Mars Attacks: Forrest Mars Sr. & the Foundation of Mars, Inc.

How an intense, driven entrepreneur started four businesses from scratch across two continents and built a $50 billion private empire through assiduous reinvestment and scientific management.

Introduction

Mars, Inc. generates $50 billion in revenue globally, employing 150,000 associates. The Company was founded by Frank Mars in 1911, going through three generations of family management. While professionally managed today, the Company would not look as it does but for Forrest E. Mars Sr., an intelligent, intense, and driven entrepreneur whose fingerprints are still all over Mars.Surprisingly, Mars’ snacking business only represents 40% of revenue. Mars Petcare—pet food, pet health, and veterinary services—represents 60%.

Forrest pioneered many concepts that are popular business principles today—the importance of scale economies, scientific management, continuous improvement, a flat organizational structure, and open offices. This case focuses on how he started several businesses from scratch, how he allocated capital, and how he developed “The Five Principles” which still drive Mars today.

Forrest’s Four Businesses

After being spurned by his father in 1932, Forrest moved to Europe with $50,000 and the right to use the Milky Way recipe outside the United States. He would start the Mars Bar in England, acquire Chappie’s pet food, partner with Hershey’s son to create M&M’s, and launch Uncle Ben’s Rice.Forrest believed “if you want to get rich, you got to know how to make a product.” He worked undercover at Nestlé and Tobler to learn chocolate production before launching the Mars Bar.

He had a consistent playbook: scale as a first mover, then improve and tinker with production equipment and processes to meet demand while lowering costs—making products better, faster, and cheaper than the competition.