7 Sep 2009 --- Mr. Patrice Bula, CEO of Nestlé Greater China Region, Mr. Rong Yaozhong, Founder and General Manager of Shanghai Totole Food Ltd., Mr. Blaise Godet, Ambassador of Switzerland to China, and leaders of Shanghai City and Jiading district government, jointly inaugurated the world’s largest bouillon factory, in Shanghai’s Jiading Industrial district.

This state-of-the-art factory which will employ 1500 staff will provide the needed capacity to meet the fast growing demand for Totole, the leading bouillon brand in China, driven by consumers’ trust and love for the brand with the well-known slogan ‘ TOTOLE Makes Life Better ‘. This new Shanghai Totole factory, which is a RMB 320 million investment in state-of-the-art equipment will produce more than 100,000 tons of Totole bouillon, when fully completed, doubling the capacity of the existing facility. With this new factory, Totole not only becomes the largest bouillon producer in the world but also take leadership in technology, product quality and safety. Mr. Patrice Bula said: “Today is a major milestone in the history of Totole and Nestlé in China. Thanks to its product quality, Totole is the preferred culinary brand of Chinese consumers.

Ten years ago Nestlé and Totole joined a partnership with the objective to make Totole the leading culinary brand in China. To achieve this ambitious goal we decided to combine Totole management passion for its products, deep consumer understanding and Chinese entrepreneurship, with Nestlé’s advanced technology, global manufacturing and marketing know-how, to develop the local Totole brand. This is the essence of successful Nestlé partnerships which through a ‘Win-Win’ synergy of the best of local and international contribution, boost the development and growth of such precious Chinese brands like Totole.

Since 1999, several important milestones have been achieved, with major capacity addition, launch of new products and a major step with the opening of a Nestlé R&D Center for culinary product situated within Totole compound to provide Totole products with Nestlé’s latest R&D breakthrough.” Mr. Bula added. Mr. Rong Yaozhong said: “Our vision is to give 1.3 billion people a better choice of freshness, as well as ‘High Quality and Good Taste’. Thanks to all the efforts and support from Nestlé, Totole continues to grow in consumers’ and professional chefs’ trust. Totole has been working very diligently ever since it was founded 25 years ago in Daliang Mountain, Sichuan Province. We have achieved one milestone after another. This new factory opens a new chapter in Totole’s development. It also sets a new quality standard for the culinary industry. Whilst achieving our business goals, I hope the new factory will also create more value for both our consumers and the society.”

At the event, Mr. Bula also expressed his gratitude to the authorities, both at national and local level, for their continuous support which has benefited all parties concerned and the community at large and reiterated Nestlé’s confidence in China. Nestlé and Totole signed a partnership agreement in Switzerland in August 1999. Nestlé acquired an 80% interest in Totole.

Since the Swiss-based Nestlé Group started investing in China two decades ago, with cumulative direct investment of over RMB 8 billion from Switzerland, it has established 21 factories across the country. About 98% of Nestlé products manufactured in China are sold here. Today Nestlé employs a staff of some 13,000 people. In 2008, Nestlé had sales of our RMB 14 billion in the Greater China Region.