We are familiar with such names as M&M'S®, SNICKERS®, ORBIT®, EXTRA®, and Skittles®. Mars Wrigley Confectionery products can be found in any convenience store, vending machine, or supermarket worldwide. Nowadays, Mars Wrigley is the world's leading chocolate producer. The company not only focuses on producing quality chocolate products but also cares about environmental issues and people.

Mars now owns 22 production sites in the Netherlands, including one of the world's largest chocolate factories. With health and sustainability at the forefront, the chocolate company has discontinued the use of artificial colors in its candy products. They also launched vegan versions of some products, uses enough renewable energy to produce all M&Ms sold, and is investing $1 billion in a new cocoa supply chain model centered on smallholder farmers. Furthermore, the firm is processing to redesign paper-based packaging to limit the use of virgin plastic.

It has been more than hundreds of years since founder Frank C. Mars and his co-founder started America's leading chocolate empire in that kitchen. The next generation of Mars leaders continues to create products and services that people love.

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Annual sales: US$18bn
Headquarters: Chicago, US
Employees: 130,000+

Website: https://www.mars.com/

Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/Mars

Ferrero is an Italian chocolate brand founded in the 40s of the last century. After success in its home country, Ferrero has become globally known as one of the biggest companies in the chocolate industry. Ferrero invented the line of chocolate-covered hazelnut cream called Ferrero Rocher.

All of Ferrero’s products are made by unique recipes with a harmonious blend of high-quality ingredients. Ferrero's chocolates are always a masterpiece and a meaningful gift. In addition to the Ferrero Pralines such as Ferrero Rocher, Raffaello, and Golden Gallery, this company is also the owner of Nutella, Kinder, and Tic Tac.

Ferraro is now headquartered in Luxembourg and operates in over 170 countries, has 25 factories globally, and is regarded as the world's largest hazelnut supplier. Nowadays, the Ferrero Group has developed into a chocolate giant, producing 365,000 tons of Nutella each year.

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Annual sales: US$13bn
Headquarters: Luxembourg
Employees: 40,000

Website: https://www.ferrero.com/
Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/FerreroRocher/

Mondelēz International is another food giant from the US. Founded in 2012, the company owns some of the world's leading chocolate and confectionery brands, including Oreo, Milka, Toblerone, TUC, and Cadbury. Mondelēz offers a wide selection of delicious and high-quality snacks made from sustainable ingredients and packaging.

Since 2018, Mondelez has planted 2.2 million trees globally and built a technical center to study improved cocoa farming processes. They are on the goal to construct the world's single biggest sustainable commercial cocoa farm in Indonesia in collaboration with cocoa supply giant Olam.

Besides that, Mondelēz International conveys the "right snack, for the right moment, made the right" message to customers from around the world. The company aspires to provide a satisfying and positive snacking experience.

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Annual sales: US$12bn
Headquarters: US
Employees: 80,000

Website: https://www.mondelezinternational.com/

Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/mondelezinternational/

Since 1926, Meiji Milk Chocolate has been an iconic brand in Japan, and it is now a favorite among chocolate lovers all over the world. Today, the company's chocolate portfolio includes more than twenty different brands, each with its distinct flavor profile.

Recently, Meiji has launched two gourmet chocolate bars in the last six years in a bid to grab the premium and health markets, THE Chocolate. The result is it has been a huge hit. The multi-award-winning premium bar comes in eight flavors packed with wine matching suggestions and a "bean to bar" stamp, which guarantees the use of high-quality beans.

Meiji is devoted to obtaining high-quality cacao beans by working directly with farmers across the world, and it also gives to cacao growers and their communities. Meiji has become the biggest seller in Japan and is one of the top chocolate companies in the world, ranked by annual sales.

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Annual sales: US$9.7bn
Headquarters: Japan
Employees: 10,700+

Website: https://www.meiji.com/

Milton Hershey founded The Hershey Chocolate Company in 1894. Their brand portfolio has expanded beyond the iconic HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Bar. So far, Hershey Co has launched a variety of successful products such as chocolate bars, biscuits and wafers, chocolates, hard candy, and other sweets.

Hershey's is committed to innovating in the areas of health and sustainability. It recently acquired two health-focused chocolate brands: bark THINS and SkinnyPop. They are also launching KitKat Thins with the promise of being 30% thinner than the standard, creating organic lines for the company's most popular lines (Hershey's bars and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups), and launching the Hershey's better-for-you line as well.

Hershey Co's famous chocolate brands are HERSHEY'S, KISSES, REESE'S, KIT KAT®, BROOKSIDE, CADBURY, YORK, and ALMOND JOY & MOUNDS. They also own HERSHEY'S CHOCOLATE WORLD ATTRACTION, HERSHEYPARK, and HERSHEYLAND that attract a thousand customers every day.

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Annual sales: US$8.2bn
Headquarters: US
Employees: 18,000

Website: https://www.thehersheycompany.com/

Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/HersheyCompany/

Nestlé is not only one of the world's major chocolate products manufacturers, but they also the world's largest food and beverage corporation. The Swiss corporation today operates over 2000 brands, ranging from global icons to local favorites, in 191 countries across the world.

All of Nestlé products have their own decades-long history. Some of the brands are iconic in the UK such as MilkyBar, KitKat, Yorkie, Smarties, Aero,...

Nestlé is equally committed to sustainability, with Smarties becoming the first global confectionery brand to use 100 percent recyclable paper packaging. And The Nestle Cocoa Plan provides 109,000 farmers with training, support, and cocoa plants, with the goal of sourcing 100 percent of its cocoa sustainably by 2025.

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Annual sales: US$7.9bn
Headquarters: Vevey, Switzerland
Employees: 335,000

Website: https://www.nestle.com/

Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/Nestle/

Headquartered in Kilchberg, Switzerland, Lindt & Sprungli has long been a premium chocolate company known for its high-quality cocoa and trademark truffles. Recently, the Swiss chocolate-making giant achieved a milestone of 100 percent traceable and validated cocoa beans.

The company brands Lindt, Ghirardelli, and Russell Stover are top 1 in the premium chocolate market in the US and number three internationally, with a range of 2,500 items over five core brands, including the bestselling Lindor truffle, which sells 6 billion per year.

The Lindt & Sprungli truffle chocolate, which was invented 70 years ago, is handmade and comes in 30 distinct flavors, including region-specific varieties such as the famous matcha recipe for Asia.

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Annual sales: US$4.6bn
Headquarters: Switzerland
Employees: 14,620+

Website: https://www.lindt-spruengli.com/

Pladis, headquartered in London, UK, generates $4.5 billion in yearly sales and operates in 120 countries spanning Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The firm has 34 facilities in 13 countries and primarily operates in the chocolate, biscuit, cake, candy, and gum categories.

Besides biscuits, cakes, savory snacks, gum and candy brands, Pladis's chocolate products come in many different brand names such as:

• Flipz
• Godiva
• Ülker (Ülker Albeni, Ülker Caramio, Ülker Chocolate, Ülker Choco Wafer, Ülker Çokokrem, Ülker Dido, Ülker Laviva)
• Turtles
• Verkade Chocolate

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Annual sales: US$4.5bn

Headquarters: London, UK

Employees: 4,500+

Website: https://pladisglobal.com/

While you may not be familiar with Glico, one of Japan's biggest candy and snack companies founded in Osaka in 1932, you will be familiar with its most iconic export, Pocky.

Glico's Pocky was the first of its kind, invented in the mid-1960s. It is a chocolate-coated, pretzel-like cookie stick that has been created with limitless flavor, from green tea to lychee to original chocolate. It has also become one of the most favorite chocolate treats in Asia, with 10 billion Pocky boxes sold internationally since its introduction.

On the other hand, Glico's signature products include chocolate bars, biscuits, wafers, truffles, filled chocolates, molded chocolate, panned confections, toffee, caramel, nuts/seed candies, bars, bark, brittles and marzipan, and hard candies. Along with Meiji, Glico is a well-known chocolate company that is loved by many chocolate fan.

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Annual sales: US$3.2bn
Headquarters: Japan
Employees: 5,360

Website: https://www.glico.com/

Another chocolate giant based in Asia is Orion Corp. Orion is a confectionery and chocolate snack firm based in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of South Korea's top three chocolate firms. Orion is now widely recognized as one of the world's top chocolate companies, and its famous ChocoPie is one of Asia's best-selling chocolate snack items.

The Orion's ChocoPie have a wide range of flavor:

• Original chocolate
• Dark
• Banana
• Matcha
• Watermelon
• Peach
• Yogurt
• ...

Other signatures items of Orion Corp include biscuits, cookies, pies, gum, snacks, chocolate, and candy. Orion has production sites in China, Russia, Vietnam, and the United States.

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Annual sales: US$1.8bn
Headquarters: Seoul, South Korea

Website: http://www.orionworld.com/

Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/onlyorion