Mars partners on food supply chain sustainability initiative

Along with Unreasonable Group, the snack producer will drive toward Net Zero by 2050.

Mars Wrigley’s historical relationship with history in Chicago dates back more than a century (William Wrigley Jr. introduced Juicy Fruit and Wrigley’s Spearmint gums in 1893). The 2024 opening of the Mars Global Research and Development Hub marks the latest chapter.

Through its snacking division, Mars announced it will join forces with Unreasonable Group on a three-year partnership, christened Unreasonable Food. The project’s partners reportedly aim to become the world's premier global initiative focused on supporting rapid growth companies positioned to redefine food systems, ensuring a more regenerative, inclusive, and equitable future of food for all.

This partnership will support the Mars Net Zero Roadmap and Mars Snacking's sustainability journey, delivering a more agile and forward-looking snacking business for Mars, dedicated to serving a just and sustainable tomorrow.

According to the company, the Mars Unreasonable Food partnership will focus on four distinct pillars:

Shaping the Future of Food
Improving Farmer Livelihood
Transforming Food Supply Chains
Reimagining Sustainable Packaging.

These four focus areas are designed to identify, and then accelerate, the areas Mars believes can make a meaningful and differentiated impact given the company's global business footprint and operations.

Each year, Unreasonable will scour the globe through its network of hundreds of investment funds and pipeline partners to identify, privately invite, and ultimately unite growth-stage entrepreneurs best positioned to profitably solve sustainability challenges. The selection of these ventures will be a mutual decision between Unreasonable Group's team and the Mars Snacking team. Over the course of the three-year partnership, Unreasonable Food will focus on building a portfolio of approximately 40 solutions uniquely situated to future-proof and solve Mars Snacking's key sustainability challenges.

The first cohort of select ventures and prestigious mentors will be announced later this spring. These visionaries in the food supply chain will join Mars Snacking's first Unreasonable Food program for an intimate week-long gathering to align growth-stage founders with a collaborative advantage that includes mentorship from the Mars Snacking global leadership team alongside some of the most renowned Unreasonable Mentors.

Amanda Davies (global vice president of R&D, sustainability, and commercial with Mars Snacking) says, "Mars has the experience, the energy, and the footprint to shape the food future. Doing nothing is not an option."

Daniel Epstein, CEO of Unreasonable Group, comments, "More than 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity can be attributed to the way we produce, process, and package food. As one of the world's largest food companies with some of the world's most admired brands, Mars Snacking, in partnership with Unreasonable and the entrepreneurs we support together, is uniquely positioned to put that statistic where it belongs— in a museum. We cannot imagine a more compelling partner to set a new standard for sustainability in our food systems than Mars."

Gulen Bengi, chief growth officer at Mars Snacking, remarks, "Mars is committed to improving sustainability and quality of lives throughout the food supply chain – our brands and their global communities have the reach and scale to make meaningful impact, helping shape real change."

Mars recently unveiled its innovative open-source action plan—the Mars Net Zero Roadmap—to accelerate action toward achieving Net Zero emissions. The Mars plan includes a new target to cut carbon in half by 2030 across its full value chain –which translates into cutting carbon by 15 million metric tons, the equivalent of taking nearly 3 million cars off American roads and highways.

Jenni Spinner is the chief editor of Snack Food and Wholesale with more than 25 years of experience in business-to-business communications. She has written extensively about food production, safety and packaging; pharmaceutical drug development; concrete and masonry construction; and more. She holds a Bachelor’s in Communications from the University of Illinois. Jenni can be reached at spinnerj@bnpmedia.com.