Portioned coffee pioneer, Nestlé Nespresso bolsters Swiss production facility to meet rising demand

Portioned coffee pioneer, Nestlé Nespresso is investing 117 million Swiss francs to expand its Avenches production center in Switzerland to meet increasing consumer demand for its high-quality premium coffees and support international development.

It will also create 50 new jobs by the end of 2022.

Nespresso said three new production lines will be built and the distribution center will be expanded, augmenting the current logistics capacity.

The Avenches production center acts as Nespresso's global distribution center, shipping capsules to over 80 countries around the world, and is dedicated to the production of Nespresso Original and Professional coffees as well as Starbucks by Nespresso.

"This investment speaks of our long-term sustainable business approach," said Guillaume Le Cunff, Chief Executive of Nespresso. "All Nespresso coffees sold worldwide are produced in Switzerland. Over the past eight months we have announced a total of  270 Swiss franc million investment in both our Romont and Avenches production centers. We are very proud to be able to continue to invest in Switzerland and support our economy, even more so in challenging times such as these."

"In the current context, I consider Nespresso's announcement as very good news. This very important investment demonstrates the attractiveness of this region, including in the industrial sector. By creating several dozen additional jobs, Nespresso is expanding its Avenches site and strengthens the positioning of the Swiss Food Nutrition Valley, an initiative launched by Nestlé and the Canton of Vaud to promote Switzerland as an innovation hub in the field of food and nutrition," emphasized Philippe Leuba, Director of the Department of Economy, Innovation and Sport of the Canton of Vaud.

The expansion of the distribution center is set to start in July, 2021 and expected to be fully operational by September 2022. The three new production lines are planned to be operational by March, 2022.

Nespresso opened its production center in Avenches in 2008, with an initial investment of 300 million Swiss francs, later complemented with 200 million Swiss francs invested in its infrastructure and operations in Avenches, a total of 500 million Swiss francs, since 2009.

This announcement joins the 160 million Swiss franc investment announced in July last year for the expansion of the brand's Romont production facility.

Over the past 10 years, in addition to ongoing investment in its business, Nespresso has invested 700 million Swiss francs in its three Swiss-based production centers in the cantons of Vaud and Fribourg.

Sustainably grown coffee beans are transformed into the highest quality coffees through the know-how and passion of more than 1,000 skilled factory employees.omy," said Roxanne Meyer Keller, Mayor of the Avenches town.

Over the past 10 years, Nestlé has invested, on average, 300 million Swiss francs every year in its infrastructure and operations in Switzerland. Strongly rooted in its home country, Nestlé has 11 production centers and four research and development sites located in Switzerland.

While investing in supporting its operations, Nespresso is also committed to its sustainability ambition, that every cup of Nespresso coffee has a positive impact on the world. All three Nespresso production centers are 'zero waste to landfill' and production processes have been optimized to ensure heat and water are recovered and reused whenever possible. All the green coffee is delivered by rail to the production centres.

In the Avenches production facility, the energy generated during the production processes is used to heat the factory, saving, per year, the equivalent of the electricity consumed in 700 households in Switzerland. The green coffee pre-heating system in place allows to save a total of 357,000 m3 of natural gas per year.