Mars has appointed Kemal Cetin as the new digital and technology chief for its snacking business, a move that signals just how central data infrastructure has become to the companies behind the world's most familiar candy aisles. The hire, first reported by Food Dive, places a technology executive in a central position within a unit that includes M&M's, Snickers, Twix and Skittles.
According to Food Dive, Cetin will oversee the digital, data and technology strategy for Mars Snacking, reporting into the segment's leadership as the company integrates recent acquisitions and pushes deeper into direct-to-consumer channels. The appointment lands at a moment when legacy food giants are restructuring their tech and operating models at unusual speed.
The context matters. Food Dive has been tracking a broader pattern of operational overhauls across packaged food, including Kraft Heinz's restructuring of its operating model to try to revive growth, and Hershey's decision to combine its candy and snacking units in a move the company says is already paying off with retailers. Mars, still privately held, is making its own version of the same bet: that the snacking category needs sharper technology leadership to keep up with how people actually shop.
What's worth questioning is the assumption baked into all of these announcements — that a digital chief or a reorganized chart will move the needle on what consumers buy. The conventional wisdom inside large CPG companies is that better data and tighter operating structures translate to growth. The counterargument, which retail analysts have raised repeatedly, is that snacking sales are being reshaped by GLP-1 medications, price fatigue, and a slow consumer drift toward less processed options — forces no chief technology officer can prompt-engineer away.
Still, the appointment is a useful tell. When a company the size of Mars puts a technology leader inside its biggest revenue engine, it's signaling where the next round of competition will play out: personalization, supply chain visibility, and the data layer underneath every checkout. For a category built on impulse purchases at the register, that's a meaningful shift in where strategic power sits.
For the plant-based and better-for-you snacking space, the read-through is mixed. Heavier tech investment from the incumbents likely means faster product iteration and tighter retailer relationships — a higher bar for challenger brands trying to win shelf space. It also means the data those incumbents collect will increasingly shape what gets reformulated, what gets discontinued, and which categories get the innovation budget. Whether that produces snacks people actually want to eat, or just more efficient versions of what already exists, is the open question.
