I’m sure we’re all familiar with M&Ms, skittles, snickers, Twix, and Milky Way bars.
Those are some of the most famous candy and chocolate brands in the world and they’re
all owned by a company called Mars inc.
What you may not be familiar with though is the people behind Mars.
Mars Inc is actually one of the largest privately-owned companies in the world and the company is
still owned completely by the founding family.
Today, the family occupies 6 spots on the billionaire’s list with all of them being
deca billionaires.
This adds up to a total of $140.8 billion which makes them the richest private family
in the world.
So, here’s the story of the real like Willy Wonkas.
Taking a look back, it all started with Franklin Clarence Mars who was born on September 24,
1883, in Hancock Minnesota.
At a young age, Frank caught polio, and in an effort to make him feel better and have
a bit of fun, his mother Alva decided to make some hand-dipped chocolate candy.
This was Frank’s first introduction to chocolate making and he found the process quite intriguing.
As he grew up, Frank continued to learn how to make various kinds of chocolate from his
mother including fudge and peanut brittle.
And as soon as he turned 19, Frank began a small home business selling molasses chips
and other types of candies to local stores.
At the time, chocolate was a rather new invention.
People around the world had been enjoying sweet treats since the Egyptians.
But the use of cocoa beans to make chocolate wasn’t a thing until the late 1700s.
Originally, chocolate was primarily consumed as a drink by the rich, and it wasn’t until
1847 that Joseph Fry created the first chocolate bar.
So, it’s quite surprising that Frank’s mother was familiar enough with chocolate
that she was able to make her own.
Anyway, going back to Frank, he got married quite young to a woman named Ethel G Kissack
who was a school teacher.
They were married in 1902 when Frank was just 19 years old, and they had a son named Forrest
Mars in 1904.
Unfortunately, the two would divorce soon after, but what’s funny is that Frank would
go ahead and marry another woman named Ethel in 1910.
One year later, Frank and Ethel Healy would start the Mars Candy Company together in Tacoma
Washington.
The company specialized in wholesaling fresh candy, but they weren’t the only company
in the area targeting this market.
A company called Brown & Haley came around just a few years later, and they would prove
to be a lot more successful.
Frank and Ethel had a daughter named Patricia in 1914 and they tried to keep up the Mars
Candy Company as long as they could.
But eventually, they threw in the towel and moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1920.
In Minneapolis, the duo started a new chocolate company called Mars O Bar that manufactured
chocolate bars.
In 1923, Frank introduced a new chocolate bar based on his son Forrest’s idea called
the Milky Way bar.
Milky Way became a customer favorite and propelled the business into being an up-and-coming chocolate
company.
Several years later, in 1929, Frank would move to Chicago where he would come up with
the Snickers Bar.
Things were finally starting to pick, and Frank would start to enjoy himself.
In the late 1920s, Frank started construction on a massive estate called the Milky Way Farm.
The estate consisted of a 25,000 square feet clubhouse, over 30 barns, and it even had
a horse racing track.
Apparently, Frank employed 935 men to construct the estate.
But just as the estate was completed, Frank would pass away at age 50 in 1934 due to heart
problems.
Unfortunately, it looks like enjoying his wealth just wasn’t in the cards.
With Frank dead, the responsibility of running the company naturally fell on his kids, but
his son Forrest had already gone on his own path.
Given that Frank and his first wife Ethel had divorced soon after Forrest’s birth,
Forrest wasn’t that close with his father.
Forrest and his mother had moved to Canada after the divorce and Forrest rarely saw his
father.
Forrest ended up attending the University of California Berkeley before transferring
to Yale and graduating with an industrial engineering degree in 1928.
After graduation, Forrest did join his father’s company, but he didn’t stick around for
long.
At first, Forrest oversaw the development of the Snickers and 3 Musketeers bars, but
soon enough, Forrest wanted to expand the company internationally.
However, Frank had no interest in expanding internationally.
Eventually, the argument would blow over and Forrest would end up moving to England.
In England, Forrest took on jobs at Nestle and the Tobler company, but he never let go
of his chocolate roots either.
In the background, Forrest was developing the Mars bar and Maltesers.
In 1934, Forrest bought a British company called Chappel Bros which produced canned
dog food.
There was very little competition in the market, so it wasn’t that hard for Forrest to dominate
the dog food market, but after his father’s death, Forrest would move back to the US.
Forrest oversaw his father’s company, but he wouldn’t take over the company for quite
some time.
His stepmom Ethel Healy became the president of Mars Inc, and she was in charge of day-to-day
operations.
In the meantime, Forrest created his own food business called Food Manufacturers.
I think we can agree that that’s literally the lamest name he could have given the business.
Despite the lame name, the company would go on to be quite successful.
Under Food Manufacturers, Forrest started two sub-brands called Uncle Ben’s Rice and
Pedigree, the famous pet food brand.
Forrest kept coming up with new products ideas for Mars as well.
In 1940, Forrest came up with the idea for M&Ms.
The idea was to create a chocolate candy that didn’t melt your hands, but would melt in
your mouth.
Given that this was during World War 2 though, Forrest was worried that sugar and chocolate
would be rationed.
So, Forrest formed a partnership with the president of Hershey William Murrie.
This way the two companies could share resources if rationing was enforced.
This is how the name for M&M came about, the name was indicative of the partnership between
Mars & Murrie.
Ironically, these companies are massive rivals today.
Anyway, a few years later in 1945, Forrest’s stepmom passed away, and this gave Forrest
and his step-sister Patricia the full responsibility of running the company.
In 1954, Forrest introduced Peanut M&Ms.
And fun fact, Forrest was actually extremely allergic to peanuts.
Forrest continued to run his father’s company and his own company separately for another
10 years, but finally in 1964, 30 years after his father’s death, Forrest merged the two
companies.
It’s not clear what exactly happened to Patricia’s stake in the business or if she
even had one.
Patricia died just one year later in 1965 and it doesn’t look like she had any kids,
so maybe Forrest inherited her stake after her death or maybe he bought out her stake
while she was still alive.
Whatever the case though, Forrest was left with the entire business, and given Forrest’s
massive influence in the company starting with the Milky Way bar way back in 1923, I
think that’s only fitting.
Over the next decade, Forrest continued to run the company with a tight fist.
Forrest was notorious for having an extreme temper and he highly valued punctuality and
performance.
Forrest incentivized these traits by offering a 10% bonus to all Mars employees.
If the company was hitting performance metrics and you were on time the entire week, you
got a 10% bonus that week.
But, if you were late even once, you automatically lost the bonus regardless of whether you’re
a janitor or an executive.
Forrest officially retired in 1973 at age 69, but he had quite a bit of trouble actually
letting go.
He left the company with his three children, Forrest Jr, John Mars, and Jacqueline Mars.
Apparently, he would call his kids all the time to nitpick at things that they weren’t
doing quite right.
But eventually, Forest Sr lightened up on his kids after he founded a new chocolate
company to run.
In 1981, Forest Sr moved to Henderson, Nevada, and founded Ethel M Chocolates.
He ran the company for 7 years, but in 1988, he would sell the company to Mars Inc and
he would truly retire.
Forest Sr. ended up passing away in 1998 at age 95 after living quite a stunning life.
As for Mars Inc, the company only grew even larger under the leadership of Forest’s
kids.
After Forest Sr. left the company, the kids moved the headquarters to McLean Virginia.
The company is super famous for being secretive, so we don’t know too much about their internal
operations or business decisions.
But one avenue of growth that we are aware of is their public acquisitions, and the kids
haven’t been shy when it comes to acquisitions.
They bought the chewing gum company, Wrigley Jr., in 2008 for $23 billion.
Similarly, they bought three pet food brands from P&G for $2.9 billion in 2014.
They also expanded into new areas through acquisitions.
For example, in 2003, Mars acquired Aquarium Pharmaceuticals which allowed the company
to enter the aquarium and pond markets.
Similarly, they bought Banfield Pet Hospital in 2007.
Since then, Mars has doubled down on the veterinary market.
Mars went ahead and bought BluePearl Veterinary Partners in 2015, VCA inc in 2017, and the
Linnaeus Group in 2018.
All of these acquisitions have actually made Mars the largest pet nutrition and veterinary
care provider in the world.
Today, the kids aren’t really kids anymore as they’re in their 80s and Forest Jr. actually
passed away in 2016.
His stake in the company was even split between his four children who all work at Mars as
well.
As for John Mars, he has three kids, but we don’t know what exactly they do and if they’re
even involved with the company.
John himself has chosen to live an extremely private and peaceful life in Wyoming.
In fact, he’s kept his life so private that when Forbes was making their billionaires
list from 2010 to 2014, they couldn’t find a picture of him which made him the richest
person on the list without a picture.
And finally, we have Jacqueline who is likely the most public of the three.
We don’t know too much about her three children, but in 2013, Jacqueline was involved in an
infamous car accident near her house.
Jacqueline claims that she passed out while driving but she tested negative for drugs,
alcohol, and medication, so it’s not clear what exactly caused the blackout.
But unfortunately, the accident resulted in a person dying and a pregnant woman miscarrying.
Jacqueline pleaded guilty and profusely apologized for the incident.
She was eventually able to walk away from the situation with a misdemeanor charge for
reckless driving.
And that’s the story of the $141 billion chocolate family.
Did you guys know about the Mars family?
Comment that down below.
Also, drop a like if you love Snickers.
And of course, consider joining our discord community to suggest future video ideas and
consider subscribing to see more questions logically answered.