Sept. 10--Mondelez International, best known in Chicago for making Oreo cookies at its plant on the Southwest Side, will become a "global leader in well-being snacks" in the years to come, Mondelez executives said Thursday.
Speaking at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples conference, Mark Clouse, Mondelez executive vice president and chief growth officer, outlined a plan for growth that included boosting production and development of healthy snacks, as well as advertising and e-commerce, in order to increase revenue in the years to come.
The forward-looking strategy marked a distinct pivot for a company that's mostly been focused on cutting costs in recent years, including laying off half of the 1,200 employees in its Chicago bakery after deciding to make a major investment in a Mexico plant rather than its long-standing facility here. Those layoffs are scheduled to occur over the next year.
"We intend to become the global leader in well-being snacks, with 50 percent of our portfolio in the well-being space by 2020, up from more than a third of total revenue today," Clouse said. "Our goal is to simplify and enhance the ingredient and nutritional profile of our base business while also focusing on breakthrough innovation to address consumers' well-being needs."
To spur growth in its existing base business, Mondelez intends to increase advertising, while shifting more to digital and social media ads, he said.
The company also intends to ramp up its e-commerce as a source of revenue, with plans to increase from less than $100 million in revenue today to "as much as $1 billion" by 2020.
Also speaking at the Barclay's conference, Brian Gladden, executive vice president and chief financial officer, gave an update on the company's recent cost-reduction efforts. Since 2012, Mondelez has closed, sold or streamlined 78 production facilities, he said. By the end of 2015, 40 new manufacturing lines will be up and running.
gtrotter@tribpub.com
