Have you ever heard that the company behind the M&M’s chocolate in your hand or the Snickers bar you reach for when hungry is a private empire more secretive than the CIA and makes more money than Coca-Cola? This is not a conspiracy theory. This is the story of the most discreet giant in the corporate world, the Mars family.
This is not an ordinary business analysis. It is a 100-year epic of ambition, conflict, and veiled genius tightly woven into one family. We will explore how this vast tribe built their own kingdom and what beliefs and rules have preserved their identity. Their headquarters is near the CIA’s, and due to strict secrecy, they have even earned the nickname ‘The Kremlin’. The answer lies hidden in over a century of history, starting from a fierce and bitter conflict between a father and son.
The Light and Shadow of a Founding Myth: Father and Son Conflict
Like all great tribes, Mars’s history began not with glory but with deprivation. Born in 1883, Frank C. Mars learned chocolate making in his mother’s kitchen instead of attending school due to polio. Though a diligent craftsman, his early ventures were a series of failures.
The winds of change came from his son, Forrest Mars Sr., a completely different kind of man who studied industrial engineering at Yale. In 1923, the father and son briefly joined forces to create the innovative “malted milk in a candy bar,” the **Milky Way**, which became a huge success.
But success bred conflict. The father wanted to settle for small wins, while the son had ambitions to conquer the world. The clash was inevitable. Eventually, the conflict exploded, and Frank effectively exiled his son by giving him some funds and overseas brand rights.
Paradoxically, this bitter split became the most important ‘founding trauma’ that completed the Mars empire. Reacting against his father’s complacency and inefficiency, Forrest adopted ‘ruthless efficiency’ and ‘global expansion’ as his creed. His obsession with ‘control’ inherited from his father laid the foundation for the core principle of ‘Freedom’, meaning a privately held family business that refuses outside interference.
An Icon Born on the Battlefield: The Secret Birth of M&M’s
In the late 1930s, wandering Europe after being ousted by his father, Forrest witnessed a fateful scene during the Spanish Civil War: soldiers eating chocolate coated with sugar so it wouldn’t melt in their hands. A perfect military snack for hot weather. This sparked a huge business idea in his mind.
Back in the U.S., he partnered with Bruce Murrie, son of the president of Hershey, Mars’s biggest competitor. This unusual partnership produced M&M’s, named after the first letters of Mars and Murrie.
With the brilliant slogan “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand,” M&M’s were exclusively supplied to the military during the war. By war’s end, M&M’s had become a ’national snack’ etched in the memories of countless veterans.
The Genius Marketing of Snickers: Mastering Hunger
Another pillar of the Mars empire is Snickers. Launched in 1930, Snickers was named after a horse owned by the Mars family. But the secret to its global conquest was marketing that tapped into humanity’s most basic need.
Mars positioned Snickers not as a mere dessert but as a meal replacement for hunger. The combination of peanuts, caramel, nougat, and chocolate provided high calories and satiety, perfectly fitting the busy modern lifestyle.
The global campaign “You’re not you when you’re hungry” was the pinnacle of this strategy. It resonated across all cultures worldwide, establishing Snickers as the most immediate solution to the universal problem of hunger.
The Constitution Governing the Empire: Mars’s Five Principles
In 1964, Forrest finally merged his company with his father’s, becoming the undisputed ruler of the empire. He then implanted his powerful governance philosophy across the company: the living constitution that still drives Mars today, the Five Principles.
These are not mere slogans but the operating system (OS) governing every action and decision of the Mars tribe.
Quality
The consumer is our boss. Forrest’s obsession with quality was fanatical.
Responsibility
All employees are called ‘associates’ regardless of rank and are expected to act with ownership.
Mutuality
Only mutual benefit is sustainable. The belief is to grow together with suppliers, employees, and communities.
Efficiency
Maximize resource use and treat waste as a sin.
Freedom
The power to decide the future independently. This is why Mars refuses to go public and remains a secretive family business, its strongest competitive advantage.
Not Just Candy: Mars’s True Face in Pet Care
What we know as Mars is not primarily a candy company but a massive pet care corporation that also sells candy. Surprisingly, the pet care division, Mars Petcare, accounts for more than half of Mars’s total annual revenue.
This massive shift was the result of a meticulous long-term strategy based on the Five Principles. In 2002, Mars acquired the French premium pet food company Royal Canin and aggressively bought thousands of veterinary chains and diagnostic labs.
This perfectly embodies the principle of ‘Mutuality.’ Mars built a fully vertically integrated ecosystem where veterinarians in their own animal hospitals diagnose and prescribe the specialized prescription diets they manufacture. This is a far stronger and more sustainable business model than the impulse-driven confectionery business.
The Invisible Empire Today
Forrest Mars Sr. retired in 1973, but his spirit lives on forever in the company through the Five Principles. Today, the Mars family is in its fifth generation and still owns 100% of the company.
Ultimately, the reason this chocolate company is bigger than Coca-Cola is that it was never just a chocolate company. Mars was built on the fierce conflict between father and son, fueled by one man’s obsessive commitment to quality and efficiency, and completed through a quiet and grand transition into the pet care industry. They remain today a silent giant, visible yet unseen before our eyes.
References
- Brenner, Joël Glenn. The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars. Broadway Books, 2000.
- PwC. “Defining the role of business in five principles: Victoria Mars, Mars Inc.” Global Family Business Survey 2018.
- Mars, Incorporated. “Our History.” mars.com.
- The Guardian. “Life in Mars: reclusive dynasty behind one of world’s most famous brands.” theguardian.com, 2 May 2008.
- Washingtonian. “From the Archives: Sweet Secrets: Opening Doors on the Very Private Lives of the Billionaire Mars Family.” washingtonian.com, 29 April 2008.