Wrigley Company

Last updated

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Food
FoundedApril 1, 1891;133 years ago (1891-04-01)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Founder William Wrigley Jr.
HeadquartersGlobal Innovation Center,
Goose Island (Chicago), Illinois
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Products Juicy Fruit, Wrigley's Spearmint, Doublemint, others
RevenueIncrease2.svg $5.389 billion (2007)
Increase2.svg $961.9 million (2009)
Number of employees
16,000
Parent Mars Inc.
Website Mars Wrigley Confectionery website
The Wrigley Building, former HQ Wrigley Building - Chicago, Illinois.JPG
The Wrigley Building, former HQ

The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, known as the Wrigley Company, is an American multinational candy and chewing gum company, based in the Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois. [1]

Contents

Wrigley's is wholly owned by Mars Inc., and, along with Mars chocolate bars and other candy products, makes up Mars Wrigley Confectionery. [2] It is the largest manufacturer and marketer of chewing gum in the world. [3] [4] [5]

The company currently sells its products in over 180 countries and districts, operates in over 50 countries, and has 21 production facilities in 14 countries. [6]

History

William Wrigley Jr., the founder of the Wrigley company William Wrigley jr.jpg
William Wrigley Jr., the founder of the Wrigley company

The company was founded on April 1, 1891, in Chicago, Illinois by William Wrigley Jr. Wrigley's gum was traditionally made out of chicle, sourced largely from Central America. In 1952, in response to Decree 900, land reforms attempting to end feudal working conditions for peasant farmers in Guatemala, Wrigley's discontinued purchasing chicle from that country.[ citation needed ]

Wrigley's announced the closure of its Santa Cruz, California manufacturing plant in April 1996. The plant had been built in 1955. The 385,000-square-foot manufacturing facility was put on the market in October 1996 for US$11.3 million, or about $30 a square foot. [7] [8]

In 2005, Wrigley purchased Life Savers and Altoids from Kraft Foods for US$1.5 billion. [9] On January 23, 2007, Wrigley signed a purchase agreement to acquire an 80% initial interest in A. Korkunov for $300 million with the remaining 20% to be acquired over time. On April 28, 2008, Mars, Incorporated announced that it would acquire Wrigley for approximately $23 billion. [10] Financing for the transaction was provided by Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan; Berkshire Hathaway held a minority equity investment in Wrigley until October 2016, when Mars took full control over the company. [11] [12] [13] [14]

The Wrigley Building on Michigan Avenue, a landmark on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, was the company's global headquarters until 2011, when it was sold to an investor group that included Zeller Realty Group as well as Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell. [15] The company has been headquartered in the GIC since 2012.

In 2016, Mars announced that Wrigley would be merged with its chocolate segment to form a new subsidiary, Mars Wrigley Confectionery. The new company would maintain global offices in Chicago, while moving its U.S. offices to Hackettstown and Newark, New Jersey.

Corporate leadership

1891–1932: William Wrigley Jr.

Advertisement for three flavors of Wrigley's chewing gum (1920) Wrigley's gum ad spearmint juicy fruit doublemint.jpg
Advertisement for three flavors of Wrigley’s chewing gum (1920)

In 1891, 29-year-old William Wrigley Jr. (1861–1932) came to Chicago from Philadelphia with $32 and the idea to start a business selling Wrigley's Scouring Soap. [16] Wrigley offered premiums as an incentive to buy his soap, such as baking powder. Later in his career, he switched to the baking powder business, in which he began offering two packages of chewing gum for each purchase of a can of baking powder. The popular premium, chewing gum, began to seem more promising, prompting another switch in product focus. Wrigley also became the majority owner of the Chicago Cubs in 1921.

1932–1961: Philip K. Wrigley

After William Wrigley Jr. died, his son Philip K. Wrigley (1894–1977) assumed his father's position as CEO of the Wrigley Company. Wrigley is most well known for his unusual move to support US troops and protect the reputation of the Wrigley brand during World War II, in which he dedicated the entire output of Wrigley's Spearmint, Doublemint, and Juicy Fruit to the US Armed Forces. Wrigley launched the "Remember this Wrapper" ad campaign to keep the Wrigley brands on the minds of the customers during times of wartime rationing. [9] Wrigley's P.K. brand was named after P.K. Wrigley. [17]

1961–1999: William Wrigley III

In 1961, Philip K. Wrigley handed control to his son, William Wrigley III (1933–1999). Wrigley led a strategic global expansion by establishing Wrigley facilities in nine new countries. [9] On June 26, 1974, a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio installed the first bar code scanning equipment. The first product to be scanned using a Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code was a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum. [18] (This pack of gum is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.) In 1984, Wrigley introduced a new gum, Extra, which followed the new trend of sugar-free gums in the US. [9] Wrigley also assumed control of the Chicago Cubs after his father's death in 1977, and sold the team to the Chicago Tribune in 1981.

1999–2006: William Wrigley IV

William "Beau" Wrigley IV (1963–), following the death of Wrigley III (his father), led the sugar-free gum campaign across Europe, Australia, Spain, India, and China. [9] In 2005, Kraft Foods sold the Life Savers and Altoids businesses to Wrigley in exchange for $1.5 billion as part of a reorganization plan. [19] Wrigley helped establish the Wrigley Science Institute (WSI) in 2006 to study the oral health benefits of gum chewing. The WSI investigates the effects of gum chewing on weight management, stress relief, concentration, and oral health. [9]

2006–2008: William Perez

On October 23, 2006, William D. Perez (1948–) succeeded Bill Wrigley as CEO, becoming the first person outside the Wrigley family to head the company. In 2007, the company debuted 5 Gum in the United States. The 5 Gum brand was marketed using cinematic TV commercials portraying "How it feels to chew 5 Gum." Perez led the efforts of improving slimmer packaging (Slim Pack) with flavor improvements across both Extra and Wrigley brands. [9]

2008–2011: Dushan "Duke" Petrovich

Dushan Petrovich (1954–) succeeded Perez almost immediately after Mars, Incorporated's 2008 purchase of Wrigley. In 2009, Wrigley's Global Innovation Center received the LEED Gold Certification through Wrigley's commitment to global sustainability. In the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Wrigley was the Official Confectionery Supplier of the games, in which the company sported Olympic-themed packs and products. [9]

2011–2017: Martin Radvan

Martin Radvan became the president of the Wrigley Company after Petrovich. He is responsible for the company's worldwide strategy, operations, and business performance. [20]

2017 to present: Andrew Clarke

Subsidiaries

Brands

Gum

Wrigley's Extra Gum brand Wrigley's Extra (North America).jpg
Wrigley's Extra Gum brand

The Wrigley Company Ltd., Estover, Plymouth, UK

Alpine Gum

Alpine Gum was a gum made by Wrigley's, and was only sold in Canada. It is an alternative to cough syrup. It cools the throat and relieves sore throat pain. Alpine was discontinued in 2005.[ citation needed ]

Alert Gum

In 2013, Wrigley temporarily halted production and sales of its new Alert energy gum after the US Food and Drug Administration said it would investigate the safety of added caffeine in food products. [25]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altoids</span> Brand of breath mints

Altoids are a brand of mints, sold primarily in distinctive metal tins. The brand was created by the London-based Smith & Company in the 1780s, and became part of the Callard & Bowser company in the 19th century. Their advertising slogan is "The Original Celebrated Curiously Strong Mints", referring to the high concentration of peppermint oil used in the original flavour lozenge. The mints were originally conceived as a lozenge intended to relieve intestinal discomfort.

Mars Inc. is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services, with US$45 billion in annual sales in 2022; that year Forbes ranked the company as the fourth-largest privately held company in the United States. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, the company is entirely owned by the Mars family. Mars operates in four business segments around the world: Mars Wrigley Confectionery, Petcare, Food, and MARS Edge, the company's life sciences division.

Doublemint is a variety of chewing gum made by the Wrigley Company; according to early advertisements, it is "double strength" peppermint flavored. It was launched in the United States in 1914, and has had variable market share since then.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juicy Fruit</span> Brand of gum by the Wrigley Company

Juicy Fruit is an American brand of chewing gum made by the Wrigley Company, a U.S. company that since 2008 has been a subsidiary of the privately held Mars, Incorporated. It was introduced in 1893, and in the 21st century the brand name is recognized by 99 percent of Americans, with total sales in 2002 of 153 million units.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Life Savers</span> Mint and fruit flavored candy

Life Savers is an American brand of ring-shaped hard and soft candy. Its range of mints and fruit-flavored candies is known for its distinctive packaging, coming in paper-wrapped aluminum foil rolls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orbit (gum)</span> Brand of chewing gum

Orbit is a brand of sugarless chewing gum from the Wrigley Company. In the United States, where it was re-launched in 2001, it is sold in cardboard boxes with 14 individually wrapped pieces per package. In the UK, where it was launched in 1899 it was originally sold as a traditional long-stick gum, later replaced by the same format as the US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dentyne</span> Brand of chewing gum

Dentyne is a brand of chewing gum and breath mints available in several countries globally. It is owned by Perfetti Van Melle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trident (gum)</span> Sugar-free chewing gum brand

Trident is a brand of sugar-free chewing gum. It was originally introduced by American Chicle in 1960 shortly before it was bought by Warner-Lambert in 1962. It reached the UK in 2007 when it was introduced by its then-owner Cadbury Schweppes in the United Kingdom. In many other European countries, Trident is branded as Stimorol gum; it is generally the same as Trident.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wrigley's Spearmint</span> Brand of chewing gum

Wrigley's Spearmint is a brand of Wrigley's chewing gum. Wrigley's launched the brand in 1893, and marketed the gum as its classic brand, although the company's brand Juicy Fruit has been on the market slightly longer. As the name implies, the gum is flavored with the spearmint plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Certs</span> Mint confectionery

Certs was a brand of breath mint that was noted for the frequent use of "two mints in one" in its marketing. The original "classic mints" were disc-shaped without a hole and sold in roll packaging similar to Life Savers and Polo. Certs was one of the first mints to be nationally marketed in the United States and has been a fixture at American drug stores and convenience stores since its debut on the market in 1956. It was discontinued in 2018, possibly due to its containing partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, an ingredient which has not been allowed in food sold in the United States since then.

Lotte Wellfood Co., Ltd., formerly Lotte Confectionery, is a South Korean international confectionery company headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. The company was established in 1967. Currently, it is the third-largest chewing gum manufacturer in the world, and its plants are located in Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Belgium, India, Russia, Myanmar, and China. Lotte Confectionery was renamed Lotte Wellfood in 2023, after being merged with Lotte Foods in 2022.

William Wrigley Jr. is an American billionaire businessman, and CEO of Parallel, a company that sells cannabis products. He is the former chairman and CEO of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company.

Two multi-national companies, Wrigley and Cadbury, together account for some 60% market share of the worldwide chewing gum market. The global market shares for the top five chewing gum companies are estimated to be:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Chicle Company</span> American chewing gum company

The American Chicle Company was a chewing gum trust founded by Thomas Adams, Jr., with Edward E. Beeman and Jonathan Primle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicle</span> Natural gum derived from trees of the genus Manilkara

Chicle is a natural gum traditionally used in making chewing gum and other products. It is collected from several species of Mesoamerican trees in the genus Manilkara, including M. zapota, M. chicle, M. staminodella, and M. bidentata.

Kiss a Little Longer was an advertising slogan used by the William Wrigley Jr. Corporation to market their gum products in the late 1970s.

References

  1. ↑ "Global Innovation Center". Wrigley Company. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  2. ↑ Elejalde-Ruiz, Alexia (January 31, 2019). "With zany Super Bowl stunts and innovative M&Ms, Mars Wrigley tries to stand out in a crowded candy aisle". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
  3. ↑ "Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company". International Directory of Company Histories. Thomson Gale; republished online at Encyclopedia.com. 2006. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  4. ↑ Channick, Robert (September 8, 2013). "With teens chewing less, gum manufacturers change ad strategies". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  5. ↑ Jargon, Julie (February 11, 2013). "An Orange Crème Pop Gum? Folks Just Aren't Chewing It". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Wrigley Worldwide Locations". Wrigley.com.
  7. ↑ "Wrigley's Move Hard to Swallow". SFGate. May 1, 1996. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Wrigley Santa Cruz plant for sale". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Heritage Timeline", Wrigley Company. Retrieved on September 25, 2012.
  10. ↑ Karnitschnig, Matthew; Berman, Dennis K. (April 27, 2008). "Mars, Buffett Team Up in Wrigley Bid". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  11. ↑ Kell, John (October 6, 2016). "Mars Inks Deal With Warren Buffett For Full Control of Wrigley" . Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  12. ↑ Stempel, Jonathan; Ganesan, Gayathree (October 6, 2016). "Mars Inc buying out Buffett stake in Wrigley". Reuters.com. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  13. ↑ Merced, Michael J. de la (October 6, 2016). "Mars Cashes Out Warren Buffett to Take Control of Wrigley". The New York Times. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
  14. ↑ Mohamed, Theron (January 28, 2023). "Warren Buffett shelled out $6.5 billion to help Mars buy Wrigley during the financial crisis. Here's how he made the candy deal happen". Markets Insider. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
  15. ↑ "Wrigley Building Sold, Groupon Cofounders Among Buyers". The Huffington Post. September 19, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  16. ↑ Batchelor, Bob (2002). The 1900s. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN   9780313313349.
  17. ↑ "FAQ". Wrigley. Archived from the original on January 22, 2018.
  18. ↑ Bellis, Mary. "Bar Codes", Inventors, About.com Guide, September 26, 2012.
  19. ↑ Warner, Melanie. "Kraft Foods Will Sell Altoids and Life Savers to Wrigley", The New York Times , November 16, 2004. accessed September 26, 2012.
  20. ↑ "Leadership", Wrigley Company, September 26, 2012.
  21. ↑ "Favourite Croatian Candies | Croatia Week". March 6, 2017.
  22. ↑ The Advertising Red Books. LexisNexis. 2010. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Mars shifts confectionery brands to Wrigley". www.campaignlive.co.uk.
  24. ↑ Manufacturing Confectioner (in Spanish). 1999. p. 28. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  25. ↑ Jalonick, Mary Clare. "APNewsBreak: Wrigley halts caffeinated gum". AP News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.