After 50 years in Albany, Mars continues to be key local employer

ALBANY — During its 50-year residency in Albany, Mars Chocolate North America has been a key employer in Albany and nationally has distinguish itself as one of the top privately held companies in the world.

Albany Site Manager Mack Phillips says Mars is more than a company that makes chocolate and candies, and that it was actually comprised of six different business segments, including chocolate, pet care, sugars, food, drinks, symbioscience.

The pet care division is actually the company’s largest revenue producer, he said, thanks to its well known pet food brands like Pedigree and Whiskas.

“The one (division) that we’re most known for is chocolate,” Phillips said in remarks before the Dougherty County Rotary Club. “Everybody knows us as a chocolate company. That’s actually our second biggest division. We actually have one division that is bigger. We have a pet food division that is, by far, our biggest revenue producer around the world.”

The pet care division is also bolstered by the company’s network of animal hospitals, known as Banfield Pet Hospital. Phillips said the company currently operates 820 Banfield locations throughout the United States including one in Tallahassee, one in Dothan, Ala., and one in Macon. He said there are also a some in the Atlanta area as well.

“It’s actually surprisingly a big business,” Phillips said. “People like to take care of their pets almost as much as their children. We actually hire more veterinarians every year than anyone else in the country combined.”

Even though the company’s pet care division is huge, the chocolate division is the one that most people are familiar with thanks to its production of M&Ms and Snickers, which is the best selling candy bar in the world.

Not far removed from the chocolate division in terms of recognition and importance is the company’s sugars division, which for many years was known primarily for its production of candy such as Skittles and Starburst. Phillips said that division grew even larger a few years ago when the company acquired one of the world’s largest chewing gum companies.

“We also have a very large sugars or confectionery division, primarily from our purchase of the Wrigley Corporation about five or six years ago,” said Phillips. “So we threw our sugar brands in with Wrigley gum and mints to make a new sugars, or gum, segment.”

While not one of the larger segments of Mars, Phillips said the company’s fourth largest division, the food segment, was actually one of the largest food companies in the world.

“The other business that we have, we have a food business, that’s our fourth largest but much smaller than the other three,” Phillips said. “We’re actually one of the largest food companies in the world. Nestle and Kraft, which are just massive, we’re one of the largest outside of those two in the rest of the world. The biggest brand there that you’ve probably heard of is Uncle Ben’s rice. We have a lot of other sauces and soups and things but mostly in other parts of the world.”

Across those six different segments Phillips said the company now produces 12 different billion dollar brands that help the company achieve its estimated $35 billion global business. That business, said Phillips, consists of 394 either manufacturing or office locations in 74 different countries and employees roughly 72,000 people, including 25,000 in the US.

In fact, according to Forbes magazine’s 2013 list of the largest privately held companies in America, Mars, which was founded in 1911, was listed at No. 5.

Despite its size and global impact, however, what Phillips said he was most proud of was the company’s commitment to its employees.

Although Phillips did not go into specific detail he said one of the exciting things he and the rest of the Albany associates are looking forward to this year is celebrating the Albany plant’s 50th Anniversary. Phillips said there will be a large event in October, but the company already had a special visitor recently, when former President Jimmy Carter and and members of his family came for a private tour of the plant.

“It’s been a fantastic year,” said Phillips. “We were blessed to have President Carter visit about two months ago. It was fun because he came with 15 members of his family. They were on their way to a fishing trip and to Florida. They spent the day. It really was about my associates and letting them be recognized by having someone like that come into the plant.”

While the associates are important to the plant and the plant to the city of Albany, Phillips pointed out that the Albany plant is critically important for the company as a whole, thanks to peanuts.

Phillips explained that Mars is one of the largest global buyers of high quality peanuts in the world because it is important to only use top quality peanuts in their products, like Snickers.

“I mentioned the Snicker’s bar, which is the No. 1 chocolate bar in the world,” Phillips said. “It’s actually just over a $1 billion worth of sales just in the U.S. alone. Every single peanut that is roasted for that bar comes through our factory, also all the other brands. The only peanut that we don’t roast for Mars goes into the peanut M&M. There’s lot of different brands that we impact in addition to the ones we make here.”