Mondelēz has partnered with The Hatchery Chicago, a non-profit food business incubator, as it ramps up its efforts to meet growing snacking demands. The newly announced partnership is one of several investments Mondelēz is making as part of SnackFutures, the company’s innovation and venture hub aimed at unlocking snacking opportunities around the world.

Through the partnership, Mondelēz and the SnackFutures seek to connect with local food and beverage start-up companies to accelerate and scale-up innovation. Mondelēz will work closely with The Hatchery Chicago to offer educational opportunities and mentorship to entrepreneurs active in Chicago’s food and beverage space.

“We are impressed with the talented start-ups coming out of The Hatchery and are excited to be part of this journey. It is increasingly important for us to collaborate with the best and brightest talent in advancing the future of snacking,” says Tim Cofer, Executive Vice President and Chief Growth Officer of Mondelēz. 

Supported by an ecosystem of internal experts and external partners, SnackFutures seeks to collaborate in three key strategic areas: well-being snacks, premium snacks, digital platforms and capabilities.

“Snacking is a highly attractive category distinctive from food,” Cofer tells FoodIngredientsFirst. “It is a large and growing behavior around the world. Approximately 75 percent of consumers around the world are snackers, driving approximately US$1.2 trillion in consumer spending every year. And spending on packaged snacks is growing faster than the rest of the snacking category at 2.8 percent. We are on a mission to lead the future of snacking as the world is becoming ‘snackified.’”

Trends around the world underscore that snacking growth is likely to continue, according to Cofer. “Growing incomes, longer commute times, more working women, the digital revolution, time compression – all of these are mega cultural trends from the US to Europe to emerging markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America,” he explains. “And all of this means snacking is a behavior and the markets will continue to experience real growth.”

“Also, in the world of consumer snacking, we know there is a tension,” Cofer continues. “People want to snack more, their lifestyle demands this, but they want to snack right, so as a result, we have made it our purpose to empower people around the world to snack right. And this is wher SnackFutures plays a key role – to help us deliver on our Snacking Made Right purpose and unlock snacking opportunities,” he adds.

“With SnackFutures, we are fundamentally shifting the way we think and behave and we’re taking up a start-up mindset. We’re building a unique ecosystem and culture that consists of our own best-in-class internal experts around the globe, and external partners who know things we don’t and can do things we can’t. As such, our partnership with The Hatchery Chicago and our investment in Uplift Food are excellent examples of this ecosystem at play and there will be more partnerships like those in the future,” Cofer notes.

The Hatchery helps local entrepreneurs build and grow successful food and beverage businesses through three significant areas of need: access to production space, financing and resources. Housed in a 67,000-square-foot facility in Chicago, it provides job training and placement programs, creating sustainable economic growth and new job opportunities.

“We believe collaboration accelerates innovation and increases the rate of success for companies – big and small,” says Natalie Shmulik, CEO of The Hatchery Chicago.

As a key pillar of the company’s consumer-centric growth strategy, SnackFutures is designed as an independent hub that brings three core tenets of growth under one umbrella to accelerate innovation: invention of new brands and businesses; reinvention of small-scale brands with large-scale potentia, and venture investments with start-up entrepreneurs to bring emerging brands and strategic capabilities.

The role of start-ups in shaping the future of the food and beverage industry is pronounced. Innova Market Insights listed “Small player mindset” as one of its key trends for 2019, wher small players are shaking up the food and beverage industry by taking on the classic Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) giants in an increasingly high-tech arena.

It is clear that significant players are going small in their strategy to pick up on these trends. Some recent examples of incubator programs currently in place come from General Mills (301 Inc.), Nestlé (TERRA Accelerator), Danone (Danone Manifesto Ventures), Kraft Heinz (Springboard Incubator), Kellogg’s (eighteen94 capital) and Unilever (Unilever Ventures).

Last week, Chobani unveiled the members of its Spring Incubator 2019 class, including eight food and beverage start-ups that the company says are “disrupting and improving mainstay food and beverage categories in the US.