How much energy goes into making a skittle?
That’s one question occupying the mind of Garrett Clark ’07. As a Chicago-based senior R&D engineer with Mars Wrigley, the chemical and biomolecular engineering graduate is using his talents to make the world taste good.
Which brings us back to those Skittles. As the world’s leading manufacturer of chocolate, chewing gum, mints, and fruity confections, Mars has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, and every process is up for reinvention.
Clark is part of a team identifying how to make Mars’ iconic candies in more sustainable ways. “If we can’t change the Skittle itself, can we redesign the process of making them?” he says. “It’s a significant engineering challenge and deeply rewarding.”
His work has taken him all the way to China, where he helped add a line to manufacture sugar-free gum, and to Kenya, to construct a new candy factory. Back home in Chicago, Clark’s laboratory is the innovation center—an industrial kitchen where he and his colleagues get to play candymaker. If initial feedback is good, the prototype proceeds to the consumer center for taste testing.
“All my friends ask for an invite,” he laughs.
When a winning product is identified, the question becomes how to industrialize it. Sometimes, delivering a new treat requires designing the equipment and processes from scratch. “Candy making is really just cooking at an industrial scale,” says Clark. It makes sense, then, that his team’s motto is “scaling moments of happiness.”
The mission includes creating healthier choices for snacking that still taste indulgent and fun. Clark is part of a team behind Starburst Goodies, a plant-based gummy with 70% less sugar. The product began rolling out on shelves this past summer.
He doesn’t take his sweet job for granted.
“Never in a million years did I dream I’d be making candy for a living,” he says. “I hope this shows that engineering can be so many things. It’s not just calculus and spreadsheets; there is plenty of room for emotion, creativity, and fun.”