World’s leading manufacturer of chocolate like Snickers and Twix, Mars wants to strengthen its global ice cream business as it sees a real opportunity for growth. It aims for its ice cream business to reach $1 Billion in sales worldwide by 2030.
Mars Wrigley has spent $50 Million upgrading its Burr Ridge, Illinois, ice cream factory and set aside an additional $20 Million for the facility that it hasn’t spent yet. According to various reports, Mars has been expanding its portfolio, producing new flavors like M&M’s Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches and Twix Cookie Dough Ice Cream. The company wants to grow its share of the ice cream market as part of its broad-based business.
Shaf Lalani, the U.S. head of Mars Ice Cream, said they don’t have the biggest ice cream brands, but believe they have the biggest brands in ice cream. Carl Quash, Euromonitor’s head of food and nutrition research, believes Mars Inc. ice cream brands face hefty competition. He said Mars is far, far away from the leading spot in the U.S. ice cream market.
Acknowledging this, Mars’ is growing its ice cream sales focused on what it did with Dove – turning other candy brands into frozen treats. Its Mars Ice Cream division is an integral part of its future even though it is a much smaller business compared to the parent company’s multibillion-dollar candy operations. Lalani said there’s about a 64 percent crossover rate among people that buy the confectionary products and participate in their brands. He pointed out that Mars’ existing portfolio has plenty of runways, and not all of Mars ice cream’s growth will be organic.
The executive said Mars Wrigley’s ice cream brands benefit from the widespread popularity of its candy staples, as consumers have grown up with it, and it’s new to them when they find out that the company is making ice cream.
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