Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is a world-wide manufacturer of
confectionery, petfood and other food products with $18 billion (USD) in annual sales (2005). Headquartered in
McLean, Virginia,
USA, the company is entirely owned by the
Mars family, making it one of the largest privately-owned
U.S. corporations. The US Division, known as
Masterfoods USA, is based in
Hackettstown, New Jersey.
Masterfoods will be reverting to the original Mars Incorporated name in late 2006 as part of a new branding effort. The European Division, known as
Masterfoods Europe, is headquartered in
Brussels,
Belgium and
Veghel,
Netherlands . The name Masterfoods originally came from a food business in Australia aquired in 1967. It is not clear whether or why Masterfoods is replacing Mars as a business name in some parts of the world.
Moving into fourth generation family ownership, the company recently passed from family leadership into non-family leadership; however, the business is still owned by the family.
Mars is most famous for its
Milky Way,
Mars,
M&M's,
Twix and
Snickers confectionery, as well as pet foods (such as the well-known
Whiskas, Chappy and
Pedigree brands), human foods (including
Uncle Ben's) and non-confectionery snack foods (including
Combos). Mars's purchase of Doane Petcare Company in June 2006 significantly increased it's position in the U.S. dry petfood category.
A division of Mars known as
Mars Electronics International produced vending machines until sold in June 2006, for both hot and cold drinks (through its
Four Square division), and bill and coin acceptors. They were one of the most common bill acceptors found in the U.S.
Four Square is the drinks division of Mars, Inc, and comprises the FLAVIA and KLIX brands. FLAVIA operates within the US, UK and Japanese markets, while KLIX operates within UK, Germany and France.
The company was founded in
Tacoma, Washington in
1911, when
Frank C. Mars and his wife Ethel started producing and selling candy. In
1920 [
1] he invented the Milky Way.
The company grew quickly.
Mars, or Masterfoods, is still a family owned business, belonging to the Mars family. The company is famous for its secrecy. In 1999, it did not acknowledge that
Forrest Mars Sr. had died or that he had worked for the company. [
2]
In
1963 a large factory was opened in
Veghel,
the Netherlands.
Masterfoods (Europe) is now headquartered in Belguim
Many of Mars's products are famous-name brands, including:
*
Celebrations*
Dove Chocolate*
Galaxy*
Kudos*
Lockets*
M Azing*
Maltesers**
White Maltesers*
Mars*
M&M's*
Milky Way*
Snickers (The top-selling candy bar in the United States. Known in the UK as
Marathon until 1990.)
*
Three Musketeers*
Skittles*
Starburst (Originally
Opal Fruits in the UK.)
*
Twix*
Bounty*
TopicOther confections, no longer produced, include:
*
Opal Mints*
SpanglesMars Limited is the name of the
British branch of Mars, Inc. The company is based in
Slough,
England. Some Mars brands manufactured in the
United Kingdom but not the
United States include
Maltesers and
Tunes.
In 1932, Forrest Mars Sr. opened what was then Mars (Europe) headquarters, and remains Mars (UK) headquarters in
Slough,
England[
3] on the new (then)
Slough trading Estate after a disagreement with his father,
Frank C. Mars. In this factory, he produced the first
Mars bar (based on the American
Milky Way.[
4].
The bar formerly sold in the U.S. as the
Mars bar is now marketed in that country as the "Snickers
Almond Bar" and is not sold consistently in the UK where it has appeared with other special editions that are released occasionally.
Confusingly, the
Milky Way in Europe and worldwide is known as the
Three Musketeers in
America. Similarly, the
Snickers bar was previously marketed in
Britain and
Ireland as Marathon until 1990;
M&Ms were known as
Treets in the
United Kingdom,
France,
Germany and
The Netherlands, also until 1990;
Dove is known as
Galaxy (chocolate) in the
United Kingdom and the
Middle East; and
Starburst was known in the
United Kingdom and
Ireland as Opal Fruits until 1998.
The two factories in Slough were located on
Liverpool Road and
Dundee Road; the one on Liverpool Road, is set to close by 2007, with
Twix, and
Starburst production moving to
France and the
Czech Republic. [
5].
Most confectionery products for Europe are produced in Slough, England, Veghel (Holland), and
Viersen (Germany.)
*
Big Chocolate*
Mars Inc. corporate web site**
Mars Information Services International (Australia)**
Masterfoods*
Company profile from Yahoo!
*
Recommended Reading: The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars
