The Man Behind M&M's - and the Mars Empire
It took curiosity and creativity to develop a hit candy
When I was traveling around Europe in 1998, I met another traveller from South Africa who told me something shocking:
She had never tried M&M’s.
She told me that in South Africa, they had Smarties, which were ‘basically the same thing’ as M&M’s.
I knew Smarties as a roll of tiny pastel sugar discs that made an annual appearance at Halloween as filler candy. I had never tried the chocolate variety she spoke of, but, of course, I was curious…
So I bought her a pack of M&M’s and she bought me a pack of Smarties, and we compared notes.
I discovered that her Smarties were not the same thing as M&M’s. They are similar (chocolate with a candy shell) but they don’t melt in your mouth the same way M&M’s do.
After our taste test, she said she preferred Smarties.
I told her I sticking with my M&M’s.
But we each learned something new about candy.
And speaking of learning about candy, last year, a throwaway comment about M&M’s piqued my curiosity again – and I started to research the history of the candy, as well as the innovators behind Mars and Hershey.
I could write many stories about why Mars and Hershey (the founders and companies) are so interesting, but today I thought I’d share the story of how Forrest Mars Sr. brought us the magical candy that melts in your mouth (not in your hands).
The story of M&M’s really begins when Forrest and his father, Frank, had a disagreement about the direction for the Mars business in 1932.
Frank had been absent for most of Forrest’s life, and didn’t find success until he introduced the Milky Way candy bar in 1924. Sales exploded, and Frank’s business grew when he introduced two more hit candy bars: Snickers in 1930, and 3 Musketeers in 1932.
Frank was making a lot of money, and was satisfied with his accomplishments.
But Forrest felt his father wasn’t running the business efficiently. He wanted his father to give him one-third of the company and allow him to expand into Canada.
Frank refused.
But he did give his son two things: $50,000 US and the foreign rights to the Milky Way candy bar.
And in 1932, Forrest left the US for Europe.
He set up shop in a one-room factory in England. He wanted to manufacture a chocolate bar, but learned that European tastes in chocolate were different. He experimented using creamier milk chocolate and a sweeter toffee for a new candy bar.
His first creation was inspired by the Milky Way, but it was different. He called it the Mars bar.
And his creativity did not stop with making chocolate.
In post-Depression Britain, eating sweets was frowned upon. Eating was for nutrition, not fun, and eating chocolate was seen as wasteful. So Mars sold his bar as a ‘food chocolate’ and marketed it as though it was nutritional.
"It is more than a sweet, it is a food; the eggs, the large amount of milk and butter, the malted milk, all combined form a nutritious tonic," read the text on the wrapper.
Forrest then found inspiration for another product when he was in southern Spain in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War.
He saw off-duty soldiers eating chocolate ‘pellets’ that were coated in a hard shell. Protected by their shell, the chocolates did not melt in the heat, or stick to fingers. They were also lightweight, which made them easy to transport.
Forrest saw an opportunity, and returned to the US to create his own version.
With World War II underway, and America’s involvement only a matter of time, Forrest felt he needed help with the product, especially if sugar and chocolate were to be rationed.
He approached William Murrie, the president of Hershey’s, to make a deal. They agreed Hershey’s would supply the chocolate for the new candy, called M&M’s (for ‘Mars & Murrie’).
The M&M’s Plain Chocolate Candies were patented in 1941, and hit the consumer market.
But within months, the US entered World War II, and M&M’s were then made exclusively for the US military.
M&M’s proved popular with soldiers, and when the war ended in 1945, M&M’s became available to the general public.
The chocolate that ‘melts in your mouth, not in your hand’ grew to be a billion-dollar brand.
And Forrest Mars went on to create much more than a chocolate empire.
He pioneered the pet food market, and both the Pedigree and Whiskas brands are part of Mars Inc. He also teamed up with a Texas businessman to introduce Uncle Ben’s rice, the world’s first brand-name raw commodity.
When Forrest died in 1999, he was worth an estimated $4 billion and listed as the 30th richest man in America.
(If you’re curious about the history of Mars or Hershey, I highly recommend The Emperors of Chocolate by Joel Glenn Brenner. It’s one of the most interesting books I read in 2020).
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And now, I am off to the store to buy some M&M’s…
Until next time!
-Beth