CHICAGO — Candy giant Mars Snacking is investing $100 million to expand its Chicago headquarters, adding two new offices and more than 600 jobs, the company announced Wednesday.

Incentivized by state tax credits, Mars Snacking is opening a new regional office in Fulton Market and taking over the former Kellanova headquarters in River North as a new hub for its Accelerator Division, growing its corporate footprint beyond its Goose Island campus.

“Chicago has long been a hub for our business, and now it is our official home for our North America region and our Accelerator Division — firmly establishing our legacy and our future together,” Andrew Clarke, global president of Mars Snacking, said in a news release.

The expansion follows a merger last year, which substantially increased Mars Snacking’s employee count and portfolio. In December, Mars closed on its $36 billion acquisition of Kellanova, the Chicago-based snack foods spinoff from cereal-maker Kellogg, adding brands such as Pringles and Cheez-It to a snacking universe that includes Snickers, M&M’s and Twix.

Virginia-based Mars established a base in Chicago with its 2008 purchase of Wrigley, the city’s century-old gum-maker, for $23 billion. In addition to such brands as Juicy Fruit, Mars acquired Wrigley’s research and development center on Goose Island, which opened in 2005. After the acquisition, Mars Wrigley moved its corporate headquarters from the Wrigley Building on Michigan Avenue to new digs on Goose Island in 2012. The company has since been renamed Mars Snacking.

In 2024, Mars opened a new 44,000-square-foot, $42 million research and development facility on its Goose Island campus. Mars Snacking got a lot bigger through the Kellanova merger last year, supporting 4,000 jobs and more than 20 brands in the Chicago area.

Mars Snacking is now doubling down on its Chicago hub with Wednesday’s expansion announcement, producing another sweet corporate win for Illinois, its second this month.

“Mars Snacking’s decision to expand its footprint in Chicago reflects the strength of our state’s workforce, infrastructure and business environment,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in the news release. “We’re proud that a company with such an iconic portfolio is building on its history here, creating opportunity for Illinois families and strengthening our economy.”

Under the terms of the EDGE agreement, Mars Snacking commits to adding 602 jobs by December 2027 and investing $100 million in building out the three offices to be eligible for $42.8 million in tax credits over 15 years.

The state’s Economic Development for a Growing Economy program offers annual corporate tax credits to qualifying businesses that create jobs, investment and training programs in Illinois.

Earlier this month, Hyundai Translead, a leading manufacturer of truck trailers and flatbeds, announced it was investing $450 million to repurpose two shuttered Will County plants and create 2,500 jobs, incentivized by an EDGE tax credit agreement with the state.

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