Daniel Whitehouse is responsible for the sourcing programs for both peanuts and treenuts in Mars Wrigley Confectionery. The company is home to some of the world’s biggest and most beloved nut-centric brands including M&Ms and Snickers. Originally from a background in financial markets and finance, in his nine years with Mars Daniel has held various roles in commodity sourcing and foreign exchange trading across the US, UK and his native home of Australia. In 2017 Daniel and the team were recognized by the procurement leader’s organization as winners of the global external collaboration award for their work partnering with the industry on high oleic acid peanut adoption in the US. He is currently based in Chicago, IL – USA.
Can you observe a rising popularity of any nut or dried fruit within the confectionery sector?
Popularity of different nuts varies, of course, by region. With consumers seeking new and interesting products, we see potential in introducing new varieties across regions where they haven’t necessarily achieved popularity yet, or where we can help increase popularity. For example, bringing peanuts into parts of Europe and hazelnuts more broadly into North America.
In your view what do consumers value most about products with nuts and dried fruits?
Taste is the predominant factor, but consumers also appreciate the health benefits, convenience and transparency of ingredients in those products, meaning seeing pieces or entirety of the nuts and fruits included.
What are the market segments with better margin for growth in confectionery with nuts and dried fruits? Are premium and healthier products the main two drives?
Premium products will deliver margins, but the qualities that consumers consider to be premium are not always straightforward. The nut industry can play a role in encouraging consumers to invest in products containing nuts, by celebrating their health benefits, great taste and versatility in treats and snacks. Concerted marketing efforts in our industry have positively driven consumer perception, and food manufactures like Mars can tap into those positive insights for innovation and premium product development.
Healthy trends are becoming part of millennials’ snacking habits. How is the confectionery sector integrating healthier options with health consumer awareness on the rise?
Millennials talk openly about how meals have become snacks, and snacks have become meals. The three square meals of the past no longer apply, it’s more about making deliberate choices throughout the day that best balance food and lifestyle needs. In Confectionery, this plays out in balancing two desires and reasons why people come to the category. On one end consumers tell us they want a true treat. They aren’t willing to sacrifice taste. When they indulge they want to enjoy the full richness, fun, and flavor that treats and snacks offer. But, consumers do see treats and snacks as part of a balanced diet. They want to know what they’re eating in order to make informed decisions about how much and when they are consuming.
So then, you act in line with consumer desires, right?
Yes. As a category, we’re operating across a spectrum to meet the needs of our shoppers. Providing permissible choices and transparent communications is critical to help people find the products they need and make informed choices, for example, bite-sized and portion controlled options, reductions in saturated fats, calorie counts on front of pack and labels that are increasingly more transparent.
Mars Wrigley Confectionery distributes its products in over 180 countries. What geographic markets are more important for Mars within the nuts business?
The US and Europe are our two largest markets for nuts, however emerging markets continue to grow. Places such as China and India show promise for nut-based portfolio.
How are the new US trade policies in place affecting Mars strategy within the nuts industry?
As a global business that believes in free trade, we don’t want to see policy barriers. As a privately owned company, we have the benefit of a long-term view, so while the uncertainty is challenging today, we’ll continue to approach global sourcing strategies with a long-term view of protecting and improving generations to come.
What role does technology play at Mars in sustainability?
Technology is critical to sustainability at Mars. Last year we announced our Sustainable in a Generation plan that commits our business to move beyond incremental improvements to unlock systemic changes that benefit people and the planet. Combining business principles with science, we’ve used technology to enable transformational new sourcing strategies for critical raw materials which will allow us to address the sustainability challenges whether they are GHG emissions, water stress, land use, etc. Outcomes are broad, for example, Mars has mapped and shared the cocoa genome, tracked land use via satellites, and used renewable electricity from wind and solar power to cover operations in major markets like the US, UK, Mexico, France, Australia and more. And, with nuts specifically, we’re using technology to drive scientific research into higher yielding varieties, water savings technologies and aflatoxin mitigation strategies. These technological developments will not only reduce the impact of nut production on the environment, but more importantly, improving the livelihoods of all participants in our supply chains.
Popularity of different nuts varies, of course, by region. With consumers seeking new and interesting products, we see potential in introducing new varieties across regions where they haven’t necessarily achieved popularity yet, or where we can help increase popularity. For example, bringing peanuts into parts of Europe and hazelnuts more broadly into North America.
In your view what do consumers value most about products with nuts and dried fruits?
Taste is the predominant factor, but consumers also appreciate the health benefits, convenience and transparency of ingredients in those products, meaning seeing pieces or entirety of the nuts and fruits included.
What are the market segments with better margin for growth in confectionery with nuts and dried fruits? Are premium and healthier products the main two drives?
Premium products will deliver margins, but the qualities that consumers consider to be premium are not always straightforward. The nut industry can play a role in encouraging consumers to invest in products containing nuts, by celebrating their health benefits, great taste and versatility in treats and snacks. Concerted marketing efforts in our industry have positively driven consumer perception, and food manufactures like Mars can tap into those positive insights for innovation and premium product development.
Healthy trends are becoming part of millennials’ snacking habits. How is the confectionery sector integrating healthier options with health consumer awareness on the rise?
Millennials talk openly about how meals have become snacks, and snacks have become meals. The three square meals of the past no longer apply, it’s more about making deliberate choices throughout the day that best balance food and lifestyle needs. In Confectionery, this plays out in balancing two desires and reasons why people come to the category. On one end consumers tell us they want a true treat. They aren’t willing to sacrifice taste. When they indulge they want to enjoy the full richness, fun, and flavor that treats and snacks offer. But, consumers do see treats and snacks as part of a balanced diet. They want to know what they’re eating in order to make informed decisions about how much and when they are consuming.
So then, you act in line with consumer desires, right?
Yes. As a category, we’re operating across a spectrum to meet the needs of our shoppers. Providing permissible choices and transparent communications is critical to help people find the products they need and make informed choices, for example, bite-sized and portion controlled options, reductions in saturated fats, calorie counts on front of pack and labels that are increasingly more transparent.
Mars Wrigley Confectionery distributes its products in over 180 countries. What geographic markets are more important for Mars within the nuts business?
The US and Europe are our two largest markets for nuts, however emerging markets continue to grow. Places such as China and India show promise for nut-based portfolio.
How are the new US trade policies in place affecting Mars strategy within the nuts industry?
As a global business that believes in free trade, we don’t want to see policy barriers. As a privately owned company, we have the benefit of a long-term view, so while the uncertainty is challenging today, we’ll continue to approach global sourcing strategies with a long-term view of protecting and improving generations to come.
What role does technology play at Mars in sustainability?
Technology is critical to sustainability at Mars. Last year we announced our Sustainable in a Generation plan that commits our business to move beyond incremental improvements to unlock systemic changes that benefit people and the planet. Combining business principles with science, we’ve used technology to enable transformational new sourcing strategies for critical raw materials which will allow us to address the sustainability challenges whether they are GHG emissions, water stress, land use, etc. Outcomes are broad, for example, Mars has mapped and shared the cocoa genome, tracked land use via satellites, and used renewable electricity from wind and solar power to cover operations in major markets like the US, UK, Mexico, France, Australia and more. And, with nuts specifically, we’re using technology to drive scientific research into higher yielding varieties, water savings technologies and aflatoxin mitigation strategies. These technological developments will not only reduce the impact of nut production on the environment, but more importantly, improving the livelihoods of all participants in our supply chains.