From kitchen candy to global player
The Mars Family Business.
Mars, Incorporated is one of the most important brand manufacturers in the world. The family business has an annual turnover of more than 30 billion dollars. The basis of this success has always been consistent creativity and a strong awareness of trends. These two elements have helped Mars to progress over nine decades.
The story begins in 1911 in Tacoma, a port in the North West of the USA. With just 400 dollars capital and the knowledge of how to make chocolates, Frank C. Mars founded a "Candy Factory". His first creations were made in the kitchen at home and provided a modest income. But the young confectioner was not satisfied. He wanted to create something new – chocolate which people would want to queue for.
In 1923 – the family was meanwhile living in Minnesota – Frank had an idea. He and his son combined the three most popular sweets of the time: pralines, the chocolate bar and "Malted Milk", a popular drink tasting of caramel. The result was longer than a praline, fatter than a bar of chocolate and more caramelly than Malted Milk. It was a handy, creamy filled bar. This invention sold better than Frank Mars could ever have hoped. It was to form the foundation stone of a global corporation: Mars, Incorporated.
Petfood
After the Mars company had made a name for itself in the USA, the family ventured into the European market. It was a kind of return to the old world, because the Mars family's forefathers came from the Netherlands. Forrest Mars emigrated to England in 1932 and founded "Mars Confectionery" in the town of Slough. Three years later he proved that not only his father Frank had an eye for a trend. With capital from the chocolate bar business Forrest acquired a company called Chappel Brothers, producers of petfood for dogs. At this time the idea of feeding dogs and cats something other than leftovers was quite unusual. But with the CHAPPIE® brand Mars was able to show that there was an alternative. The company began to produce petfood on a large scale, the recipe based on scientific nutritional knowledge.
Civil use of military ideas
During the Spanish civil war Forrest Mars met soldiers who poured chocolate into a hard sugar shell to prevent it from melting. Back home again, Mars developed a recipe for chocolate buttons in a coloured sugar shell. These could "melt in your mouth, not in your hand." The first consumers of this innovation were US Army soldiers.
In 1941 Forrest Mars' intuition for ideas with a future led him to meet Gordon Harwell, the owner of a company called "Converted Rice". Harwell produced rice whose grains didn't stick together and which didn't lose its vitamins when cooked. Forrest Mars' excellent business contacts in the US Army found the product thankful buyers: American soldiers fighting in the Second World War. Why shouldn't this high quality rice also be able to conquer civilian kitchens? During a business dinner Harwell and Mars discussed "UNCLE BEN'S®", a trademark which Harwell had already been using since the 1930s. Forrest Mars encouraged the idea of giving Uncle Ben a face. The photograph which is still on every packet of UNCLE BEN'S® rice today led to a breakthrough. In 1952, only six years after UNCLE BEN'S® Converted Rice was introduced, the brand was US market leader.
Drinks at the touch of a button
The 1950s were the heyday of the vending machine. Chewing gum for a few cents, songs from the jukebox or hot and cold drinks – people in the cities loved these modern machines. They were usually found in public places, whilst in factories and offices the thermos flask was still ubiquitous, filled with tea made at home which was lukewarm and stewed by the afternoon, if not before. This is where the Mars family saw room for a new business idea. In 1955 they founded the company Four Square – now called Mars Drinks - at their premises in Slough, England. This company distributed drinks vending machines, ensuring that factory and office workers could really enjoy their cuppa in their break. Since 1973 the Mars subsidiary has been manufacturing the machines itself. Mars staged a technological coup with the KLIX® Incup System: pre-portioned ingredients for coffee, tea and soup placed in a beaker sealed for freshness. Fresh water is not added until the button is pressed, thus keeping the full flavour. With this innovation Four Square was internationally successful.
Mars comes to Switzerland
At this time Swiss consumers were already familiar with many Mars products; by 1947 the chocolate products MARS®, MILKY WAY® and TREETS® were already available in Switzerland. In 1959 UNCLE BEN'S® revolutionised the Swiss rice market – up until then American long grain rice and the parboiling process were unknown in this country. Mars, Incorporated played a pioneering role in the sale of industrially produced petfood. Although the Swiss still found the idea of feeding pets with processed food rather strange, in 1962 PAL® and WHISKAS® were quickly accepted on the domestic market. Demand for all these product groups grew so rapidly that the Swiss distributor Effems AG, now called Mars Switzerland Ltd, was founded in Zug in 1967.
Delicious ice and proliferating growth
In 1986 Mars bought Dove, a company specialising in the production of ice cream. The reason for this purchase was not only the desire to extend the product portfolio with a further snackfood variation. Mars wanted once again to lead a trend: ice cream in chocolate bar form. Consumers liked this idea, and so the ice cream versions of the brands MARS®, TWIX®, SNICKERS® & Co. became a real alternative in the freezer.
Four years later Mars added another world first to its product range: SERAMIS®. Once again, the decision to launch a plant care system on the market was preceded by a brilliant idea. In the mid 1980s, in their search for an absorbent material for cat litter, Mars Incorporated researchers experimented among other things with clay. They stored part of the clay granulate outdoors, where their work literally began to bear "fruit" in the hot, dry summer: whilst the surrounding plants dried up, rich vegetation thrived on the mound of clay granulate. Using selected clay types and with the support of external scientists a perfect plant care system was born: SERAMIS® - as sure as the green thumb.
A common corporate name - worldwide
In 2001 Effems AG in Switzerland changed its corporate name to Masterfoods AG. Six years later the corporation created a common face for its brands by renaming all national subsidiaries Mars. In Switzerland too on 6th August 2007 Masterfoods AG adopted the legendary name of Frank C. Mars, the confectioner from Tacoma.
Wrigley
In October 2008, Mars, Incorporated takes over the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company. This company remains the world's largest producer and marketer of chewing gum and from now on operates as an independent subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated. Mars is therefore able to expand its chewing gum and confectionery business unit with the addition of worldwide famous brands such as WRIGLEY'S EXTRA®, ORBIT® or AIRWAVES®.
