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Perfetti Van Melle Group BV
Perfetti Van Melle makes and sells candy and chewing gum to people in more than 150 countries.
Perfetti Van Melle is a candy and gum company. You have almost certainly put its products in your mouth without thinking about the company behind them. Its brands include Mentos, the round chewy mints; Chupa Chups, the lollipops; and Alpenliebe, a creamy candy that is huge in India. It also makes chewing gum and other sweets. The company sells to shoppers in over 150 countries, which makes it one of the biggest candy makers in the world, right up there with the giants.
The business is simple to understand. It invents and manufactures sweets, then sells them to supermarkets, convenience stores, and distributors, who put them on shelves near the checkout where you are most tempted. Candy is a good business because the ingredients are cheap, the products are small and light to ship, and people buy them on impulse without comparing prices much. A pack of Mentos costs a little, but the margin on that little is healthy. The hard part is standing out on a crowded shelf, which is why brands and memorable advertising matter so much. Perfetti Van Melle is privately held. It is owned by the Perfetti family of Italy and the Van Melle family of the Netherlands, and the two businesses merged in 2001 to form the company. That means no stock ticker and no quarterly earnings calls for the public to pick apart. Being private gives it patience. It can invest in emerging markets like India, China, and Southeast Asia for years before the payoff shows up, rather than chasing whatever makes the next quarter look good. Its main competitors are the other global candy and gum heavyweights: Mondelez International, which owns Cadbury and Trident gum, and Mars, the privately held maker of Snickers and Wrigley's gum. Wrigley's, owned by Mars, is the dominant force in chewing gum, which makes gum a tough fight for anyone else. Perfetti Van Melle's strength is its broad spread across many countries and its stable of brands that people grew up with, which creates loyalty that is hard to buy.
The company keeps investing in factories and in its brands, especially in fast-growing markets where more people are gaining a little spare cash to spend on treats. Candy is a small luxury that survives hard times, because people still want a cheap pick-me-up. That steady demand, plus brands that stick in the memory, is the engine of the whole thing. It is not flashy, but it is a sweet business.
Saved answer · last researched 13 Nov 2026
BIG PICTURE
In Dutch gum, one company sells almost half of everything
- 44% Perfetti Van Melle
- 17% Cloetta Holland
- 12% Wrigley
- 27% Others
Gum shelves in the Netherlands are close to a one-company market. Perfetti Van Melle takes 44 cents of every euro spent on gum there, more than double its next rival, Cloetta Holland, at 17%, while Wrigley holds 12%. The company makes its money selling small packs of candy and gum in 150-plus countries, and this kind of grip at home shows how much a familiar brand can own a market. Source: Euromonitor, data from 2026
Timeline
Van Melle Starts in Breskens
In a small Dutch town, Izaak Van Melle took the family bakery his grandfather had run for sixty years and turned it into a sweets business. That small change of direction is where half of this whole story begins.
Two Brothers Start Perfetti
Far away in Italy, two brothers, Ambrogio and Egidio Perfetti, started making sweets and bonbons in a town near Milan. For a long time the company carried a clunky name, Dolcificio Lombardo, until it finally took the family name in 1970.
War Forces Van Melle to Rotterdam
The war destroyed the Van Melle factory in Breskens, so the family had to pack up and rebuild in Rotterdam. They reopened there in late November, and the business kept going.
Perfetti Launches Brooklyn Gum
Perfetti made its own chewing gum entirely in Italy and called it Brooklyn. It became a brand Italians grew up with, and it is still a familiar name on shelves there.
Perfetti Buys a Stake in Van Melle
Perfetti bought a big slice of Van Melle, roughly a third of it, and got one foot in the door. That stake was the first step on a road toward owning the whole thing.
Perfetti Takes Full Control of Van Melle
Perfetti bought every remaining share of Van Melle and merged the two candy makers into one group. That is when Perfetti Van Melle was born, and it instantly became one of the largest confectionery companies in the world.
Chupa Chups Joins the Group
The company then bought Chupa Chups, the Spanish family business behind the famous lollipop and the Smint mints. That brought a globally known brand and a new set of customers under the same roof.
First Non-Italian CEO Takes Over
Sameer Suneja, who had run the Indian arm of the business, became chief executive. He was the first person from outside Italy to hold the top job, a sign the company was now a global outfit, not just an Italian one.
Gum Business Bought from Mondelēz
The group bought Mondelēz's gum business across the United States, Canada and Europe, adding household names like Trident and Dentyne. Gum and breath-freshening products jumped to the top of the company's priority list.
India Bets on Lower Taxes
A tax cut in India slashed the rate on candies and gums to just 5%, which made sweets cheaper to buy. Perfetti Van Melle India set a goal of roughly doubling its sales within four years and pushed its lineup toward popular low-price packs, with premium products making up about a third of the mix.