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Franklin Clarence Mars was born in 1883 in Minnesota. He overcame childhood polio and later built a candy company that we all still love today.
He became an entrepreneur at 19 when he started selling homemade molasses chips. This laid the foundation for his famous candy bars, like Snickers, which he would invent later.
He would eventually create one of the world’s most recognizable brands.
Franklin Clarence Mars established his first candy business in 1911.
He founded the Mars Candy Factory in Tacoma, Washington, with his second wife, Ethel V. Mars. Years earlier, he had divorced his first wife for unknown reasons.
He went on to face stiff competition from other candy companies. However, Mars was resilient.
He decided to relocate to Minneapolis in 1920.
He founded Mar-O-Bar Co. in the land of many lakes. This small startup was the precursor to the global confectionery giant Mars, Incorporated.
Mars was transforming from a small-scale candy maker to an eventual business giant. This is where he started getting ideas for iconic products like Snickers and Milky Way.
The Milky Way candy bar was introduced in 1923. It was one of the first candies to combine chocolate, caramel, and nougat in a single product.
The invention was inspired by a discussion between Franklin Mars and his son Forrest. It became the company’s best-selling item and catalyzed Mars’s rapid growth.
In the late 1920s, Franklin Mars expanded his interests beyond confectionery. He decided to buy several farms in Pulaski, Tennessee. It was time to put his Milky Way farm into physical reality.
This project included a 25,000-square-foot clubhouse, over 30 barns, and a horse racing track. It also employed 935 local men during its construction.
One of Mars’ favorite pastimes was horse racing. The farm was a perfect place to raise and train horses.
In 1930, Franklin Mars introduced the Snickers bar. Expanding his candy bar portfolio.
It was an innovative candy that combined nuts and chocolate. It’s still one of the top-selling candy bars today. It was a great complement to the Milky Way.
It was Mars’s second home run, and it showed his extraordinary ability to create best-selling consumer products.
Franklin Clarence Mars died on April 8, 1935.
His last moments were at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Later in life, he started having heart and kidney issues.
Years after his death, his horse, Gallahadion, won the Kentucky Derby in 1940. He probably was looking down proudly from heaven.
His son Forrest Mars Sr. inherited and expanded Mars. His son became a savvy businessman and was about to build Mars into a world powerhouse.
Franklin was buried at his beloved Milky Way Farm after his death. However, Mars’ remains were moved to a private mausoleum at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.
He will be remembered as a small-town entrepreneur who became a candy industry titan.
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