"M&M's, Snickers, and the 5 Secret Principles Behind Mars' Success"

McLean, Virginia. On one side of the road stands the CIA headquarters, complete with fences, armed guards, and a massive sign.

But just two miles away, there’s a gray building with no sign and tiny windows. The doors are always locked, and there’s no directory. Local residents have long called this building the ‘Kremlin,’ and the joke that it’s more secretive than the CIA isn’t really a joke at all.

The owner of this building is Mars, the maker of M&M’s and Snickers.

The story of why local residents have actually called this building the ‘Kremlin’ is not just an urban legend.

Mars is one of the world’s few massive, privately held family businesses that generates more revenue than Coca-Cola, yet has never once been listed on the stock market.

If you trace the roots of this secrecy, you find a bitter conflict between a father and son from a century ago.

Frank and Forrest: A Father-Son Fallout Created Mars

Born in 1883, Frank C. Mars suffered from polio and spent his time in his mother’s kitchen instead of at school. He learned how to make chocolate there, but the businesses he started consistently failed.

The one who turned things around wasn’t the father, but the son, Forrest Mars Sr. A Yale graduate in industrial engineering, he was a different breed from his father.

In 1923, the father and son joined forces to launch the Milky Way, based on the idea of “malted milk in a candy bar,” and it was a massive hit. The problem was what came next.

The father was satisfied with small successes, while the son had his eyes on the global market. A clash was inevitable, and in the end, Frank essentially kicked his son out, giving him only a small amount of money and the overseas rights.

This bitter separation is the true founding myth of the Mars empire.

Driven by the reaction to watching his father ‘settle,’ Forrest made cold efficiency and global expansion his personal creed.

The memory of being stripped of management control by his father would later become the reason Mars refuses to go public and insists on private family management—the root of one of their five principles: ‘Freedom.’

Chocolate from the Battlefield Became the M&M’s We Know

In the late 1930s, while wandering Europe after being kicked out by his father, Forrest witnessed a pivotal scene.

He saw soldiers during the Spanish Civil War eating chocolate coated in sugar so it wouldn’t melt in their hands. A military snack that wouldn’t fall apart in hot weather—the entrepreneur’s instincts immediately kicked in.

Upon returning to the U.S., Forrest teamed up with an unlikely partner.

It was Bruce Murrie, the son of the president of Hershey, his father’s biggest competitor. M&M’s—named after the initials of the two families, ‘Mars’ and ‘Murrie’—was born.

With the slogan “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand,” it was sold exclusively to the military throughout the war, and by the time the war ended, it had already become a ’national snack’ etched into the memories of veterans.

Mars Sold Hunger Using a Horse’s Name

Another pillar of Mars is Snickers.

Launched in 1930, the name of this chocolate bar was actually taken from a horse the Mars family owned, but what conquered the world wasn’t the name—it was the marketing.

Mars pushed Snickers not as a dessert, but as a ‘meal replacement to solve hunger’.

The combination of peanuts, caramel, nougat, and chocolate provided high calories and satiety, which perfectly matched the busy lifestyle of modern people.

The campaign, “You’re not you when you’re hungry,” was the pinnacle of this strategy.

Because the problem of ‘hunger’ resonates the same way in every culture around the world.

The ‘Five Principles’ Have Sustained Mars for 100 Years

In 1964, Forrest merged his father’s company with the business he had built, taking full control of Mars.

From then on, he began embedding his governing philosophy into the entire company, which continues today as ‘The Five Principles.’

• Quality — The consumer is the boss. The obsession with quality was almost religious.
• Responsibility — Regardless of rank, all employees are called ‘associates,’ and they are expected to have a sense of ownership.
• Mutuality — The belief that only mutual benefit is a lasting benefit. A principle that suppliers, employees, and local communities must grow together.
• Efficiency — Waste is a sin.
• Freedom — The power to decide one’s own future. This is the reason Mars has refused to go public to the very end.

When people hear ‘principles,’ they often think of slogans on a wall.

But truly formidable companies embed these principles into their actual decision-making structures. Mars is no different.

Candy Company Mars: Over Half of Revenue Comes from Pet Care

The Mars we know is actually not a company centered on candy.

It is closer to a massive pet care enterprise, with its pet care division, Mars Petcare, accounting for more than half of its total revenue.

This shift was no accident; it was the result of a long-term strategy based on the ‘Five Principles.’

After acquiring the French premium feed company Royal Canin in 2002, Mars aggressively purchased thousands of veterinary hospital chains and diagnostic laboratories. Industry estimates suggest that the pet care division’s revenue is larger than that of the chocolate and snack business, accounting for more than half of Mars’ total revenue. This is where the ‘Mutuality’ principle works in a formidable way: it is a structure where veterinarians at Mars-owned animal hospitals diagnose and prescribe therapeutic diets created by Mars. It is a vertically integrated ecosystem that cannot be compared to the confectionery business, which relies on impulse purchases.

The Mars Empire Expanded Again with the 2025 Kellanova Acquisition

Forrest Mars Sr. retired in 1973, but he remains alive within the company in the form of the ‘Five Principles.’ The Mars family is now in its fifth generation, and the family still holds 100% of the company’s shares.

Now, it is time to add one more recent story.

In December 2025, Mars finalized the acquisition of Kellanova, the maker of Pringles and Cheez-It. According to the 115th-anniversary announcement released by Mars, this deal pushed the combined revenue of Mars and Kellanova to over $65 billion in 2025. The business structure has been reorganized to include snacks alongside pet care, confectionery, and food, and this method of expansion has similarities that transcend eras.

The capital to take risks and the freedom to bet without the pressure of quarterly earnings. These are choices only possible because they did not go public.

Ultimately, the reason this chocolate company grew larger than Coca-Cola is that it was never just a simple chocolate company to begin with.

Starting from the conflict between a father and son, going through a quiet transition into the pet care industry, and now swallowing the snack market, Mars remains a giant that is right in front of our eyes but barely visible.