This is how 19-year-old Forrest created the Mars Empire

How could somebody that at the age of 19 was put in prison for an overzealous of advertising stunt not be the initiator of one of the most successful chocolate businesses in the world? Of course, he completely ignored things like payments and permissions while affixing those posters for Camel Cigarettes down the central streets of Chicago in 1923, but this tells a lot on what must have been his entrepreneurial greed at that time. From his imprisonment, it was only a matter of days before his career in the confectionery business took off, and products like Mars bar, Milky Way, Snickers and M&M became the best selling chocolate treats of all times.Born in 1904 in America, Forrest was instead raised in Canada by his grandparents after his parents divorced when he was only 6. His father Frank showed up again after 13 years of distance when he decided to bill his son out of prison for those Camel ads. At that time, Frank Mars happened to own a confectionery company called Mar-O-Bar known only in the state of Minnesota. Forrest sensed the opportunity. He joined his father's enterprise and immediately started pondering a way to turn it into an internationally recognized success. It was 1923, and Forrest liked to think big.In the meantime, the big rival Cadbury was in big troubles. World War I caused a shortage of milk and sugar, difficulties in exports, food rationalization in many European countries, chocolate factories turned into army factories, and many employees forced to leave to fight in the war. Hershey was instead still thriving only thanks to the US Government placing orders for millions of bars for its troops. On the other hand, Nestlè was reacting to the disruption of its demand in Europe by setting up companies overseas or buying a controlling stake in foreign companies. Forrest Mars couldn't have chosen a better time to try conquering the chocolate scene with his father's company!During his childhood in Canada, he had seen chocolate-coated treats made by combining cheaper ingredients, such as toffee or caramel, with chocolate, and traded as "countlines", since the bars were sold by count and not by weight, like blocks of chocolate. While Cadbury and Hershey were still offering solid chocolate bars too expensive for the impoverished masses, Mars decided to become THE FIRST COMPANY to make chocolate-coated bars in factory quantities. Nothing better than a mouthwatering, rich and cheap treat to fill the hungry and poor stomachs during war time. In fact, the launch of Milky Way in 1924 made the company sales jump from $72,800 to $792,900. An overnight success, and only the first of a long series. The turn of Snickers came in 1930, and Mars became the second largest confectioner in America after Hershey.After an argument with his father, Forrest was forced to leave the company 3 years later, not before entering into possession of the foreign rights to the Milky Way. Determined to stay in the confectionery business, he worked for both Jean Tobler (TOBLERONE) and Nestlè to learn all the Swiss secrets. That same year, he reconfigured the Milky Way into a chunkier, more satisfying bar: Mars Bar. It was the 1934, and Forrest sold 2 millions Mars Bars, one of the most successful snacks of all time. Thanks to a strategic collaboration with Hershey Company (where Forrest employed Hershey president's son Bruce Murrie in his new enterprise in exchange for chocolate supply by Hershey Company), he started the assault on the American market from a warehouse in Newark, NJ. The collaboration was sealed in 1939 with the production of chocolate drops coated in a brightly colored shell, that went by the name of M&M - for Murrie and Mars.Nothing could stop him. By 1959, he achieved his mission to reduce the manufacturing time of his bars from one day to less than one hour, making his company able to mass-produce countlines. With persistence, Forrest also managed to collect all the shares of his father's company and gained full control in 1964. The Mars Empire was created.After a lifetime spent trying to reach the supremacy in the Chocolate Industry, and after his innovative contribute in fields like management, sales and advertising, 69-year-old Forrest Mars decided to leave the company in 1973, handing the reins to his sons, John and Forrest Jr. One year later, Mars dethroned Hershey as the leading confectioner in America. Forrest Mars died in 1999 at the age of 95 in Miami, Florida. By that time, he had accumulated a fortune of $4 billion.Still 100% family-owned and worth about $33 billion sales in 2013, Mars, Inc. is now America's third largest private company.And it all began with Forrest Mars being arrested and bailed out by his father in 1923! Successful businesses always have such romantic beginnings .... Do you know other juicy details about Forrest Mars and the creation of the Mars empire? I did NOT get paid and did NOT receive any kind of favor for writing this article. These are my honest opinions at your service. Reference: all the info in this article are taken from the amazing book "Chocolate Wars" by Deborah Cadbury!