 2018.
2. Koese, Yavuz. (2008). "Nestle in the Ottoman Empire: Global Marketing with Local Flavor 1870–1927". Enterprise and Society", 9:4. pp 724–761
doi:10.1093/es/khn045
3. Pfiffner, A. (1995). Henri Nestlé: from pharmacist's assistant to founder of the world's largest food company, 1814–1890 (https://books.google.com
/books?id=77IdAQAAMAAJ). Nestlé. p. 14. ISBN 978-3-905311-27-3. Retrieved May 29, 2018. "If Heinrich, like his brother Gustav Edmund, actually went
to the Gymnasium in the former Barftisserkloster, he certainly did not stay to the end. Because even before his twentieth birthday in l834 he had completed
a four-year apprenticeship ..."
4. "Henri Nestlé 1814 –1890", Bicentenary (http://www.nestle.com/asset-library/documents/about_us/henri-nestle-biography-en.pdf). Page 25, From
Pharmacist’s Assistant to Founder of the World’s Leading Nutrition, Health and Wellness Company, Nestlé – Abridged Translation after Albert Pfiffner's
1993 German Edition, 2014
5. Cadbury, Deborah. (2010). Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry, HarperCollins UK,
ISBN 9780007325566.
6. "Protein Powders (All You Ever Wanted to Know)" (https://www.ptonthenet.com/content/articleprint.aspx?p=1&
ArticleID=MzMzMSBDaXBSMnNZVGlDWVNmd2sxQUVZZGtRPT0=). PT on the Net. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
7. Pfiffner, A. (1995). Henri Nestlé: from pharmacist's assistant to founder of the world's largest food company, 1814-1890 (https://books.google.com
/books?id=77IdAQAAMAAJ). Nestlé. p. 49. ISBN 978-3-905311-27-3. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
8. Henri Nestlé-Ehmant (1814–1890) (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20156053) at Find A Grave Memorial

Sources
Nestlé, H. W.: Die Familie Nestlé, einschl. Stammbaum der Familie. Stuttgart 1976
Pfiffner, A.: Henri Nestlé: Vom Frankfurter Apothekergehilfen zum Schweizer Pionierunternehmer. Zürich, 1993
Alex Capus: Patriarchen, Albrecht Knaus Verlag, München 2006. ISBN 3-8135-0273-2.

External links
Henri Nestlé biography (http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/lake_geneva/nestle.html). Switzerland.isyours.com.
History of Nestlé (http://www.nestle.com/AboutUs/History/Pages/History.aspx). Nestlé.com.

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This page was last edited on 14 July 2018, at 05:59 (UTC).

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