How an Ex-Prisoner Invented M&M's and Fought 30 Years to Save the Mars Company

now there's more for your money from mars mars gives you more milk more glucose more creamy caramel and more thick thick milk chocolate you get more of all the good things in a mars bar frank mars was called a failure after several attempts to start a candy company he went bankrupt three times fortunately each attempt brought him closer to inventing the mars company that now owns 11 billion dollar brands [Music] in 1883 frank was born in newport minnesota when he was just a young child he caught polio a highly infectious disease that could lead to paralysis breathing problems and even death fortunately frank survived but the battle left him disabled for the rest of his life at home he spent most of his time watching his mother go through a difficult and tedious process of making fresh chocolates he soon became hooked on the art and started to make his own by high school he started a lucrative business in the industry by selling bulk candy to stores in the minneapolis-st paul area not long after he started to settle down and married a woman named ethel months later they had their first son named forest life was seemingly perfect for the mars family until frank's lucrative business turned to a risky endeavor with the introduction of the hershey bar the candy market became oversaturated several candy companies popped up and created fierce competition for frank pushing him into bankruptcy as frank struggled to support his family ethel left him and sent forest to live with her parents in canada afterwards frank moved to seattle washington to set up shop there and married another woman who was also named etho not long after frank faced bankruptcy a second time so he packed up his bags and drove 30 miles to tacoma to try his luck there this time he would take in the lessons he learned and transitioned from bulk cellar to candy maker after frank settled in tacoma he started to make buttercream candies from his kitchen while he was able to make a living the business was no match compared to brown and haley a well-established candy business brown and haley left frank little room to succeed and after a few years history repeated itself frank could not keep up with the competition and face bankruptcy a third time he later decided to move back to his home state minnesota and escaped what he had called the jinx of the northwest with 400 left to his name frank was more determined than ever to succeed and expanded his product line in a one-bedroom apartment he made buttercreams and his new maro bar a chocolate mixed with nuts and caramel every day at 3am he would make them so that ethel could sell them freshly made slowly they managed to make a living again and even bought a house meanwhile frank's son forrest was back in the u.s attending college first at berkeley and later yale for industrial engineering during his summer break he started working for camel as a traveling salesman one night in chicago he ended up in jail after plastering posters on lampposts storefronts and cars fortunately frank bailed them out even though they hadn't spoken to each other in years afterwards the two decided to catch up at a soda counter as frank told him about his new venture forest looked down at his drink why don't you put a chocolate melted drink in a candy bar he suggested frank was intrigued by the idea and started to experiment with nougat while it was invented in italy in the 15th century a local company created a fluffy version for candy bars it consisted of whipped egg whites and sugar syrup instead of honey not long after forrest gave frank the idea he launched a malt flavored nougat bar with chocolate and caramel he called it the milky way it gave him an immediate advantage over his competitors since the nougat made it bigger and less costly to make people were hooked and sales exploded within a year frank's business now called the mars company jumped by tenfold bringing about 11 million dollars in today's dollars with his son's help frank was finally making a name for himself but little did he know it was just the beginning six years after launching the milky way frank opened a production plant in chicago by then forest had graduated from yale and joined the family business he worked in the plant and supervised the development of new products one year later the mars company launched the snickers bar and later the three musketeers together sales reached 24 million dollars a year but to forest it wasn't enough to keep the business afloat for years to come we need to expand abroad he pleaded to frank frank ignored him he was satisfied with what they accomplished and was already living the high life buying big houses and fast cars convinced that expanding would bring in more profit forest gave frank a surprising ultimatum give him one third of the company or he'll leave instead frank gave him 50 000 cash and the foreign rights to the milky way this company isn't big enough for both of us go to some other country and start your own he told forrest forrest accepted his decision packed his bags and moved to switzerland there he worked for nestle and tobler as a production line worker he learned how to make quality sweet european style candy afterwards he moved to england and just like frank he lived in a one-bedroom apartment to cut costs while experimenting with new products but despite his ivy league degree and hands-on experience his early products were failures among them included a pineapple chocolate bar still forest persisted creating a product that would take off in europe and beyond i wanted to conquer the whole goddamn world he once said in an interview eventually forest came up with the perfect recipe to create a sweeter version of the milky way he called it the mars bar people were hooked and sails did better than the milky way in europe finally forrest proved frank wrong and from then on he became unstoppable when it came to recognizing a product's potential [Music] in the 1930s forest traveled to spain there he met a group of soldiers who were eating pellets of chocolate coated with sugar he quickly realized that the sugar coating prevented the chocolate from melting it was a simple ingenious idea that he had never seen before sensing it would become mars next big thing he struck a deal with an unlikely partner bruce murray the son of hershey's company president at the time there were limited amounts of cocoa available since world war ii had just begun so forrest asked bruce if he could supply the chocolate to bring his idea to life he called it eminems which stood for mars and murray while it became one of the world's most popular candies and the first to go into space it would take years before forest was welcomed back home [Music] after forrest established mars in europe he took his father's parting words to heart he started his own business food manufacturers over the years he turned into a global company that started the pet food industry and launched uncle ben's rice the world's first brand name raw commodity sadly frank never got the chance to witness his success and mend their relationship he passed away when he was just 50 years old in his will he named forrest stepmother ethel as president of his company but ethel was more interested in running her horse racing stable so she left operations to her half-brother william kruppenbacher only two years later on christmas day ethel passed away she left forest a third of the company and another third to his half-sister patricia forrest tried to convince patricia that under his management more profit could be made but william convinced her that remaining loyal to him was more important and became the company's chairman and president under williams management he started a pass system for entry into the mars plant and let it be known that forest wasn't illegible still forest persisted in finding new ways for the company to grow but his ideas were often rejected by the board even worse when william retired forrest was shut out from the company a third time patricia's husband james fleming became the president and ceo and under his management the company skimmed on expensive ingredients customers noticed and profits went down by then forest was already a billionaire food manufacturers was making an estimate of 1.4 billion dollars in sales while the mars company was making an estimated 350 million dollars but forest could not sit back and watch it go downhill so he convinced patricia and the other shareholders to sell their shares to him in exchange he would merge food manufacturers with the mars company this time they could not shut forrest out and agreed after 30 years forrest finally became the mars company's chairman president and ceo under his leadership he changed how the company operated and its culture he got rid of the executive dining room the corporate helicopter and anything else considered frivolous he also called each worker an associate increased salaries by 30 percent and replaced annual compensation with incentive pay by 1978 the mars company's sales grew to an estimated 7.2 billion dollars and replaced hershey's as having the dominant market share forest became one of the richest men in america and was named one of the most brilliant entrepreneurs by fortune magazine today the mars company is nearly worth 90 billion dollars and owns 11 billion dollar brands including snickers twix m m's pedigree extra and dove in a rare interview forrest shared his secret to success if you make a really good product that people want and are willing to pay for money will come this is the story of how a tireless candy maker and his business savvy son turned their name into a worldwide food empire for more inspiring stories and advice from today's most successful leaders don't forget to subscribe to our channel you

Channel: Hook

Views: 745,546

Rating: 4.9488559 out of 5

Keywords: how mars is made, how mars candy is made, how to make mars bar, mars bar, mars chocolate, how mars chocolate is made, how m&ms are made, success stories, how mars bars are made, how to make mars bars, how mars was made, how mars bars were made, mars, original mars bar, milky way bar, how milky way bars are made, mars bar ingredients, milky way chocolate bar, how snickers are made, mars candy, mars bars company, m&m mars, mars chocolate bar, mars chocolate bars

Id: nOuTotfQnSM

Length: 11min 16sec (676 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 13 2020