Mars, Incorporated
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| Mars Incorporated | |
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| Type | Private |
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| Founded | 1911 |
| Headquarters | McLean, Virginia, USA |
| Key people | Frank C. Mars, Founder; John Mars, Chairman; Mars family, owners |
| Industry | Confectionery manufacturing |
| Products | Mars Bar, M&M's, Snickers, ... |
| Revenue | $18 billion USD (2004) [1] |
| Employees | 39,000 (2004) [2] |
| Website | Mars.com |
Mars, Incorporated is a world-wide manufacturer of confectionery, pet food 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. Most of its activities in the US are part of a division known as Masterfoods USA, based in Hackettstown, New Jersey.
Manufacturing facilities are located in Albany, Georgia; Burr Ridge, Chicago and Mattoon, Illinois; Cleveland, Tennessee; Columbia, South Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania; Greenville, Mississippi; Greenville and Waco, Texas; Hackettstown, New Jersey; Henderson and Reno, Nevada; and Vernon, California.
The European Division, known as Masterfoods Europe, is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The name Masterfoods originally came from a food business founded by the Lewis family in 1949 in Australia acquired 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 Bar, M&M's, Twix, Skittles 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 its position in the US dry pet food 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 validators and coin acceptors. They were one of the most common bill validators found in the US.
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.
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[edit] Company history
The company was founded in Tacoma, Washington in 1911, when Frank Clarence Mars and his wife Ethel started producing and selling candy. In 1920, he was inspired by a popular type of milkshakes[3] and in 1923 the Milky Way bar was born[4].
The company grew quickly.
Mars is still a family owned business, belonging to the Mars family. The company is famous for its secrecy. Through the years, repeated attempts to get inside the company have taken place but with no avail. In 1992, a writer from The Washington Post was allowed limited access into the heart of the company. When the final article appeared, it supposedly talked about some of the more embarrassing and forgotten moments in the company's history. In 1999, for example, the company did not acknowledge that Forrest Mars Sr. had died or that he had worked for the company. [5]
In 1963 a large factory was opened in Veghel, Netherlands.
Masterfoods (Europe) is now headquartered in Belgium.
The global CEO of Masterfoods is Paul Michaels. Michaels is part of a new group of non-family management that has taken over since the retirement of John and Forrest Mars Jr. The family now oversees the business as a council or board of directors.
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[edit] Negative Publicity
During the 2007 Super Bowl, Snickers, a Mars, Inc. company, ran an ad campaign with NFL approval and logo, portraying two men who accidentally kiss each other and respond with violence. The ad's homophobia created negative publicity, including statements from HRC and GLAAD, asking that the ads and related website be pulled.
[edit] Products
Many of Mars' products are famous-name brands, including:
- Bounty
- Celebrations
- Dove Chocolate
- Flyte
- Galaxy
- Kudos (North America)
- Lockets
- M-Azing (North America)
- Maltesers
- M&M's
- Mars Bar
- Mars Delight
- Milky Way
- Minstrels (UK only)
- Skittles
- Snickers (The top-selling candy bar in the United States. Known in the UK as Marathon until 1990.)
- Starburst (Originally Opal Fruits in the UK.)
- 3 Musketeers (North America)
- Topic
- Twix
- Snicker's Marathon Energy Bar
- AquaDrops
Other confections, no longer produced, include:
- Pacers
- Spangles
- Royals
- Bisc & bars (varieties included M&M's and Snickers). Known as Cookies & bars in the United States.
[edit] Mars Limited
Mars Limited is the name of the British branch of Mars, Inc. The company is based in Slough, UK. Some Mars brands manufactured in the UK but not the US include Maltesers and Tunes.
In 1932, Forrest Mars Sr. opened what was then Mars (Europe) headquarters, and remains Mars (UK) headquarters in Slough, UK[6] on the then-new 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[7].
Many brands which were later introduced in US were created and sold in Britain these include, Starburst, Skittles, Twix, Snickers and Topic
The bar formerly sold in the US 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 3 Musketeers in America. Similarly, the Snickers bar was previously marketed in Britain and the Republic of Ireland as Marathon until 1990; M&M's were known as Treets in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, also until 1990; Dove is known as Galaxy in the UK and the Middle East; and Starburst was known in the UK 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[8].
Most confectionery products for Europe are produced in Slough, UK; Veghel, The Netherlands; and Viersen, Germany.
Many confectionery products for the Australian market are produced in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Company profile from Yahoo!
| Confectionery products of Mars, Incorporated |
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| 3 Musketeers • Balisto • Bounty • Celebrations • Dove/Galaxy bar • Flyte • Kudos • Lockets • Maltesers • Mars Bar • M-Azing • M&M's • Milky Way • Revels • Snickers • Skittles • Starburst • Topic • Tracker • Twix Discontinued: Marathon • Opal Mints • Spangles |
Categories: Articles with sections needing expansion | Companies established in 1911 | 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 family
