Nestlé cutting 16,000 jobs as evolving consumer tastes imperil Big Food

The latest: New CEO Philipp Navratil announced sweeping cuts to get the company back on its feet.

• That includes 12,000 "white-collar professionals across functions and geographies," the company said.
• Nestlé also said it would focus on devoting capital to "supporting the strongest opportunities."

The big picture: The move comes after fellow food conglomerate Kraft Heinz last month announced plans to split into a pair of independent publicly traded companies.

• One company will include condiments and boxed foods, like Heinz ketchup, Philadelphia cream cheese, and Kraft Mac & Cheese.
• The other will hold grocery staples like Oscar Mayer hot dogs, Kraft Singles and Lunchables.

State of play: The food giants are facing pressure from a variety of forces, including the consumer movement away from processed foods and the surging popularity of GLP-1s.

• On the macro side, there's the bruising impact of the global trade war and volatile commodity costs.

For example, Nestlé has been dealing with soaring costs of cocoa.

• "While cocoa costs began to fall in 2025 as supply increased, cocoa is vastly more expensive than it was just two years ago," AP reported.

The bottom line: "The world is changing, and Nestlé needs to change faster," Navratil said in a statement.