Mars
History (as per the Wikipedia entry)
Mars Food UK Limited is the name of the British branch of Mars, Inc. The company is based in Slough, UK. Mars brands manufactured for the UK market but not for 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 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. In 1936, Mars separated the vanilla version of Milky Way to a separate brand, Forever Yours, which was discontinued and later reintroduced as Milky Way Dark and later still, Milky Way Midnight.
Many brands which were later introduced in the US were first created and sold in Britain; these include Starburst, Skittles, Twix, Snickers and Topic.
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.
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; in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, also until 1990; Galaxy is known as Dove in America and the Middle East; and Starburst was known in the UK and Ireland as Opal Fruits until 1998. Chocolate and peanut M&M's were introduced in 1990.
Factories
The two factories in Slough were located on Liverpool Road and Dundee Road; the one on Liverpool Road closed in 2007, with Twix and Starburst production moving to the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
In 1963 a large factory was opened in Veghel, the Netherlands. This factory has currently the biggest production volume of Mars factories and is even one of the biggest chocolate factories in the world. Most confectionery products for Europe are produced in Slough, UK and Veghel, the Netherlands.
The major production plant for Mars confectionery products in Australia is in Ballarat, Victoria.
Mars Drinks UK
Mars Drinks UK, the beverages division of Mars Limited, operates from Basingstoke in Hampshire and specialises in office vending machines. Mars Drinks UK comprises the FLAVIA and KLIX brands which offer branded drinks such as the Starburst Orange Drink, the Maltesers Hot Chocolate and the Galaxy drinks.
Nevertheless, Mars is not only the producer of chocolate bars and gum. Mars is also a producer of other items such as coffee and the equipment used to make it. In 1982 FLAVIA was created out of the high demand for coffee in the United Kingdom. Initially marketed as Dimension 3 until 1989, FLAVIA was introduced in France and Germany in 1986 and Japan in 1992 then brought to the United States in 1996 and to Canada in 1997. Other products such as cappuccino were introduced in 2002 and tea in 2004.
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