Leader in biscuits, M. Dias Branco puts his hand in the dough with startups

A family-owned company with publicly traded stock, leader of its market and open to innovation: owner of brands such as Adria and Piraquê, ceará M. Dias Branco is putting its hands on the mass with startups. After creating its own acceleration program, Germinar, the company made a minority investment in Mandala, a frozen and healthy products company, as well as to cede the production of gluten-free biscuits and dumplings for another company, Celivita. "Innovation is very important for our growth because it can open new horizons in the food area," explains Fábio Cefaly, director of new business at the cookie maker. In 2018, the company earned R$ 6 billion and has a 36% share of the Brazilian market, according to Euromonitor. Among the opportunities described by the executive are the exploitation of healthier foods, a trend among younger and wealthier consumers. "It's something promising that should grow to other markets," Cefaly says. In return, the company offers startups knowledge, resources and contacts for newcomers to expand their operations. This is what already happens to Mandala: after receiving a contribution from M. Dias Branco in June, of undisclosed values, the frozen company started selling its products in retail chains such as St. Marché. Before that, he had only direct sales, via e-commerce, or partnerships with hospitals, airlines and schools. In the last three months, the company has grown about 20% per month and increased its team by 50%. "M. Dias Branco gave us the way of the stones of great retail," explains Adriana Fernandes, founder of Mandala. The startup was born in 2015 after Adriana's son was diagnosed with an allergy. "We include people excluding ingredients, making food for those who have restrictions," says the businesswoman. In addition to partnerships in contacts with retailers, Mandala also benefits from M. Dias Branco's experience to select which products should line up its expansion, among the more than 200 items it has in its portfolio – from gnocchi to brownie. Outsourced assembly line allows gluten-free production Despite the investment, Mandala will continue producing the frozen ones in its own factory in São Paulo. M. Dias Branco has only a presence on the startup's advisory board. It is something very different from the partnership that Ceará has made with Celivita, another "newcomer" who went through its innovation program: the startup will be responsible for manufacturing, alone, the first gluten-free cookies and cookies of Adria. The food, developed in partnership with Celivita, will be part of the Adria Plus Life product line, launched two years ago with a focus on whole foods. More than just facilitating production, outsourcing the production of gluten-free products aims to "isolate" the manufacture of biscuits. Thus, the company manages to enter a new market without running the risk of cross-contamination for celiacs – a name given to people who have gluten allergy. "By outsourcing, M. Dias Branco was able to have more speed to take advantage of this opportunity than if production had started from scratch," says consultant Maximiliano Carlomagno of Innoscience, a consultancy responsible for running the program of Maximiliano Carlomagno, a consultancy responsible for running the program of innovation of industry. Originally launched in 2018, Germinar is ending its second edition – in all, the program has received more than 300 entries and received 24 proposals for interaction between startups and industry. "In addition to food techs (name given to startups in the food sector), we also deal with companies that are seeking efficiency for other areas of the business," cefaly says.