Since becoming a stand-alone business within the Nestlé group last year, Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages has been charting a bold new course in premium and ‘better4you’ beverages.  On a visit to the company’s Product & Technology Centre (NPTC) in Vittel, France, FoodBev’s Rafaela Sousa gets a rare behind-the-scenes look at the people, processes and cutting-edge technologies driving innovation, sustainability and consumer-led product development.

Tucked away in a spa town in northeastern France, Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages’ Product & Technology Centre in Vittel combines cutting-edge research and innovation with state-of-the-art production and bottling technology. Walking into the facility, we get a sense of how business, planning and technical teams operate alongside the pilot production facility.

The focus of our visit is an insight into innovation; particularly relevant as the ‘better4you’ category accelerates. Market research from Fact.MR valued it at $197.3 million in 2023, with projections to more than double to $484 million by 2034.

For Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages, this is an opportunity to combine decades of expertise with a forward-looking, consumer-centric approach that shapes the beverages of tomorrow.

R&D as the engine of growth

Every year, new beverage launches flood the market, yet few sustain momentum, often because they are built around short-term novelty rather than a clear consumer need or a proposition that can scale. For Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages, the challenge is not how quickly to launch, but how to build products that are designed to last.

That thinking is rooted in long-term R&D investment, sensory science and consumer insight, rather than speed to market alone. Innovations like Sanpellegrino CIAO! sparkling flavoured water demonstrate the company’s ability to balance their R&D process with speed, with the product being recognised as the #1 launch in the sparkling flavoured water category despite being launched just 12 months after its inception, according to Global Data from 2025. As the visit gets underway, Sandrine Lescoffier, global R&D head at Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages, sums up the approach: “Innovation is our heartbeat. We’re not just creating products; we’re shaping what consumers expect from their beverages.”

This approach is not new to the company. In 1932, long before flavoured waters became a global category, Sanpellegrino introduced Aranciata, combining mineral water with real orange juice in a move that would help define the brand’s future. The brand’s longevity, Lescoffier notes, comes from a deep understanding of taste, quality and occasion; principles that continue to guide development today.

That same philosophy underpins newer launches including Sanpellegrino CIAO!, a flavoured sparkling water developed with real fruit juices, and the Maison Perrier Chic range of sophisticated mocktails developed in collaboration with real mixologists. Rather than chasing trends, both brands have been developed to respond to evolving expectations around flavour, permissibility and functionality, while remaining grounded in sensory performance and consistency at scale.

Consumer insights in action

Before a single ingredient is tested or a bottle designed, Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages listens to emerging trends and the subtle signals that reveal what consumers will want next. “Consumer centricity is not a buzzword here; it’s our compass,” says Leila Clemaron, international head of innovation. “It lets us anticipate cultural shifts, work closely with global marketing, and translate early signals into innovations that succeed.”

For Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages, putting consumers first means observing lifestyle habits, shopping behaviours and emotional connections across global markets. The rise of Gen Z is shaping these trends, driving demand for authenticity, hybrid experiences and beverages that combine indulgence with guilt-free pleasure.

“They want emotional connections and values from the brands they choose,” Clemaron points out. “Our role is to detect these weak signals early, so we can respond with products that resonate now and in the long term.”

The company’s approach goes beyond simple trend-following. Every new product begins with deep consumer insights, feeding into a clear brief that guides R&D. AI is a key tool here, predictive modelling and social listening allow the team to analyse vast datasets quickly, identifying gaps and optimising concepts before they reach the pilot plant.

“AI helps us move faster,” says Clemaron, “but it never replaces real consumer feedback. We still meet them where they live, shop and work to understand what truly matters.”

Sensory mapping is another cornerstone of the strategy. Global panels assess flavours and ingredients, while expert evaluators measure sweetness, acidity and aroma, ensuring consistency across markets. This allows Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages to strike the delicate balance between global appeal and subtle local adaptation, from the zesty peel of a lemon in Italy to the sweeter profiles preferred in the US. Later in the tour, we get a closer look at how these sensory insights shape product development.

By embedding consumers at the heart of every step, from insight gathering and recipe development to sensory testing and global roll-out, Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages ensures innovation is both meaningful and memorable.

Innovation powered by cross-site expertise

The company’s Vittel site serves as the scientific R&D hub for the group, bringing together expertise in product, process, packaging and sensory science. Teams in Madone, Italy, complement these efforts, with a particular focus on flavour and product development.

“Our Madone facility is where the magic happens,” Virginie Fohrer, flavour and product development lead, tells me. She notes that the site plays a pivotal role in the group’s capabilities across flavours, juice compounds and botanical extracts, and is equipped with advanced technologies including extraction, infusion and aseptic compounding.

“Drawing on nearly a century of taste development, we combine heritage knowledge with cutting-edge extraction, infusion and aseptic compounding technologies to create flavour systems that are hard to replicate,” Fohrer adds.

Madone is designed not to produce generic flavours, but to craft unique, proprietary formulations, from citrus and herbal top notes to complex botanical extracts, that give Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages a clear competitive advantage.

The team uses a range of techniques, from solid-liquid and liquid-liquid extraction to steam distillation and hot or cold infusions, carefully selecting the best method for each ingredient to preserve authenticity, stability and clarity.

The site’s structure also integrates applied R&D with sensory-driven product development, a combination that is rare among large beverage companies. This dual approach allows teams to rapidly translate scientific insights into formulations that are ready for production while maintaining premium quality and uniqueness.

Inside the tasting room

No innovation is complete without understanding how it will be experienced. Sensory science sits at the heart of Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages’ development, and the Vittel site’s tasting room is a perfect example of that commitment.

We see the dedicated tasting room where trained expert panels work in 12 individual booths, each carefully designed to minimise bias. Neutral colours, precise lighting and temperature, and specially treated air to remove odours ensure panellists can focus entirely on the liquid in front of them.

Fohrer conducts many of these sessions. “Even the smallest details – glass shape, colour or the time of day – can influence perception,” she explains. Tastings are typically held in the morning, when experts’ senses are at their sharpest.

Results from panel tastings are then cross-checked with consumer data to identify which sensory attributes drive preference across different markets. This ensures that new products are not only technically sound but genuinely enjoyable to drink.

We quickly realise it is trickier than it looks. Each sample is coded with different colours and letters, and our task is to guess the flavours and jot down our impressions. The exercise brings home the subtlety and precision behind Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages’ approach to product development.

For Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages, these sessions are far more than a quality check, they are a key part of translating long-term R&D and consumer insight into flavours and experiences that resonate. It’s a reminder that innovation is grounded in understanding the consumer, not just in creating something new.

From lab to pilot plant

“This isn’t just about scaling up,” explains Nikhil Patil, packaging development lead and our tour guide for the pilot plant. “It’s about refining every detail to ensure products perform in real-world conditions. We can replicate every stage of production here without disrupting our live lines, which protects innovation and lets us experiment safely.”

The plant houses small-scale processing units and analytical tools, enabling the team to adjust recipes in real time. Packaging development is equally precise: injection and blowing machines expand PET preforms into their final bottle shapes, optimising designs for lightweighting and energy efficiency.

“Every bottle is tested and optimised from material use to energy efficiency, so when it hits the production line, we know it will perform,” Patil notes. For example, a patented bottle base can reduce material use and be suitable to rPET content.

Innovation built to last

The clear takeaway is that the company’s secret sauce isn’t just in the water. Long-term, consumer-led innovation rests on three pillars: technology, expertise and sustainability.

Sensory science ensures products actually hit the mark, pilot-scale trials cut down the guesswork, and clever packaging and process tweaks serve both planet and profit. But at the heart of it all are the people, engineers, scientists, quality teams turning bright ideas into beverages.

For Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages, real innovation comes from careful, measured experimentation, guided by consumer insight and balanced with a dose of creativity. Vittel shows how this mix produces products that don’t just make a splash but resonate for the long-term.

And for those hoping to master the art of premium beverages? The Vittel site offers a blueprint: put consumers first, lean on expertise, experiment and never forget that innovation tastes best when it’s as thoughtful as it is bold.

As Patil put it: “Our goal isn’t just to make a product that works, it’s to make a product that excels. In Vittel we test, refine and innovate so that when ideas leave this facility, they’re ready to succeed in the real world.”