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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.
Company history
The company was founded in Tacoma, Washington in 1911, when Frank C. Mars and his wife Ethel started producing and selling candy. In 1920 * he invented the Milky Way. The company grew quickly. In 1963 a large factory was opened in Veghel, the Netherlands.
Products
Many of Mars's products are famous-name brands, including:
- Celebrations
- Dove Chocolate
- Galaxy
- Kudos
- Lockets
- M Azing
- 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
- Topic
Other confections, no longer produced, include:
- Opal Mints
- Spangles
Mars Limited
Mars 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 Galaxy Milk Chocolate, Maltesers and Tunes.
The bar called Milky Way in the US is sold as Mars in Europe, where the name Milky Way is used for what in the States is called the 3 Musketeers. 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.
Most confectionery products for Europe are produced in Slough, England (although fewer since the company announced plans recently to abandon a long-standing lease on a factory on Liverpool Road), Veghel (Holland), and Viersen (Germany.)
See also
External links
- Mars Inc. corporate web site
- Company profile from Yahoo!
- Recommended Reading: The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars
1911 establishments | Chocolatiers | Companies based in Virginia | Confectionery companies of the United States | Mars brands | Food companies of the United States | Multinational companies | Privately held companies of the United States | NASCAR sponsors
Mars Incorporated | Mars Incorporated | Mars, Inc | Mars, Incorporated | Mars | Mars Incorporated
"Mars, Incorporated"