Who owns Smarties?
Smarties is owned by Nestlé (Switzerland, SIX: NESN), which has owned the brand since 1988.[1][2]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Nestlé S.A. Annual Report 2025, 19 February 2026. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Nestlé S.A. reported
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland, Vevey
- Origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Founded
- 1937
- Category
- Food › Confectionery › Chocolate
- Parent ticker
- SIX: NESN
- Last verified
- · 2 sources
About Smarties
Smarties are sugar-shelled chocolate beans created by Rowntree's in 1937 and sold in a cardboard tube with a plastic lid that carried a letter of the alphabet. Nestlé owns the brand outside the United States, where the Smarties name belongs to a different and entirely unrelated tablet sweet.
Ownership timeline of Smarties
Where Smarties sits in Nestlé
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Nestlé ownership tree →
See the full Nestlé brand portfolio (32) →
Other brands owned by Nestlé
Nestlé controls 32 brands on Brandtree, 18 of them in food.
Also in food
- Aero (1935)
- Boost (1994)
- Carnation (1899)
- Cerelac (1867)
- Chocapic (1984)
- Coffee mate (1961)
- Fitness (1993)
- Garden Gourmet (1996)
- Gerber (1927)
- Hot Pockets (1983)
- KitKat (1935)
- La Lechera (1925)
- Lean Cuisine (1981)
- Maggi (1884)
- NAN (1962)
- Nestlé Toll House (1939)
- Stouffer's (1922)
Founded in the 1930s
Other brands in chocolate, and who owns them
The 131 brands in chocolate on Brandtree belong to 45 owners. The largest is Mars, with 9; Nestlé has 3.
| 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: Nestlé
Nestlé is a publicly listed company headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, founded in 1866. Brandtree records 32 brands under its control, and it is listed as SIX: NESN.
Nestlé is a Swiss food and drink company formed in 1905 by the merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company with Henri Nestlé's infant food business, and traces its origins to 1866. It is the largest food company in the world by revenue and is organised around coffee, pet care, nutrition, dairy, confectionery and water.
🇬🇧 Smarties and other British brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 552 brands that began in the United Kingdom. 291 of them (53%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Smarties among them.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Smarties?
The parent company of Smarties is Nestlé, a publicly listed company headquartered in Switzerland.
Is Smarties British or Swiss?
Smarties originated in the United Kingdom in 1937, but it is owned today by Nestlé, which is headquartered in Switzerland. So Smarties is a British-origin brand under Swiss ownership.
Since when has Nestlé owned Smarties?
Nestlé has owned Smarties since 1988.
Is Smarties still owned by Nestlé?
Yes. As of 26 September 2026, Smarties is still owned by Nestlé. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (2) & 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] Nestlé S.A. Annual Report 2025 — Nestlé S.A., Annual report, published 19 February 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
- [2] Nestlé S.A. — Nestlé company history — Nestlé S.A., Official document; retrieved 26 September 2026.
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