Nestlé USA, Arlington, Virginia

Gathering together around food

Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage provider, partnered with Gensler to design its new American headquarters in the Washington, D.C. area after decades in Southern California.

A group of people sitting around a table in a room.

A person standing next to a glass display case.

Challenge

Nestlé’s new office is designed to bring employees closer to the company’s customers, factories, and one another by highlighting the theme, “gathering together around food.”

Purpose

The company leveraged its cross-country move to be faster, more agile, and more integrated, bringing employees from different departments closer together and fostering new collisions of people and ideas.

Experience

The design borrows from traditional notions of home, where the kitchen is the nexus of shared moments. The centrally located test kitchen includes two glass-fronted food labs, and a custom Instagram hashtag automatically connects to an office printer used for a family-refrigerator-style photo wall.