Nestle China is entering a new phase of development. A significant leadership reshuffle is underway at Nestle Greater China, referred to as Nestle China. On April 10, media reports indicated that Cao Hui, Head of Nestle China's Culinary Foods Business Unit and CEO of Totole, has decided to pursue new career opportunities outside of Nestle, with his last working day set for April 9, 2026. This information was confirmed by a relevant official from Totole. Nestle has not yet announced a successor for the position, stating only that a new appointee is expected to join in May. During this transition period, Wang Xin, the Financial Controller for Totole and Haoji, will assume the role's responsibilities on an interim basis. Coincidentally, Nestle China's subsidiary Hsu Fu Chi has also recently experienced a change in its top executive. It was confirmed by Hsu Fu Chi that its CEO, Liu Xinggang, is leaving Nestle, with his final working day being April 13. Liu Xinggang's successor is Wang Bin, who has previously held senior positions at several consumer goods companies including Procter & Gamble, Liby Group, Mengniu Dairy, and Baixiang Food. Nestle is a globally renowned food and beverage company that established its first sales office in mainland China in Shanghai in 1908. Currently, Nestle China's business spans multiple areas including infant nutrition, water, snack confectionery, coffee, ice cream, and culinary foods. The culinary foods segment, comprised of brands like Totole, Haoji, Maggi, and Chaotianxiang, is a core business unit for Nestle China, with Totole being the flagship brand within this segment. Both Cao Hui and the recently departed Liu Xinggang were responsible for core business units of Nestle China. Nestle China's financial reports show that as of the end of 2024, the prepared foods and seasonings segment and the confectionery segment accounted for 17.6% and 16.1% of sales, respectively, collectively contributing over 30% of Nestle China's total sales. Behind this密集的高管更迭 lies Nestle Group's strategic positioning in the Chinese market entering a new phase.

The reshuffle of Nestle China's senior management team continues. Cao Hui had previously worked at several multinational FMCG companies including Procter & Gamble, Dumex, Abbott, and Fonterra. In early 2022, he was appointed as Head of Nestle China's Culinary Foods Business Unit and CEO of Totole. A key performance target upon his appointment was leading Totole to achieve sales of nearly 10 billion CNY in 2023. Despite pressure on the餐饮消费 market environment due to the pandemic at that time, Totole still successfully achieved sales close to 10 billion CNY in 2023 and announced its "Next Ten Billion Strategy." In recent years, the market share of traditional seasoning categories like chicken bouillon has declined due to health-conscious consumption trends. A major initiative during Cao Hui's tenure was leading Totole, whose main business is chicken bouillon, to expand into liquid condiments like soy sauce and oyster sauce. However, Totole's most prominent product remains chicken bouillon. According to data from third-party agency Masheng Win, in the first and second quarters of 2025, Nestle China ranked first in the chicken bouillon category with close to a 50% market share, which showed a year-on-year increasing trend. Liu Xinggang, who recently left, was appointed as the head of Hsu Fu Chi at the end of 2021. Prior to that, he was already a senior executive at Totole. After joining Totole in 2003, Liu Xinggang held positions including General Manager of Totole's Northwest Marketing Company, Associate Director of Product Development, General Manager of the Western Region Marketing Company, and was promoted to Vice President of Sales at Totole in June 2016. After taking the helm at Hsu Fu Chi, Liu Xinggang pushed for the brand's expansion from confectionery into categories like potato chips and cakes, and focused on expanding channels such as community convenience stores, snack chains, e-commerce, and O2O. Furthermore, Liu Xinggang promoted continuous capacity expansion at Hsu Fu Chi, setting a target to achieve 10 billion CNY in sales by 2027. During his tenure, in February 2025, Nestle achieved 100% ownership of Hsu Fu Chi. The successive departures of the heads of Totole and Hsu Fu Chi, two core business units, are emblematic of the recent密集的高管调整 at Nestle China. On July 1, 2025, former Nestle China Chairman and CEO Zhang Xiqiang stepped down for personal reasons. He was succeeded by Kais Marzouki, the former head of Nestle's Philippines market. Following Marzouki's appointment, the heads of Nestle China's business lines also underwent a reshuffle: in July 2025, the Head of Pet Food Business, Chen Xiaodong, and the Head of Coffee Business, Jiang Haiying, left their positions consecutively. Their roles were taken over by Francois Gergaud, Head of Professional Channels for Pet Food in Asia, Oceania, and Africa at Nestle, and Pamela Takai, Head of Dairy, Health, and Nutrition Solutions for Nestle Philippines, respectively.

Behind the large-scale更换 of Nestle China's senior management team, the strategic布局 of the Nestle Group in the Chinese market has also entered a new stage. As a food and beverage giant with operations across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Latin America, the Nestle Group has faced sustained growth pressure in recent years due to factors like weak consumer demand. From 2022 to 2025, Nestle Group's sales declined from 94.424 billion Swiss Francs to 89.49 billion Swiss Francs. Sales in China, Nestle's second-largest overseas market, also fell from 5.351 billion Swiss Francs in 2022 to 4.973 billion Swiss Francs in 2024. By 2025, Nestle China's sales declined further, with an organic growth rate of -6.4%. Against this backdrop, Philipp Navratil, who became CEO of the Nestle Group in September 2025, proposed a new corporate strategy. A key measure involves focusing the product portfolio on four main businesses: coffee, pet care, nutritional products, and food & snacks. Among these, the first three businesses collectively account for approximately 70% of the Group's sales. Simultaneously, effective April 1 this year, the Nestle Group officially merged its Nutritional Products and Health Science businesses. For non-core businesses, the Nestle Group continues to streamline, planning to divest its ice cream, Nestlé Waters, and premium beverage businesses, and selling the global retail operations of Blue Bottle Coffee to Centurium Capital, the controlling shareholder of Luckin Coffee. Regarding the Chinese market, Navratil similarly adheres to a philosophy of streamlining the structure and focusing on core areas. Effective January 1 this year, the Wyeth Nutrition business and the Nestle Infant Nutrition business under Nestle China were formally merged to establish the Nestle Nutrition business. During a visit to China in March, Navratil expressed the importance placed on the two major brands, Totole and Hsu Fu Chi. "The foundation for driving growth includes an exciting pipeline of product innovations and brand building, including local Chinese brands such as Totole and Hsu Fu Chi. These brands primarily operate in the Chinese market but also have potential for export overseas," Navratil stated in a media interview. The appointment of Wang Bin to lead Hsu Fu Chi may also reflect Nestle's intention to promote the brand's global expansion. Nestle stated that Wang Bin possesses deep experience in full P&L management, brand building, digital transformation, and global market expansion. Wang Bin has over twenty years of senior management experience, starting his career at Procter & Gamble, later serving as General Manager of the Detergent Division and General Manager of the Group Brand Center at Liby Group. He also worked at Huawei, holding positions including Chief Marketing Officer for the Honor brand and Chief Marketing Officer for Huawei Consumer Business Group in Northern Europe. After leaving Huawei, Wang Bin returned to the food sector, serving as Chief Marketing Officer at Mengniu Dairy Group and Baixiang Food.