Letter to Chief Executive Officer Nestlé USA Joe Weller

August 11, 2003
Mr. Joe Weller
Chief Executive Officer
Nestlé USA
800 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, California 91203

Dear Mr. Weller:

We are writing to you concerning Nestlé's plans to auction the chocolate manufacturing equipment from its plant in Fulton, New York and the impact this would have on the community's economy. As you well know, for over a hundred years the Nestlé plant had been an essential employer in and around Fulton - a community that has provided decades of labor and untold ingenuity to your corporation. Chocolate manufacturing has been a major source of employment in Fulton and it is our hope that this tradition will be given the opportunity to continue.

Bearing in mind the long history of chocolate manufacturing in the community and the close relationship that was built up over generations between Nestlé and Fulton, we strongly encourage you to reassess your September deadline to auction the Fulton plant equipment separate from the sale of the real estate. Given the progress being made in the effort to redevelop the plant, this deadline is a "Sword of Damocles" hanging over the heads of local officials, economic development professionals and out of work former Nestlé employees eager to work again.

We sincerely hope you will be persuaded to act in accordance with the well being of this community and not place arbitrary pressure on all parties that may work against the time necessary to complete a deal that will attract a buyer for the plant and its equipment. Even though the communities affected by Nestlé's plant closing are in the preliminary stages of marketing the site, there has already been strong interest in the plant. Further, until the plant closed in May of this year, it was not possible to assess the true potential of the equipment and real estate package at the plant.

Permanently closing the chocolate plant will be economically devastating for the Fulton area. With the infrastructure already in place, there is enormous potential for the plant to be sold and continue to operate as a chocolate manufacturing hub. As you know, the real estate without the manufacturing equipment is of minimal value to any potential buyer. Having said that, we sincerely hope you will consider the benefits to be gained from selling the equipment and the real estate as a package. Nestlé would benefit from a greater financial return and the community of Fulton would be protected from a severe economic blow.

In order to give investors sufficient time to express interest, we request that you place a temporary moratorium on the sale of the equipment so that potential investors have time to develop plans for the plant as a whole.

In previous communications Nestlé representatives in the United States and Switzerland have said that the company is
committed to being a good corporate neighbor to the people of Fulton. We ask that you not abandon this commitment as the community cannot sustain the sort of economic devastation that would result from the permanent closing of the chocolate plant.

Sincerely yours,

Charles E. Schumer
Hillary Rodham Clinton