At a time when consumers are increasingly becoming health conscious, global chocolate maker Mondelez, which owns the Cadbury brand, is experimenting with products with lower sugar content to balance indulgence with wellness.
According to the global head of the multinational, the company could reformulate its strategy based on the response of the consumer though the attempt would be to ensure that the new products taste like the old ones.
Reformulating products
“Sugar is a discussion at the moment and so we need to reformulate some of our products,” said Dirk Van de Put, global CEO and chairman, Mondelez International.
“We will see what the reaction is to this product. And we will take it from there if we have to reformulate more of our products. And you can understand this is quite a bit of work as we want the new product to taste the same as the old product,” he said while addressing the media.
This assumes significance as, early this month, the company launched its highly-popular Cadbury Dairy Milk with 30% less sugar.
Incidentally, it was a product that was entirely developed by the MNC’s India unit. Meanwhile, having garnered the largest share in the Indian chocolate segment, the company now wants to strengthen itself in other product categories like candies, beverages, health bars and biscuits in which it already has a presence with products like Oreo, Bournvita, Gems, Eclairs and Halls.
On a different note, the global CEO, while stressing that India is one of the most important markets for the company, said that Mondelez will always be open for acquisitions.
“We feel that there are a number of areas where we are better off making an acquisition instead of developing in-house because there is already a successful company. It might be a technology that we don’t particularly have or an understanding of the consumer that we don’t have,” he said
“And so, acquisitions is an important part of our equation to grow. India is one of our most important countries, and it’s going to be even more important for us in the future. We really want to grow fast in India, So if you put those two together, it is obvious that we are open to making acquisitions” he added.
