Oreos are made by Mondelēz International, a global snacking company that produces the cookies at factories across the United States, China, Indonesia, and several other countries depending on the market where they are sold.
The Oreo is the best-selling cookie in the world, first introduced in 1912 by the National Biscuit Company and consistently ranking as the top-selling cookie in the United States by volume for decades, with the brand now sold in over 100 countries.
Mondelēz International, Inc. (Nasdaq: MDLZ), headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, is the parent company of Oreo and reported net revenues of approximately $36 billion in 2024, with Oreo sitting alongside Ritz, Cadbury, Toblerone, and Clif Bar as one of its most globally recognized brands.
Knowing who makes Oreos helps shoppers understand the ownership chain behind one of America’s most iconic snack brands, including how it went from a New York bakery to a global food conglomerate’s flagship product.
This article covers Mondelēz International’s ownership of Oreo, where the cookies are manufactured, the brand’s history, and how Oreo compares to Chips Ahoy on ownership and production.
So let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Who Makes Oreos?
Mondelēz International makes Oreos under the Nabisco brand name, which appears on Oreo packaging in the United States.
Nabisco, short for National Biscuit Company, is not a separate operating company but a brand name owned entirely by Mondelēz.
The Oreo recipe, trademark, and global licensing rights all belong to Mondelēz, which reports Oreo among its flagship billion-dollar brands annually in SEC filings.
Mondelēz emerged as a standalone company in 2012 when Kraft Foods split into two businesses: Kraft Foods Group, which kept the North American grocery brands, and Mondelēz International, which took the global snacking portfolio including Oreo, Ritz, LU, Chips Ahoy, and Cadbury.
The split was driven by the recognition that the high-growth snacking portfolio deserved its own dedicated global strategy separate from the slower-growth packaged grocery business.
Today, Mondelēz employs approximately 90,000 people worldwide and operates factories on six continents.
Oreo alone is produced at multiple facilities globally to meet the brand’s enormous international demand, with the specific production location varying by the country where the cookies are sold.
Where Are Oreos Made?
Oreos sold in the United States are primarily manufactured at Mondelēz’s domestic production facilities.
The company operates Nabisco bakeries in the U.S. including a significant facility in Salinas, Mexico that also serves the North American market following a controversial production shift that began around 2015. U.S.-destined Oreos are labeled as such on packaging, and for buyers who specifically want American-made Oreos, checking the country of origin printed on the package is the most reliable method.
Internationally, Oreos are made in local or regional Mondelēz factories to reduce shipping costs and serve freshness requirements. China-market Oreos are produced at Mondelēz’s Suzhou and Beijing facilities.
Indonesian-market Oreos come from Mondelēz’s local facility there. Mondelēz’s SEC 10-K filings, which list its global subsidiaries under the Nabisco Food brand name in multiple countries, confirm this distributed manufacturing approach.
Regardless of which factory produces a given Oreo, Mondelēz enforces a standardized recipe and quality specification across all facilities.
The iconic chocolate wafer and creme filling formula is the same whether the cookie was baked in the U.S., China, or Indonesia, though local regulatory requirements can occasionally lead to minor ingredient adjustments in specific markets.
What Is the History of Oreo?
The Oreo cookie was created by the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) and first sold on March 6, 1912, at a bakery in Chelsea, New York City, at a price of 25 cents per pound.
The original design featured an embossed pattern on the chocolate wafer that has been refined over decades but retains its core circular geometry and creme sandwich structure to this day.
For most of the 20th century, Nabisco operated as an independent American cookie and cracker company.
It was acquired by RJR Nabisco in 1985 in one of the most famous leveraged buyout transactions in business history.
Kraft Foods subsequently acquired Nabisco in 2000, and the Oreo brand passed to Mondelēz when the Kraft split occurred in 2012.
The brand has introduced hundreds of limited-edition Oreo varieties over the decades, including Double Stuf, Thins, Birthday Cake, and numerous licensed collaborations.
In 2024, Mondelēz highlighted an Oreo collaboration with Coca-Cola as a standout marketing activation in its annual shareholder communications, demonstrating how Oreo functions as much as a cultural property as a food product for the company.
Oreo vs. Chips Ahoy: Who Makes Each Brand?
Oreo and Chips Ahoy are both owned by Mondelēz International and produced under the Nabisco brand name, making them sister brands from the same parent company.
Chips Ahoy was introduced by Nabisco in 1963 as a chocolate chip cookie, positioning it as the complement to Oreo’s cream sandwich format in Nabisco’s cookie portfolio.
Both cookies are manufactured at Mondelēz’s Nabisco bakery network, with U.S. production and international production handled separately by local Mondelēz facilities in each market.
The fact that both brands belong to the same company means their marketing, distribution, and retail shelf strategy are managed together, which is why Oreo and Chips Ahoy are typically found in the same section of grocery stores worldwide.
For shoppers comparing the two brands, the key ownership takeaway is that choosing between Oreo and Chips Ahoy is not choosing between competing companies but between two products from the same global snacking giant.
Mondelēz’s 2024 annual revenues from biscuits and baked snacks, the category that includes both Oreo and Chips Ahoy, represented the single largest revenue segment in its global portfolio. For related snack brand ownership articles, see Who Makes Pop Tarts and Who Makes Dr Pepper.
Frequently Asked Questions About Oreos
Who owns Oreo?
Oreo is owned by Mondelēz International (Nasdaq: MDLZ), headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Mondelēz inherited the brand when Kraft Foods split into two companies in 2012, with Mondelēz taking the global snacking portfolio that included Oreo, Ritz, Cadbury, and other major brands.
Are Oreos made in the USA?
Some Oreos sold in the U.S. are made domestically, while others are produced in Mexico at Mondelēz’s Salinas facility. The country of origin is printed on the packaging. Mondelēz also operates international Oreo factories in China, Indonesia, and other countries to serve those local markets.
Is Nabisco the same as Oreo?
Nabisco is the brand name that appears on Oreo packaging in the United States, but it is not a separate company. Nabisco is a trademark owned by Mondelēz International. The National Biscuit Company, which invented Oreo in 1912, went through several corporate owners before becoming part of Mondelēz.
What company makes both Oreo and Chips Ahoy?
Both Oreo and Chips Ahoy are made by Mondelēz International under the Nabisco brand name. They are sister brands from the same parent company, produced at Mondelēz’s Nabisco bakery network in the United States and at international facilities around the world.
I am Jack Neel, a mechanical engineer, researcher, and writer. I created this website to share my knowledge about different brands and products with you. I research the manufacturers behind the brands and provide you with the information you need to make smart buying decisions.