Nestlé Nespresso has today announced a CHF 43 million investment in the creation of two new production lines in its factory in Romont, Switzerland to satisfy growing demand for the versatile coffee system Vertuo. This will create 33 additional jobs in the next two years. It has also inaugurated a state-of-the-art innovation centre consisting of Product Development Center and Coffee Campus to drive global innovation and coffee expertise.
The Product Development Center is dedicated to developing new Nespresso machines and Grand Cru coffees, including unique coffees from rare origins. In addition, with its small-scale production facility it enables experimentation to provide new and different coffee experiences to consumers. The Coffee Campus functions as a training center that will continuously raise the level of expertise within the company and among external partners such as chefs. The two units were created to bolster the company’s work in innovating sustainable, quality coffee.
Jean-Marc Duvoisin, CEO of Nespresso, said: “Innovation has always been at the heart of Nespresso. The new facilities will play a central role in our ability to offer consumers the latest developments in sustainable, high quality coffees and personalized customer service.”
Nespresso opened its third factory in Switzerland, in Romont, in 2015, which represented a CHF 300 million investment. It has already invested an additional CHF 48 million to expand production capacity and create the Product Development Center and the Coffee Campus. The Romont factory is the primary production site for Nespresso Vertuo, an innovative portioned coffee system delivering a variety of sizes of high quality coffees, from 40 ml to 414 ml.
“We are proud to continue to invest in our factory in Romont to support our Vertuo business, a strong contributor to our future growth. It is currently available in 14 countries and we continue to expand to new markets each year,” Jean-Marc Duvoisin added.
Nestlé has identified coffee as a strong growth driver and the coffee business has seen positive organic growth over the past years. The company is making further investment to lead in the coffee business, creating value for its brands and making a difference for consumers.
“Nestlé has a rich experience of serving coffee to generations across the world. The continuous success of Nespresso is based on our unsurpassed coffee know how, our expertise in innovation, technology and the strength of our iconic brand. The inauguration of the state-of-the-art innovation center and continued expansion of our production capacity demonstrate our confidence in the future and a growing bond between Nespresso, Romont and the Fribourg region. Nespresso, which has pioneered the portioned coffee segment, is deeply anchored in Switzerland and contributes significantly to the socio-economic development of the country,” said Patrice Bula, Executive Vice President, Head of Strategic Business Units and President of Nespresso.
Since 2003, the number of Nestlé employees in Switzerland rose from around 6’700 to over 10’100. Over the last 10 years, Nestlé has invested CHF 3.8 billion in the country.
