Nestlé's portfolio, nutrition strategy, and road ahead

I take great pride in every part of our portfolio - whether a consumer starts their day with Nescafé, cooks with Maggi bouillon, or takes an afternoon break with a KitKat, I light up seeing the role we play for them.

Recently, this has become a 'controversial' take. ShareAction, a UK-based NGO, is lobbying Nestlé to change our portfolio strategy. They're asking shareholders at our Annual General Meeting to back a plan to force us to change the way we set our nutrition targets.

The approach they're suggesting, they say, is designed to reduce the 'unhealthy' food in our portfolio. That misunderstands the role we play for our consumers, and it takes our strategy in the wrong direction. We have already committed to grow the more nutritious part of our portfolio, but their proposal would take us farther and farther away from the core goals of our strategy: capturing opportunities, managing risks, and serving our consumers' diverse needs.

Here's why I'm confident in our approach:

Nestlé has a balanced and resilient portfolio.

Depending on where you live, you might be used to thinking of Nestlé as one thing. A chocolate company. A coffee company. I love that I get the chance to surprise people every day with the reality of what makes up Nestlé and share every bite of our work.

Last year, Nestlé was the first food and beverage company to provide transparency on the nutritional value of its entire portfolio. That reporting showed who we are by providing details on what types of food and beverages we sell, in black and white.

Nestlé portfolio

Accessible Nestlé portfolio data table.

It showed how diverse our portfolio is. Most of our portfolio is not 'center of the plate.' Many of our products accompany a meal and are to be consumed with plenty of fresh foods. Having a wide range of products is a strength - both in what we offer to consumers and in what we offer to investors. It's not a portfolio that's heavily reliant on indulgent or less nutritious options, or any other single trend, taste, or risk. It embraces these treats for consumers, together with many other categories that meet their wide range of needs. For instance, 50% of our sales now come from coffee, pet care, and Nestlé Health Science products.

Our goal is to achieve success across all parts of our portfolio, ensuring that we meet the needs of our diverse consumers - across the world, in all stages of life, and throughout the day.

Our strategy is grounded in consumer realities to both 'grow' and 'guide' on nutrition.

As we continue to drive growth across our portfolio, we don't forget the impact we have on the communities we serve. We aim to help people enjoy tasty and balanced diets through our products and services, and we strive to offer tasty and nutritious options in every category.

Six months ago, we took significant steps to support tasty, balanced diets. We announced our intention to grow the sales of our more nutritious products by CHF 20 to 25 billion by 2030.

We listen closely to consumers' needs, both as a business opportunity and to fulfill our Good food, Good life mission.

Bernard Meunier

While we grow these segments, we're also committed to guide consumers toward balanced consumption. Nestlé consumers are often balancing many goals in every product they pick - is it convenient? Affordable? Do I like the taste - and will my family? Consumers want to eat healthier, and they want it to be easy. We listen closely to their needs, both as a business opportunity and to fulfill our Good food, Good life mission.

It's not always about reformulating or redesigning products - a pack of Smarties will always be a treat, and that's not something we want to change. That's one reason we provide information and services to help people make informed food choices as part of a balanced diet. We are one of the first major food and beverage companies to voluntarily restrict marketing to children under the age of 16, while also ensuring that children's confectionery and ice cream portions will be 110 kilocalories or less. We're coupling these safeguards with nutrition services, educational tools, and recipes to give parents, children, and young adolescents a solid foundation to build a healthy lifestyle. We're also using AI-powered tools to provide personalized tips, menu planning, and recipes.

We take action that you can see on your shelf (and beyond).

A few weeks ago, I shared more about our vision for the future and the role that innovation has in driving our growth: already, 30% of our business results come from products that were launched or renovated in the last three years. Delivering growth in the more nutritious parts of our portfolio is one element of that effort, as are innovations that support consumers in their other priorities.

To meet the needs and preferences of consumers following flexitarian and vegetarian diets, Garden Gourmet and Harvest Gourmet built on their strong plant-based portfolio with the Veggie Burger Deluxe range in Belgium and the Netherlands. These burgers contain more than 60 grams of vegetables, pulses, and whole grains per serving. They also have an 'A' Nutriscore. In fact, as of the end of last year, 90% of our Garden Gourmet products had a Nutri-Score A or B.

Our Maggi line supports this objective in a different way. For more than a century, Maggi has been helping cooks around the world to prepare fresh food they love. Products like herb and spice mixes and sauces help consumers cook from scratch. Their latest 'My Menu IQ' and 'My Menu Planner' tools help cooks plan their meals, including using more seasonal, local, and plant-based ingredients.

We take pride in being the Good food, Good life company. At the core of our strategy is the belief that Nestlé enables people to eat well, providing a diverse portfolio of products and guiding them towards balanced consumption. Our continued evolution must be driven by consumer wants, needs, and expectations.

This is why we have to disagree with ShareAction's approach. Our focus is on achieving the target we set just six months ago, not changing it. We're on the right track. Leveraging our global reach and scale, expertise, and innovation capabilities, we're full steam ahead to drive growth, consumer relevance, and positive impact.