Fascinating Facts About the World’s Biggest Chocolate Companies

The names on this list need no introduction. We’ve been raised on their chocolate selections, have eaten them during festive times, given them as gifts or eaten more than our fair share of bars. They are the biggest of the big, but do you know much about them besides their names and their chocolate bars?

The big cheeses of the chocolate world are household names. These multinational chocolate companies own a lot of the market share and produce a lot of different chocolate treats. In ranking of largest, they include;

1. Mars Inc.
2. Ferrero Group
3. Mondelēz International
4. Hershey Company
5. Nestlé

Let’s dive deeper into these large chocolate companies.

Net sales (2022): $20 billion

Known for: Snickers, Mars, M&Ms, Milky Way, Maltesers, Bounty, Galaxy and more

Based in: Illinois, USA

Founded in: 1911

• Mars does much more than just chocolate, dog food, cat food and Uncle Ben’s rice. Only 38% of their total sales come from snacking, with the majority (59%) from pet care. 
• The original Mars bar was invented in 1935 in Slough, England, and has truly stood the test of time. The recipe has remained almost untouched for at least 90 years.
• One of the best-selling chocolate bars globally, Snickers is named after the Mars family’s favourite horse, Snickers. How cute.
• M&Ms were originally created as a wartime snack for soldiers. Their candy shells prevented the chocolates from melting while being carried. They were released in 1941.
• Mars do not release financial documents for public view, giving them a mystique and mystery other brands wish they had.

Net sales (2022): $15.3 billion

Known for: Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Raffaello, Mon Cheri, Kinder

Based in: Luxemburg

Founded in: 1946

• Ferrero uses about a quarter of the world’s supply of hazelnuts every year to make its chocolatey treats, such as Nutella and Ferrero Rocher.
• Kinder Surprise is banned in the United States, due to a law prohibiting toys inside of food. More for us, I guess.
• A jar of Nutella is sold every 2.5 seconds. That’s two sold in the time it took you to read this sentence.
• Kinder, known for Kinder Bueno, Joy, Surprise and Kinder Bars, has purposefully small portion sizes to ensure customers enjoy a sweet treat without overindulging. 
• Though an Italian brand, ‘kinder’ is German for ‘child’, while ‘bueno’ is Spanish for good. Confusing, we know.

Net sales (2022): $11.8 billion

Known for: Cadbury, Toblerone, Oreo, Milka 

Based in: Illinois, USA

Founded in: 1923

• Mondelēz International was only truly founded in 2012, however the company name beforehand was known as Kraft Foods Inc. (You may know Kraft for their popular American Kraft Mac and Cheese boxes)
• Mondelēz International owns the largest chocolate factory in the world. It’s located in Bournville, UK, and is where a lot of Cadbury products are produced. 
• Cadbury was the official royal cocoa produced for Queen Victoria. 
• Over 250,000 Cadbury milk buttons are made every minute. That’s a lot of eating!
• It takes over 2 hours to make and bake one Oreo cookie. Speaking of which, Oreos are the most popular biscuit globally.
• The amount of Oreos made in a year could circle around the Earth five times! 
• The triangular shape of Toblerone brings to mind the shape of the Matterhorn, a Swiss mountain in the Alps. 
• Toblerone was the very first patented milk chocolate bar. 

Net sales (2022): $10.4 billion

Known for: Hershey’s, Reese’s

Based in: Pennsylvania, USA

Founded in: 1894

• While huge in the United States, Hershey’s doesn’t have much of a foothold in Europe. That doesn’t stop them from making 60 million Hershey’s Kisses every day.
• The naming behind Kisses is lost to time. Nobody, not even Hershey’s, knows why the sweets are named so.
• Reese’s makes enough Peanut Butter Cups in a year to feed every person in the USA, Japan, Europe, Australia, China, Africa and India one cup.
• Hersheypark, a theme park in Hershey, Pennsylvania, supplies its attendees with all the chocolate choices they could ask for, as well as thrilling rollercoasters to make them struggle to hold all those snacks down. 
• The town of Hershey was built for all the factory workers to live in and around that region.
• Hershey’s bars were used as an American soldier ration during World War II.

Net sales (2022): $7.9 billion

Known for: Aero, Cailler, KitKat, Rolo, Milkybar, Smarties

Based in: Switzerland

Founded in: 1866

• The very first milk chocolate bar was made by Henri Nestlé and Daniel Peter, his chocolatier neighbour. They put milk powder into dark chocolate and hey presto, milk chocolate was born.
• In Japan, KitKat has been made into over 300 unique flavours, including wasabi, sweet potato and sake to name a few.
• None of the Smarties colours contains any flavouring, except for the orange-coloured ones, which contain orange oil.