Mars, Incorporated SuccessStory

The Mars Company was started by Frank C. Mars in 1911 in his backyard. He tried to sell fresh candy in wholesale model, but success did not come to the company as it failed miserably in its first venture. In 1920, he returned back to his hometown in Minneapolis and founded the company called Mar-O-Bar Co. In 1923, his son Forrest Mars came up with the idea of chocolate malted milk in a candy bar. This is how the first Milky Way bar was created. It became a big hit among the public and as demand increased the company had to add more and more labourers to the workforce. 

In 1924, the company registered sales exceeding $650,000. By now the company employed more than 125 people. In 1928, they moved to a bigger space in Chicago, Illinois. Here they introduced products like Snickers Bar, Mars Almond Bar which would go on to become all-season favorites. Even during the Great Depression their sales did not stall but kept increasing as the years went by. In fact the sales tripled and thus prompted the company to start its first oversees branch in U.K. in 1932. In 1940, Forrest Mars founded M&M chocolates which would later come under the Mars Corporation. The candy that he created was a peanut milk chocolate that could be sold throughout the year without using refrigeration. This was another huge success for the company.

In 1943 Mars began exploring new territories and began producing frozen rice, whole grain, instant rice, etc. They began by selling the rice products to the U.S. Army till the end of World War II. As soon as the war was over they tried selling it to the general public and unexpectedly it became a huge success. It soon became the country’s number one rice brand and soon the number one rice brand in the world selling in more than 100 countries. They named the product ‘Uncle Ben’s’ rice.