Nestle Heads East

Nestle USA will begin moving its corporate headquarters to Arlington County, Virginia, from Glendale, California, later this year. The move "marks an important milestone in the company’s history and signals Nestle’s commitment to future investment and growth in the U.S.," according to parent company Nestle S.A.

The massive relocation reflects an effort to respond "to the rapid pace of change in the food industry with a new, more efficient structure and closer proximity to the bulk of [Nestle USA's] business and stakeholders," according to the company. Currently, 75% of Nestle USA’s factories and 85% of its top customers are located in the eastern half of the U. S. — and 80% of its products are sold east of the Mississippi River.

“With the food and beverage landscape continuing to transform at a rapid pace, Nestlé has been innovating and making strategic changes to the business over the past five years. This move is the next step in our evolution,” said Paul Grimwood, Nestle USA's chief executive officer. “We carefully considered a number of options and Arlington [County, Virginia] hits all the marks.”

The new HQ will house Nestle's Beverage and Confections & Global Foods divisions, as well as the eBusiness group, the Center for Marketing Excellence and the company's nutrition experts. The gradual move is expected to be complete by the end of 2018.

Meanwhile, the Technical & Production and Supply Chain teams will move to Solon, Ohio, to the existing home of the Prepared Foods, Pizza, Baking and Professional businesses. The IT group will centralize in St. Louis, MO, in Nestle Purina PetCare’s U.S. headquarters.

Nestle will retain approximately 5,500 employees in California through nine manufacturing facilities for Dreyer’s Ice Cream, Purina PetCare and Nestlé Waters North America.

The U.S. is Nestle's largest market, with product sales that exceeded $26 billion in 2015. With $89.9 billion in global sales, Nestle S.A. ranked No. 1 in CGT's list of the Top 100 Consumer Goods Companies.