Mondelēz to take majority stake in Undercover Snacks

By Priya Raman

Mondelēz International will acquire a majority stake in Undercover Snacks in a deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, although the purchase price and other financial terms remain undisclosed. The company announced the transaction on Friday.

What does the majority-stake deal change?

Mondelēz will keep Undercover as a standalone business within its North America Ventures unit, alongside Perfect Snacks, Tate’s Bake Shop and Hu Chocolate. Founder and CEO Diana Levy will remain CEO. The structure preserves Levy and Undercover’s operating identity while connecting the brand to a larger parent.

Undercover was founded in 2016 after Levy sought a snack for her two children, both diagnosed with celiac disease. Its chocolate-covered and frosted quinoa crisps occupy the better-for-you and permissible-indulgence space. Unlike Tate’s indulgent chocolate-chip cookie, the crisps present a grain-based snack with ingredient credentials; management describes them as having healthy ingredients in disguise.

CEO Dirk Van de Put said: “We believe that over time, our portfolio needs to evolve towards healthier snacks, and this is one step in that direction basically.” Mondelēz’s existing portfolio runs from Oreo and Chips Ahoy! to Ritz and Triscuits.

Van de Put’s consumer thesis is that aging shoppers will seek snacks that taste good and support a more active lifestyle. Management expects Undercover to capture more snacking occasions, but the announcement provides no volume target to test that expectation.

Undercover’s product credentials include:

• Simple, high-quality, non-GMO ingredients.
• Certified gluten-free products.
• Production at a dedicated New Jersey facility that is peanut-free and tree-nut-free.
• Rainforest Alliance-certified cocoa and manufacturing in a solar-powered facility.

How does distribution affect the economics?

Undercover already sells in more than 25,000 retail locations, and its snacks are consumed by travelers on United Airlines. Those figures establish distribution reach, not sell-through. Mondelēz products, by comparison, reach tens of thousands of retailers worldwide.

Mondelēz plans to use that reach and its retailer connections to expand Undercover’s distribution. It also expects to assist with procurement, sharpen the brand’s consumer insight and increase marketing support.

Van de Put characterized Undercover as a small business growing fast with a large distribution opportunity. Because no sales history accompanied those assertions, the company gave readers no way to size either the growth rate or the remaining whitespace.

Founder and CEO Diana Levy said the transaction offered “an opportunity to build Undercover into something much bigger.” She expects Mondelēz’s capabilities to accelerate innovation, reach more consumers and develop Undercover into a global brand while preserving its culture, entrepreneurial spirit and focus on simple, high-quality ingredients.

The announcement supplies no Undercover revenue, unit volume, selling price, gross margin or inventory-turn data. That omission matters. Procurement scale may lower input costs, while wider distribution and marketing may lift sales, but neither benefit has a disclosed baseline.

Nor can readers determine whether the acquisition will strengthen or dilute Mondelēz’s gross margin. The release contains no cost, pricing or product-mix assumptions. Retailer relationships could increase Mondelēz’s channel power by winning more shelf space, yet it disclosed no placement commitments, trade-spending terms or evidence that Undercover will replace other products.

For customers, broader distribution may make the snacks easier to find, but price and repeat-purchase data remain unavailable. More retail doors also do not prove faster inventory turns: without stronger consumer sell-through, additional placements can leave more stock sitting with retailers and distributors.

What do Mondelēz’s sales figures show?

Mondelēz reported third-quarter revenue of $9.97 billion, a 2.3% increase, with much of the growth coming from outside its core North American and European markets. Latin America led with 12% sales growth, North America rose 1.1%, and Europe declined 3.3%.

Those figures show where the reported growth occurred, not how Undercover performed. Mondelēz provided no standalone sales, profitability or distribution data for the business it will control.

If the transaction closes on schedule in the first quarter of 2027, the measurable test will be whether Undercover expands beyond its 25,000-location footprint while raising sell-through, inventory turns and reported margins rather than merely adding stock to retailer shelves.