DEERFIELD, Ill. — Mondelez International has formed a new partnership with The Hatchery Chicago, a nonprofit food business incubator, as part of its innovation and venture hub, SnackFutures. This comes on the heels of a collaboration between Mondelez and Uplift Food, a startup focusing on prebiotic and functional foods, earlier this month.
The partnership will allow Mondelez’s SnackFutures team to connect with local food and beverage startups in its efforts to accelerate and scale innovation. Mondelez and The Hatchery will also offer educational opportunities and mentorship to food and beverage entrepreneurs living in Chicago.
“We are truly impressed with the talented startups coming out of The Hatchery,” said Tim Cofer, executive vice president and chief growth officer of Mondelez International. “As the world's snacking leader, it is increasingly important for us to collaborate with the best and brightest talent in advancing the future of snacking. With SnackFutures, we want to disrupt the food industry by testing new ideas and scaling what works. Working with The Hatchery, food entrepreneurs will help us push the boundaries of what is possible in snacking as we continue to build our ecosystem of partners while also giving back and offering guidance to new companies.”
The Hatchery helps local entrepreneurs build successful food and beverage businesses through three areas: access to production space, financing and resources. The company also provides job training and placement programs for these food and beverage entrepreneurs.
"At The Hatchery Chicago, we believe collaboration accelerates innovation and increases the rate of success for companies—big and small," said Natalie Shmulik, CEO of The Hatchery Chicago. "Through this partnership with Mondelez International, we’re creating even more opportunities for our entrepreneurs and community members to access the mentorship and industry expertise that will help them take their business to the next level."
SnackFutures debuted in November 2018 and focuses on three core growth tenets: inventing new brands and businesses in key strategic areas; reinventing small-scale Mondelez brands with large-scale potential; and venturing with startup entrepreneurs to seed new businesses. Mondelez said it foresees SnackFutures contributing $100 million to its total revenue within the next three years.
Deerfield, Ill.-based Mondelez is a global snacking company operating in 160 countries with about $26 billion in net revenue in 2017. The company manufactures biscuits, chocolate, gum, candy and powdered beverages; its products include BelVita, Chips Ahoy, Oreo, Nabisco, Cadbury, Jacobs coffee, Tang powdered beverages and Trident gum.
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