How did Forrest Mars fight his way back into the family business and turn Mars into one of the most powerful companies in the world?

In Part Two of the Mars story, Ed Easton and Andrew Nason are joined again by Melt’s chocolate researcher, Kitty Nason to uncover the extraordinary battle for control of the Mars chocolate empire. After the death of Frank Mars, the company didn’t simply pass to his son. Instead, Forrest found himself fighting family members, executives and competing interests for control of the business that carried his name.

We follow the family power struggle that eventually pushed Forrest towards one of his most important creations: M&M’s. After approaching Hershey executive William Murrie, Forrest formed a new company, secured access to rationed chocolate during the Second World War and supplied M&M’s to the US military. The success would ultimately give him the financial power he needed to pursue control of Mars.

But taking over was only the beginning. We explore Forrest’s obsessive approach to quality, his ruthless management style, the transformation of Mars into a global operation, and the extraordinary family dynamics that continued into the next generation. Even retirement couldn’t stop him: after handing Mars over to his son, he went on to establish another successful chocolate company named after his mother, Ethel M.

From Mars Bars and M&M’s to pet food and Uncle Ben’s, this is the story of the ambition, rivalry and family conflict behind one of the most recognisable food companies on Earth.

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How did Mars go from a failed family candy business to the beginnings of one of the biggest chocolate companies in the world?

In this episode of The Chocolate Podcast, Ed Easton and Andrew Nason are joined by Melt’s Kitty to uncover the extraordinary story of Frank Mars and Forrest Mars, the father and son behind the Mars chocolate empire. From making candy at home and failed early businesses to a family feud that would transform the chocolate industry, the story of Mars is far stranger than you might expect.

We trace the creation of the Milky Way and Mars Bar, discover why the American Milky Way is completely different from the British one, and follow Forrest Mars from a Chicago prison to Yale, Swiss chocolate factories, Cadbury and, eventually, Slough, where he began building his own chocolate empire.

Along the way, we explore the birth of the modern candy bar, the industrialisation of chocolate, Mars's surprising move into pet food, and the bitter relationship between Frank and Forrest that ultimately left Forrest frozen out of the family company after his father's death.

And that's only the first half of the story.

Next episode: What happens when Forrest Mars returns to America determined to take control of the company that bears his name?

Follow The Chocolate Podcast for more stories exploring the history, science and people behind chocolate.

Topics: Mars chocolate history, Mars Bar history, Milky Way chocolate, Forrest Mars, Frank Mars, history of chocolate, chocolate industry, candy bar history, Mars Incorporated, British chocolate history.

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In this episode of The Chocolate Podcast, Andrew & Ed Easton roleplay and discuss the life of Lope de Aguirre, a Basque conquistador who fought for Spain in Peru, who was publicly whipped for mistreating indigenous people, hunted down and murdered Judge Esquivel, then joined an El Dorado expedition led by Pedro de Ursúa.

Aguirre helps overthrow and kill Ursúa, installs Fernando de Guzmán as a figurehead prince, then betrays and kills Guzmán and others, imposes paranoid rules, and writes a manifesto-style letter rebelling against King Philip II and the Spanish monopoly system.

After seizing Margarita Island and committing further brutality, his force dwindles through desertion as Spain offers pardons; surrounded in Venezuela, Aguirre kills his daughter to prevent her capture, is shot by his own men, beheaded, and displayed. We link his story to the destructive realities of the so-called Columbian Exchange and the suppression of indigenous chocolate knowledge.

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