Dove Ice Cream Bars are packaged at Mars’ factory in Burr Ridge, Illinois.
Source: Mars
Candy giant Mars is trying to make a name for itself in a new category: ice cream.
The family-owned company aims for its ice cream business to reach $1 billion in sales worldwide by 2030. In May, Mars tapped executive Anton Vincent to lead its global ice cream business, adding to his existing role as president of Mars Wrigley North America.
Mars faces tough competition to achieve its ambition in the U.S., but the company has been investing into the business. It has spent $50 million upgrading its Burr Ridge, Illinois, ice cream factory and earmarked an additional $20 million for the facility that it hasn’t spent yet.
Mars has also been expanding its portfolio, rolling out new flavors such as M&M’s Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches and Twix Cookie Dough Ice Cream. It used its $5 billion acquisition of Kind North America, best known for its nut bars, to push into plant-based ice cream substitutes.
While summer is still the biggest season for ice cream sales, Mars is also trying to boost business in the fall and winter through a partnership between the National Football League and its Snickers Ice Cream Bar.
Mars aims to grow its share of the ice cream market as part of a broad-based business. Outside of candy and ice cream, Mars also owns a large pet care segment and other food brands, including Combos Stuffed Snacks and Ben’s Original rice.
The bet on ice cream has paid off for the company. In the last five years, Mars’ global ice cream sales have risen 42%. The Dove Ice Cream brand alone grew 12% last year. As the segment grows, the U.S. accounts for more than half the company’s ice cream business.
As Mars injects resources into the ice cream business, the company will find out if its familiar brands are enough to carry it to its ambitious $1 billion sales target.
Mars’ ice cream goals hinge on the old and the new
Mars entered the ice cream category in 1986 when it bought Dove, then known just for its ice cream bars before the candy company expanded it into chocolate. Three years later, Mars introduced the Snickers Ice Cream Bar, now the top seller in its portfolio, followed by M&M’s Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches.
“We don’t have the biggest ice cream brands, but we do believe we have the biggest brands in ice cream,” Shaf Lalani, the U.S. head of Mars Ice Cream, told CNBC.
Today, Mars ranks among the top 10 U.S. ice cream makers by retail sales, according to Euromonitor International data. But it is far outstripped by Haagen-Dazs owner General Mills; Ben & Jerry’s parent Unilever; and Blue Bell Creameries, which is privately owned.
“Mars Inc. ice cream brands face hefty competition, being ranks away from the leading spot in the U.S. ice cream market,” said Carl Quash, Euromonitor’s head of food and nutrition research.
As it tries to make up that ground, Mars’ primary strategy to grow its ice cream sales focuses on reversing what it did with Dove: taking other…
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