On January 18, Mars held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its newest, and largest to date Global Research and Development Hub. Located in the city’s Goose Island area, the facility will host development of product and packaging innovation involving the company’s popular candy and snack brands, including Snickers, M&M’s, Twix, and others.
As Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery chief editor, I was among the fortunate group of media members, local officials, area historians, and other visitors invited to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the official opening of the hub. The 44,000-square-foot facility includes a bar line, roasted nut kitchen, test kitchen, panning equipment, printing area, flexible pilot line, and even a store where visitors can procure candy and branded souvenirs.
Understandably, not all of the state-of-the-art facility’s features were on view or can be shared with SF&WB readers. However, there was still a lot to see on our tour—for just a selection of the hub’s sights, scroll through the photos on this gallery.
