People all over the world eat American-made candy, and companies all over the United States, big and small, contribute to the candy-making process.

            Large companies make candy all over the United States. MARS, Incorporated is just one of the companies in the American candy industry.

            “We make M&Ms, Snickers, Twix, Three Musketeers, Skittles, Starburst, and more. We pretty much make the best candy on the planet,” Greg Lewis, Customer Logistics Representative for MARS, Inc., said.

            MARS, Inc. has different types of candy factories all over the United States.

            “All M&Ms are made in Hackettstown, New Jersey and Cleveland, Tennessee,” Lewis said. “Snickers are made in Waco, Texas. We also make a lot of our chocolate in Chicago.”

            The M&M factories in New Jersey and Tennessee do tedious work, especially to make peanut M&Ms.

            “First, the peanuts are roasted in our facility then coated in milk chocolate. Once they are sufficiently coated, they go into a machine that rounds them off and they are sprayed with several coats of what will be their thin candy shell,” Lewis said. “Once they dry, they are then stamped with the iconic letter M, and are ready to melt in your mouth, not in your hands.”

            The popularity of M&Ms represents the overall reputation of American-made candy.

            In 1996, USA Today published research proving that this American-made brand, M&Ms, was more popular than both Mickey Mouse and Bart Simpson, according to a Global Marketing article in Business 2000.

            Although smaller than MARS, Inc., Zachary Confections, Inc., another American candy company, is still influential in the candy industry.

            “We make chocolate specialty candy, Halloween candy, candy corn, what we call jellies, orange slices, and more,” Jack Zachary, owner of Zachary Confections, Inc., said.

            Zachary Confections, Inc., makes all their high quality American candy in the small town of Frankfort, Indiana.

“I would say most of the American-made candies are of better quality than others in the world,” Zachary said. “Germany, Italy, and France make higher quality chocolate than made in America because they have more cocoa butter in chocolate than we use in the U.S.A. But overall, I actually prefer American made chocolate because I believe it is of higher quality than most other candy in the world.”

            Like Zachary, students know American-made candy can be just as impressive as candy from around the globe.

            “I like American candy because it just tastes better to me. European candy is a lot sweeter and I don’t like the flavor as much as American candy,” Maddy Magoncia, sophomore, said.

            This taste of American candy that Magoncia describes is what Lewis says makes American candy more appealing to Americans.

            “I think candy, chocolate in particular, is a lot like pizza. The United States makes pizza differently than you would find it in Italy or other countries,” Lewis said. “Every country has their own style and the people in every country have their preference. MARS sells many brands worldwide. We sell some chocolate bars in Europe that are really popular, but we don’t sell them here because people don’t like them. I think American-made candy is the best because it’s the taste that we all have. This is why Swiss and other European candy are not as popular here as American brands are.”