Who owns DARS?
DARS is owned by Morinaga (Japan, TSE: 2201).[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Morinaga & Co., Ltd. Corporate Profile 2026. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Morinaga & Co., Ltd. reported
- Owner HQ
- 🇯🇵 Japan, Tokyo
- Origin
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- Founded
- 1993
- Category
- Food › Confectionery › Chocolate
- Parent ticker
- TSE: 2201
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About DARS
DARS is a chocolate brand Morinaga launched in 1993. It is one of the long-selling mainstay products, alongside HI-CHEW, Morinaga Biscuits, Milk Cocoa and Morinaga Amazake, that make up the core of the company's Confectionery and Foodstuffs business, and the range includes variants such as DARS Milk as Morinaga pushes into health-focused high-cacao chocolate.
Ownership timeline of DARS
Where DARS sits in Morinaga
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Morinaga ownership tree →
See the full Morinaga brand portfolio (10) →
Other brands owned by Morinaga
Morinaga controls 10 brands on Brandtree, 9 of them in food.
Also in food
- Choco Monaka Jumbo
- Chocoball (1967)
- HI-CHEW (1975)
- ICEBOX (1989)
- in Jelly (1994)
- Morinaga Biscuits
- Morinaga Milk Caramel (1913)
- My/Mochi
Other brands in chocolate, and who owns them
The 132 brands in chocolate on Brandtree belong to 46 owners. The largest is Mars, with 9; Morinaga has 2.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Bounty | Mars | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Cadbury | Mondelēz | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Danusia | Wawel | 🇵🇱 Poland |
| Elizabeth Shaw | Colian | 🇵🇱 Poland |
| Baby Ruth | Ferrero | 🇮🇹 Italy |
| Almond Joy | Hershey | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Caffarel | Lindt & Sprüngli | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
| Eitt Sett | Nói Síríus | 🇮🇸 Iceland |
About the owner: Morinaga
Morinaga is a publicly listed company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1899. Brandtree records 10 brands under its control, and it is listed as TSE: 2201.
Morinaga & Co. is a Japanese confectionery and food maker. Its founder Taichiro Morinaga returned from the United States and opened Morinaga's Western Confectionery Shop on 15 August 1899; the business was incorporated in 1910 and took its present name in 1912. Headquartered in Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo, it makes HI-CHEW, chocolate, biscuits, cocoa, frozen desserts and in Jelly drinks, reported consolidated net sales of ¥236.6 billion for the year to March 2026, and aims to become a wellness company by 2030. It bought the US mochi ice cream maker My/Mochi in 2026.
🇯🇵 DARS and other Japanese brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 456 brands that began in Japan. 23 of them (5%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; DARS is not one of them.
- Ajinomoto — Ajinomoto 🇯🇵
- Almond Koka — Glico 🇯🇵
- Amuleia — Nisshin Seifun 🇯🇵
- Aohata — Kewpie 🇯🇵
- C1000 — House Foods 🇯🇵
- Calbee Potato Chips — Calbee 🇯🇵
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of DARS?
The parent company of DARS is Morinaga, a publicly listed company headquartered in Japan.
Is DARS Japanese?
Yes. DARS originated in Japan in 1993 and its owner, Morinaga, is also headquartered in Japan.
Is DARS still owned by Morinaga?
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, DARS is still owned by Morinaga. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Morinaga & Co., Ltd. Corporate Profile 2026 — Morinaga & Co., Ltd., Annual report; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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