Mars to build a $237M facility for its Nature’s Bakery brand in Utah

Dive Brief:

• Nature’s Bakery is building a $237 million facility in Salt Lake City, Utah. The 339,000-square-foot plant will create more than 190 new jobs.

• The Nature’s Bakery facility, which is scheduled to be fully operational in July 2025, will unlock the capacity to bake 968 million incremental packs annually.

• Nature’s Bakery, which Mars acquired in 2020, has become the eighth best-selling and fastest-growing granola and snack bar brand in the $4 billion-plus category, according to the brand.

Dive Insight:

When Mars purchased Nature’s Bakery a few weeks after purchasing Kind, it touted the deal as a way to further grow its better-for-you snacking business. It’s proven to be a shrewd bet for a company best known for confections such as Twix, M&M’s and Milky Way. With sales for Nature’s Bakery growing, Mars is expanding its production capacity to enable it to meet demand.

“This investment marks a significant milestone in the acceleration of our brand’s growth potential as consumer and retailer demand increase,” Steve Gardiner, CEO of Nature’s Bakery, said in a statement. “This facility joins our existing bakeries to reflect our commitment to innovation, quality, and sustainability.”

Nature’s Bakery is built on the use of real ingredients that are plant-based, dairy-free, nut-free and Non-GMO Project Verified. Its products are sold at more than 100,000 stores. Mars is the latest food and beverage company to announce the construction of a new plant or expansion of an existing one. Among the other most notable are PepsiCo, Keurig Dr Pepper, Coca-Cola, Mondelēz International and Kraft Heinz.