How Mars went from candy to pet care superpower

Morning Brew Design, Photos: Nastasic/Getty Images, Adobe Stock

There’s a company that makes candy bars. There’s a company that runs veterinary clinics. Somehow, this is the same company. Thanks to one savvy pivot nearly a century ago, Mars has become a $137 billion business that sells both candy bars and pet food. While it seems counterintuitive that one company manufactures Snickers and Pedigree, Mars, which started selling confectionery in 1911, has been in the pet food business since 1935, when it bought Chappie, a UK-based dog food company, which eventually became Pedigree. That diversification was only the start for Mars in the pet world: The company acquired and launched more pet foods in the 1960s—Whiskas for cats and Kal Kan for dogs. In 1965, Mars established the Waltham Petcare Science Institute to study the dietary needs of pets and tailor the food with the backing of pet health scientists. With the bellies of dogs and cats full, it was time to get into pet health and diagnostics. Mars bought into Banfield Pet Hospital in 1994 and took on the entire operation in 2007. It bought up more pet clinics between 2015 and 2018, including the $9.1 billion acquisition of VCA (formerly Veterinary Centers of America), a company with 800 animal hospitals. Pet hospitality: Mars now owns more than 3,000 veterinary clinics worldwide. Hopefully, there’s always a loaded candy dish with Milky Ways and Skittles at the front desk (for humans only). Bottom line: Mars makes more money from your pet than your sweet tooth. Per Acquired Briefing, the privately held family company makes ~60% of its revenue from the pet care side of the business and runs neck-and-neck with Purina (owned by Nestlé, another major candy player) as the world’s biggest pet care company, with both reaching ~$22 billion revenue annually.