Twix candy bars were originally sold under the brand name "Raider" in many countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway). The Raider name was ditched in many countries in 1991, and in 2000 was completely replaced by the Twix brand.

But… "Raider" has to be one of the coolest names you could give a food product. The only way you could really improve on that is to tack "Twix" on to the front of it. The Twix brand has spawned many variants (Peanut Butter Twix, Fudge Twix, Twix Java, etc.) so why not a "Twix Raider"? I'm imagining a hazelnut flavored caramel. Someone from Mars/Twix needs to read this and completely rip off the idea.

"Twix Raider" would also give the guys in the advertising and design departments a lot of room to play. Imagine if someone had thought of this earlier – there could have been a product tie-in with the latest Indiana Jones movie. The logo could have used a really cool "archeological adventure" font (not Helvetica), and maybe even included a fedora or a whip. Theatres could have run ads for Twix candy bars – Twix Raider candy bars – before the previews, instead of those annoying Pepsi Max "advertainment" commercials. George Lucas and Mars, Inc. missed out on this one I guess.

I'm not sure what caused it, but on Tuesday I had a strange compulsion to answer the question "where are twix bars made?" Some quick googling turned up absolutely nothing useful. But rather than get discouraged and give up, I instead turned to Twix.com's contact form. Then, with my amazing attention span, I quickly (and completely) forgot about it. But the helpful people at Twix didn't forget, and on Thursday I got the following reply:

In response to your email regarding TWIX COOKIE BARS.

Thank you for your email.

Mars Snackfood US operates manufacturing facilities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Georgia, Tennessee, Nevada, and Texas.

Have a great day!

Your Friends at Mars Snackfood US

Which, at first glance, was a bit exciting – I had my answer. But then I thought about it.. "manufacturing facilities in…" does not mean "Twix Cookie Bars are made in facilities in…"..

Armed with this new information, I revised my searching and found the answer:
Where are twix bars made? Cleveland, TN.
Twix are made in Cleveland, Tennessee.

Here's a bit more candy for you information junkies – the U.S. manufacturing facilities and the products that they make:

Albany, GA manufactures
Kudos(R), Combos(R) and SNICKERS(R) Marathon.

Burr Ridge, IL produces
all of the frozen confectionery products.

Chicago, IL produces
MILKY WAY(R), 3 MUSKETEERS(R), SNICKERS(R) in the Fun Size and Minis format, Dove Promises and MUNCH Bar.

Cleveland, TN produces
all varieties of M&M'S(R) Chocolate Candies, and TWIX(R) Cookie Bars.

Elizabethtown, PA produces
MILKY WAY(R) Bar, MILKY WAY MIDNIGHT(R) Bar, 3 MUSKETEERS(R) Bar, and DOVE(R) Chocolate.

Hackettstown, NJ
M&M'S(R) Milk Chocolate Candies, M&M'S(R) Peanut Chocolate Candies, M&M'S(R) MINIS(R) Milk Chocolate Candies and MY M&M'S Custom Candies.

Henderson, NV produces
all the ethel chocolate lounge confections.

Waco, TX produces
SKITTLES(R) Bite Size Candy, STARBURST(R) Fruit Chews, and SNICKERS(R) Bars.