Through its snacking division, Mars and Unreasonable Group announced the beginning of a three-year partnership: Unreasonable Food. Unreasonable Food seeks to become the world's premier global initiative focused on supporting rapid growth companies positioned to re-define our food systems, ensuring a more regenerative, inclusive and equitable future of food for all.
This partnership will support the Mars Net Zero Roadmap and Mars Snacking's sustainability journey, while also delivering a more agile and forward-looking snacking business for Mars.
The Mars Unreasonable Food partnership will focus on four distinct pillars: Shaping the Future of Food, Improving Farmer Livelihood, Transforming Food Supply Chains, and Reimagining Sustainable Packaging. These four focus areas are designed to identify, and then accelerate, the areas Mars believes can make a meaningful and differentiated impact given the company's global business footprint and operations.
Each year, Unreasonable will scour the globe through their network of hundreds of investment funds and pipeline partners to identify, privately invite and ultimately unite growth-stage entrepreneurs best positioned to profitably solve sustainability challenges. Selection of these ventures will be a mutual decision between Unreasonable Group's team and the Mars Snacking team. Over the course of the three-year partnership, Unreasonable Food will be laser-focused on building a portfolio of approximately 40 solutions uniquely situated to future-proof and solve Mars Snacking's key sustainability challenges.
Amanda Davies, global vice president of R&D, sustainability, and commercial at Mars Snacking said in the announcement: “Mars has the experience, the energy, and the footprint to shape the food future. Doing nothing is not an option.”
Gulen Bengi, chief growth officer at Mars Snacking, added: “Mars is committed to improving sustainability and quality of lives throughout the food supply chain – our brands and their global communities have the reach and scale to make meaningful impact, helping shape real change.”
Mars recently unveiled its innovative open-source action plan – the Mars Net Zero Roadmap – to accelerate action toward achieving net zero emissions. The Mars plan includes a new target to cut carbon in half by 2030 across its full value chain, which translates into cutting carbon by 15 million metric tons – the equivalent to taking nearly 3 million cars off American roads and highways.
