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Montreaux Chocolate USA Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate Case Solution

Solution Id Length Case Author Case Publisher
2477 1113 Words (5 Pages) John A. Quelch, Diane Badame Harvard Business School : 914501
This solution includes: A Word File A Word File

Apollo Foods is one of the leading companies in the global confectionery business with renowned household brands of biscuits, snacks, beverages, and confectionaries in its product portfolio. The company’s decision of acquiring the Swiss Montreaux Chocolate Company was quite a successful one. This was mainly due to the chocolate segment being one of the most popular, lucrative, and profitable food categories worldwide. Traditionally, chocolate has been perceived as a sweet, milky guilty pleasure treat with lots of calories. 

However, due to changing consumer trends and behavior, this notion has changed with the increasing popularity of dark chocolate which is now seen as a healthier alternative for health-conscious consumers. This case talks about the launch of a new chocolate product that is one of the objectives of the Apollo Foods and Montreux Chocolate merger. However, this launch is facing several challenges including the type of product to be launched, it's positioning, and packaging. 

Following questions are answered in this case study solution:

  1. What were the problems faced by Montreaux Chocolate USA in positioning, sizing, and packaging its products?

  2. Should the company build upon its European brand equity or more directly tailor to American consumers?

  3. The company needs to decide on size packaging. Should it market its products in smaller squares for the portion control or as a 3.5-ounce candy bar?

Case Study Questions Answers

1. What were the problems faced by Montreaux Chocolate USA in positioning, sizing, and packaging its products?

The acquisition of Montreaux Chocolate by Apollo Company resulted in the establishment of three strategic goals that were to be fulfilled by the introduction of a new healthy product line. However, the introduction of this product line in a new market was not easy as it brought with it a whole set of product formulation and marketing issues. The company not only had to find the right product formulation in terms of the combination of the dark chocolate and fruit flavors that best suited to the palate and taste of Montreaux Chocolate’s target audience which consisted primarily of individuals in the age bracket 45-64 who had an income of more than 50,000 dollars. These individuals were health-conscious consumers who were college-educated and married and attracted to the positive experience, health benefits, and convenience that the healthy chocolate provided to them.

The changing consumer trends meant that Montreaux Chocolate had to make the correct decisions when it came to the positioning, size, and packaging of the new product. One of the major issues was the positioning of the new product. Should Montreaux Chocolate market the health benefits of the chocolate more or the taste? Which attribute should it base the product’s positioning on? 

What was the perception that the brand wanted its consumers to have for the product line? These were all important positioning issues that Montreaux Chocolate had to find answers for. Another major issue was whether should the Montreaux build further upon its European brand equity or should it alter its formulation and marketing to the American consumers; opting for any of the options had serious consequences. The third problem faced by the company was finding the optimal sizing and packaging for its products and understanding if consumers preferred smaller squares portions in a 5-ounce pouch or a 3.5-ounce chocolate bar.

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