Mars, Incorporated

Frank C. Mars was born in 1883 in Glenwood, Pope County, Minnesota, and his mother Elva taught him to hand-dip chocolate; from age 19 he sold Taylor’s Molasses Chips in Minnesota. In 1911 he began selling butter cream candy from his kitchen in Tacoma, Washington.⁠[1]

In 1920 Frank C. Mars moved to Minneapolis and started The Nougat House, a basket candies business producing Patricia Chocolates, named after his daughter. In 1922 he added the MAR-O-BAR; the MAR-O-BAR Company in Minneapolis did under $100,000 a year in business, and the bar proved too delicate to ship.⁠[1]

In 1923 Frank C. Mars launched the MILKY WAY bar, based on his son Forrest E. Mars Sr.’s idea of “malted milk in a candy bar”; its success led the company to hire a full-time sales staff.⁠[1]

In 1929 Mars moved to Chicago and opened a full-production plant, with close to 200 Associates relocating, and Forrest E. Mars Sr. officially joined the family business. SNICKERS launched in 1930 and 3 MUSKETEERS was introduced to the U.S. market in 1932.⁠[1]

In 1932 Forrest E. Mars Sr. moved to the United Kingdom to build a business based on the “mutuality of benefits for all stakeholders.” Frank C. Mars died on April 8, 1934.⁠[1]

In 1935 Forrest Sr. acquired Chappel Brothers, Ltd., a UK maker of CHAPPIE canned dog food, marking Mars’s entry into petcare. MALTESERS chocolate balls were introduced in Europe in 1936, and KITEKAT cat food was first advertised in the UK in 1939.⁠[1]

In 1940 Forrest Sr. returned to the United States and founded M&M Limited in Newark, New Jersey; the first plain M&M’S chocolate candies were made for the U.S. military in 1941 and launched to the general public in 1945. In 1942 Mars opened the first commercial rice parboiling plant in Houston, Texas, entering the food category.⁠[1]

In 1950 the first “M”s were printed on M&M’S to guard against counterfeits. PAL dog food launched in the UK as MEET in 1954 and was renamed PAL in 1959; WHISKAS cat food was introduced in the UK in 1958, when M&M’S growth also led to a new plant in Hackettstown, New Jersey. In 1959 Forrest Mars Sr. moved the corporate office from Newark to Washington, D.C.⁠[1]

In 1962 Forrest Mars Jr. built the first confectionery plant in Veghel, the Netherlands; that year Mars Food started manufacturing in King’s Lynn, England, and pet food and other marketing began in France and Sweden. In 1964 the company built Peanut Craftsmen in Albany, Georgia, to secure peanuts for SNICKERS and peanut M&M’S in the United States; in 1965 it established the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition in the UK; and in 1967 pet food manufacturing began in Wodonga, Australia.⁠[1]

In 1968 Mars acquired Kal Kan Foods of Los Angeles, entering the U.S. pet food market. Forrest E. Mars Sr. retired in 1969.⁠[1]

In 1977 the first European BEN’S ORIGINAL rice mill opened in Olen, Belgium. In 1981 Skittles began U.S. manufacturing. In 1982 the Mars Center for Cocoa Science opened in Bahia, Brazil, to develop more sustainable cocoa.⁠[1]

In 1983 Mars published its first booklet on The Five Principles and distributed it across the company. In 1984 the corporate office moved into a custom-built, company-owned building in McLean, Virginia. In 1986 Mars entered frozen snacks by acquiring DoveBar International in the United States.⁠[1]

In 1991 more than 23 tons of SNICKERS, MILKY WAY, MARS and RAIDER bars went on sale in the Commonwealth of Independent States for the first time. In 1993 Mars China opened its first factory in Beijing, making DOVE chocolate with fruit and nuts; Mars pet food entered China in 1995.⁠[1]

In 1994 Mars made its initial investment in Banfield Pet Hospital, and in 1998 it entered organic food by acquiring SEEDS OF CHANGE. Forrest E. Mars Sr. died in Miami, Florida, in 1999 at age 96.⁠[1]

In 2000 Mars bought EBLY, a French maker of wheat-based products; in 2002 it acquired the French pet food company ROYAL CANIN; and in 2005 it launched Mars Symbioscience as its global health and life sciences segment. In 2007 Mars took an ownership stake in Banfield Pet Hospital and entered natural pet food by acquiring Nutro Products, Inc.⁠[1]

In 2007 Mars established the Mars Marketing Code and became the first food company to voluntarily stop advertising food and snacks to children under 12.⁠[1]

In 2008 Mars acquired the William Wrigley Jr. Company, becoming the world’s leading gum maker; that year it also joined the UTZ CERTIFIED “Good Inside Cocoa Program” for sustainable cocoa in West Africa.⁠[1]

In 2009 Mars set a goal of certifying its entire cocoa supply as sustainably grown by 2020, began putting front-of-pack nutrition labeling on its products globally, and committed to “Sustainable in a Generation,” aiming for zero carbon, water and waste impact from its operations by 2040.⁠[1]

On September 12, 2017 Mars announced it had completed the acquisition of VCA Inc., a pet health care provider, under a deal announced on January 9, 2017 at $93 per share and valued at about $9.1 billion. VCA operated more than 800 small animal veterinary hospitals in the United States and Canada, along with the Antech Diagnostics laboratory network, the diagnostic imaging company Sound and the Camp Bow Wow franchise, and became a separate business within Mars Petcare.⁠[2]

At the time Mars had nearly $35 billion in sales, operations in more than 80 countries and more than 85,000 Associates.⁠[2]

In June 2022 Mars announced that Grant F. Reid, CEO since 2014, would step down and be succeeded at the end of September 2022 by Poul Weihrauch, global president of Mars Petcare. During Reid’s tenure Mars sales grew by more than 50% to nearly $45 billion and the number of Associates rose from 60,000 to more than 140,000. Weihrauch joined Mars in 2000.⁠[3]

On August 14, 2024 Mars agreed to acquire Kellanova, the maker of Pringles and Cheez-It, for $83.50 per share in cash, a total consideration of $35.9 billion. Kellanova then had about 23,000 employees and 2023 net sales of more than $13 billion; Mars had 2023 net sales of more than $50 billion and more than 150,000 Associates.⁠[4]

Kellanova shareowners approved the deal on November 1, 2024.⁠[5]

After all required regulatory clearances were secured by December 8, 2025, Mars completed the acquisition of Kellanova on December 11, 2025, adding brands including Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, Rice Krispies Treats, Nutri-Grain, RXBAR, Kellogg’s international cereals, Eggo and MorningStar Farms. Financing included $26 billion of senior notes, a $1 billion-equivalent private placement of notes and $4 billion of delayed draw term loans.⁠[6][5]

Andrew Clarke, global president of Mars Snacking, said: “Today marks a transformative moment and I’m excited to welcome Kellanova to Mars.”⁠[5]

Mars states that it has been a family-owned business for over a century; its website groups its brands into Petcare, Snacking, and Food & Nutrition. When it completed the Kellanova acquisition in 2025, Mars had annual sales of more than $50 billion.⁠[7][6]

Wrigley began in Chicago, where William Wrigley Jr. arrived in 1891 at age 29 with $32 and started a baking powder business, offering merchants free chewing gum with each can. Juicy Fruit, launched in 1893, is the oldest Wrigley brand; Doublemint followed in 1914. In 1974 a pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum became the first product scanned with a barcode.⁠[1]

Wrigley launched Extra, its first sugar-free gum in the United States, in 1984, introduced Orbit in the U.S. in 2001 and added Altoids, Life Savers, Creme Savers and Sugus to its confectionery portfolio in 2005.⁠[1]

Mars, Incorporated: Official website: https://www.mars.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[7]

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YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Mars (opens in a new window).⁠[1]