Crunching Numbers and Trends in the Snack Industry

Ask Barbara Schandl about an innovation moment that stayed with her, and she returns to the launch of Tassimo in Austria. Working in marketing at the time, she enjoyed seeing a coffee machine connect with changing consumer habits. She later joined a venture team around the brand. The experience remains memorable because the product became part of how people drank coffee.

That connection between an offering and everyday behavior runs through this episode of Innovation Rockstars. Schandl discusses her work leading insights and strategy at SnackFutures Ventures at Mondelēz International, where consumer understanding informs startup collaboration and investment. Her perspective combines enthusiasm for new ideas with a habit of asking inconvenient questions. A compelling trend or an attractive concept still needs someone willing and able to buy the product again.

Listen to intentions, then investigate behavior

Schandl sees a gap between the way people say they want to live and the choices available to them in practice. Someone can sincerely want to eat differently, exercise more or buy more sustainable products. Those intentions do not remove questions of taste, price and everyday circumstances.

For snacks, she keeps returning to a basic requirement: the product has to taste good. A favorable response to a concept does not guarantee repeat purchase. Nor does enthusiasm for a healthier option mean every household can afford it.

She is not dismissing change. She describes gradual but meaningful movement and improving products. Her concern is with projecting an appealing picture of future consumers onto people whose present lives are more complicated.

That distinction matters when an R&D team evaluates a formulation, ingredient or new proposition. Research needs to help explain what people actually do, including what they leave unsaid. Schandl values observation alongside questions, and an understanding of the context in which a product will be chosen.

Her own answer to the question about a late-working snack is immediate: chocolate. Milka is a favorite. Consumer research can become abstract very quickly; food remains something people experience personally.

Define what the venture work should contribute

Schandl describes SnackFutures as a strategic corporate venture capital operation. Minority investments are part of the work, alongside advice and collaboration with portfolio companies. The intention is to support Mondelēz's growth direction and help promising businesses scale.

The team has defined areas of interest, including disruption around the core business, well-being and sustainability, and technologies connected with personalization and new experiences. Those choices give scouting a purpose. A small team cannot search everywhere or pursue every interesting startup.

External relationships extend its reach. Trade shows, partners and more systematic scouting methods help identify opportunities. Technology can assist with that search, but Schandl stresses the need to know what the organization is looking for.

The investment discussion also considers whether a business has demonstrated its concept with a target audience and whether the two organizations can help each other. A startup may bring capabilities Mondelēz does not have; the larger organization may offer resources and experience that support the startup's next stage.

Research tools make access easier, not interpretation automatic

Schandl welcomes the wider availability of research tools. A smaller company may be unable to commission a large traditional study but still have affordable ways to learn from consumers. Established companies can also test different approaches and work with smaller research providers.

She favors a combination of methods. Digital tools can make learning faster and more accessible, while direct contact and observation reveal aspects of behavior that a questionnaire may miss. Choosing the method should follow what the team needs to understand.

The output still requires interpretation. Schandl distinguishes between providing technology and helping a company develop an actionable insight. A useful research partner can connect a finding with existing knowledge, challenge a request and help the team see a wider picture.

She recognizes the change in her own career. Early on, a research request often led directly to executing a study. With experience, she became more likely to ask what was already known and whether another question needed answering first.

“Don't be afraid to ask uncomfortable questions.”

That advice includes asking whether the consumer has actually been involved. Using an AI tool or a research platform does not, by itself, establish that a team understands the person it hopes to serve.

A strategic partnership should teach both sides something

Schandl describes close working relationships with portfolio companies, sometimes involving daily conversations. The immediate need might concern the target consumer, supply chain capacity or another issue that benefits from access to the wider Mondelēz network.

She is equally interested in what comes back. Working with a young company exposes her to questions and constraints that differ from those of a large corporation. After decades in the industry, that is still a source of learning. She also makes an effort to bring those lessons into conversations with colleagues elsewhere in Mondelēz.

Her enthusiasm for collaboration extends beyond a company and its portfolio. She sees value in connecting established businesses, startups and universities across the food ecosystem. The relationships create opportunities to combine knowledge that would otherwise remain separate.

The mindset she recommends is demanding: hold a belief strongly enough to pursue it, while remaining willing to change it. Long experience should not become an automatic explanation for why a new idea will fail. Her invitation to venture teams is simple:

“Take the consumer on board. It doesn't hurt.”

For a product team, that means keeping the person's circumstances in the conversation as the concept develops. Taste, affordability and the moment of use deserve attention alongside the technology and the investment case. Those details help determine whether an appealing innovation becomes something people choose in their everyday lives.