What is the history behind M&Ms plain milk chocolate candy?”
The History of M&Ms Candies Mars Company Celebrates Almost 100 Years of Candy Making May 7, 2008 Aurae Beidler Mars, a family-owned company that uses 100 percent chocolate or cocoa butter in its products, has been making chocolates for almost 100 years and is “the world’s foremost leader in chocolate research”. The Mars Candy Factory began making butter cream candies in 1911, when Frank C. Mars and his wife set up a candy factory in Tacoma, Washington. The company later relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and finally to Chicago. After Frank C. Mars died, his son Forrest took over, introducing the M&Ms® candy in 1941. The company is now run globally in over 65 countries, producing food, drink, snack and pet products. The company stands on principles of quality, mutuality, freedom, efficiency and responsibility. M&Ms’ History M&Ms Chocolate Candies were first sold in 1941. The candies were consumed by World War II soldiers, as the candies were an easily packaged energy snack. Forrest Ma
Forrest Mars, Sr. founder of the Mars Company, got the idea for the confection in the 1930s during the Spanish Civil War when he saw soldiers eating chocolate pellets with a hard shell of tempered chocolate surrounding the inside. Mars received a patent for his own process 1941. Production began in a factory located in Newark, New Jersey. One M was for Forrest E. Mars Sr., and the other M was for Bruce Murrie, son of Hershey president William F.R. Murrie. Murrie had 20 percent interest in the product. The arrangement allowed the candies to be made with Hershey chocolate which had control of the rationed chocolate. When operations started, they were made in six different colors: brown, yellow, red, green, orange, and violet. The practicality of the candies during World War II caused an increase in production and its factory moved to bigger quarters. During the War the candies were exclusively sold to the military. In 1948 Mars bought out Murrie’s 20 percent stake.
