The first thing that comes to mind when one thinks about Nestle is chocolate. This Nestle Quik jingle from the 50’s is still so easily recalled. The TV commercial featured the ventriloquist, Jimmy Nelson, with his puppets Danny O’Day and Farfel enticing us to buy chocolate.
See the commercial by clicking on this link.
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Eau Claire has two Nestle Plants but Nestle does not make chocolate here in Eau Claire. Burlington is the town where you can wander the streets or canoe the Fox River and let the sweet smell of baking chocolate waft into your nostrils tantalizing your taste buds. One of the Nestle plants can be seen on your trek to GZ. The architecture is notable for it’s height and white structure with legendary logo painted in blue.
The tree is intended to represent an oak and the birds are thrushes. The Nestlé logo was launched by Henri Nestlé in 1868 on the basis of the meaning of his name in German it means “little nest”.
Chocolate is only one small aspect of this global company, which some say is the world’s largest food company. The factories here include a 134 foot tall mixing and drying tower. They are used to make liquids and powders for two different lines of businesses, the infant formula business and the health care business.
Nestle has 488 factories around the world employing some 280,000 people with an estimated 500 here in Eau Claire. Recognizable brand names include Gerber, Stoufer’s, Carnation, Nestea, Haagen-Daz, Purina, Jenny Craig and of course, Butterfinger, Crunch and Kit Kat.
Permission granted by Eau Claire County Parks Division.