How Nestle Factories Keep Running in a Country Torn by Putin’s War
Companies are contending with power cuts, declining demand and staffing shortages as workers join the fight or flee the country.
Each time an air raid siren sounds over the western Ukrainian region of Lviv, Nestle’s production lines come to a halt. While staff decamp to the bomb shelter, often for two hours or more, rows of chocolate-covered Nesquik wafers sit out in the open. By the time it’s safe to come out, the candy bars are no longer fresh, and will need to be crushed and recycled as wafer filling. Further up the production line, unused wafer dough will have started to ferment, and must simply be tossed.
Whenever these raids happen, usually about twice a week, all 250 employees race to the three basement shelters for cover. Once there, nerves set in, says Iryna Popova, who is head of the chocolate subdivision. “If you’re here in the factory, you are safe because we have shelters and it’s okay. But then you start to think about your family, your relatives, and you don’t know where they are,” she says. “Psychologically and emotionally, it’s very difficult.”