The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.
⚡Myth Buster· 2
⚡Myth Buster2:40:00
Why Hershey Bars Got Smaller Instead of Pricier for 70 Years
Hershey refused to raise its iconic nickel price for nearly 70 years, instead shrinking the bar's size, until a 1969 price hike backfired by exposing the shrinkage to consumers — a mistake Mars exploited by growing bar sizes while holding prices steady.
Hershey kept its bar priced at a nickel from 1900 to 1969, shrinking the bar to offset inflation
The 1969 price increase to a dime, paired with restoring bar size, backfired by revealing decades of shrinkage
Mars countered with a price-and-size war it consistently won due to lower-cost ingredients like nougat and peanuts
“they not once changed the price of the chocolate bar”
“consumers don't care that the new gets cheaper consumers care about I mean truly that is why Snickers is the satisfied slogan consumers care about…”
Mars Is Actually a Pet Care Company That Also Makes Candy
Despite being famous for M&M's and Snickers, Mars's candy ('Mars Snacking') segment is less than half its revenue — Pet Care, including Royal Canin, Banfield, and VCA veterinary hospitals, makes up 59% of revenue and the vast majority of employees.
Mars Snacking (all the candy brands) does about $18B of Mars's roughly $50B in revenue
Pet Care is 59% of revenue and nearly 100,000 of Mars's 140,000 employees
Mars owns thousands of veterinary hospitals (Banfield, VCA) alongside pet food brands like Royal Canin, Pedigree, and Whiskas
“Mars snacking did $18 billion in Revenue that is a segment of their business that includes all the candy”
“Pet Care is actually the bigger business 59% of Revenue comes from the Pet Care segment”
Climate Change Is Quietly Reshaping the Taste of Chocolate
Cacao trees are extremely climate-sensitive, and decades of genetic engineering to make them more resilient and productive amid climate change have come at the cost of the flavor complexity that historically defined great chocolate.
Cacao pods grow directly off the tree trunk and only produce usable fruit for about 25 of a tree's 100+ year lifespan
Rising global consumption plus climate change has pressured cacao-growing regions
Breeding for resilience and yield has diluted some of chocolate's traditional flavor complexity
“the cacao tree is a very very sensitive tree it's this bizarre plant”
“the taste of chocolate has changed a lot in the last few years as the plants themselves have been engineered and changed a lot to…”
How Milk Chocolate Was Invented: From Baby Formula to Candy Bars
Henri Nestlé's research into infant formula to fight infant mortality inadvertently produced the dehydrated milk technology that his neighbor Daniel Peter used, after years of failed attempts, to invent milk chocolate.
Nestlé invented a dehydrated baby formula in 1866-67 to combat high infant mortality
Neighbor Daniel Peter tried combining the formula with cocoa but the mixture was grainy and spoiled
Peter eventually succeeded using condensed milk (not powdered formula) plus a slow-drying process
“Nestle was a baby formula company that's how it started”
“the issue that he kept running into this is Daniel Peter was that the mixture was grainy the water in the milk didn't blend well…”
#Nestle#milk chocolate#food science history
✶Explainer17:30
The Wild Multi-Step Science of Turning Cacao Into Chocolate
A detailed walkthrough of chocolate production from cacao pod to finished bar — fermentation, drying, winnowing, grinding, conching, and tempering — showing why chocolate is far more complex to manufacture than coffee or wine.
Cacao beans must be fermented, dried, sorted, and 'winnowed' before they become usable nibs
Conching (discovered accidentally by Rodolphe Lindt in 1879) smooths chocolate's texture over hours or days
Tempering aligns cocoa butter crystals so chocolate has the right shine and snap
“chocolate is remarkably hard to make I think that is a huge takeaway”
“this is more complex than Wine this is more complex than coffee”
How Warren Buffett Helped Mars Buy Wrigley for $23 Billion
In the middle of the 2008 financial crisis, Mars used a mix of its own cash, Goldman Sachs bank debt, and Berkshire Hathaway debt-and-equity financing to acquire Wrigley, with Buffett's involvement lending crucial credibility to close the deal and eventually earning Berkshire roughly double its investment.
Mars announced the $23B Wrigley deal in April 2008, closing right after Lehman's collapse in October 2008
Berkshire Hathaway provided both debt and preferred equity financing alongside Goldman Sachs bank debt
Berkshire roughly doubled its money across both the debt and equity portions over about eight years
“buy Commodities sell brands has long been formula for business success it has produced enormous and sustained profits for Coca-Cola since 1886 and Wrigley since…”
“so during the 5 years that it was outstanding Burkshire earned $2.5 billion just in interest”
From Bankrupt Candy Man to Chocolate Empire: Frank Mars's Four Tries
Frank Mars survives childhood polio, learns candy-making from his mother, and fails at three separate candy companies (Minneapolis, Seattle, Tacoma) before a fourth attempt in Chicago — built around chocolate rather than penny candy — finally succeeds and becomes the foundation of Mars Inc.
Frank Mars's childhood polio kept him home baking candy with his mother, sparking his interest
His first three candy companies (Minneapolis, Seattle, Tacoma) all went bankrupt due to perishable penny candy and thin margins
His fourth attempt in Minneapolis pivoted to chocolate-coated products and eventually the Milky Way bar
“so in 1910 Frank's now bankrupt his wife Ethel divorces him and takes their six-year-old son forest and sends Forest off to live with her…”
“Frank sets up yet again another candy company candy company number uh four now in total if you're keeping track at home and Against All…”
#origin story#Frank Mars#entrepreneurship#failure
❝Story45:00
The (Maybe Apocryphal) Jailhouse Origin of the Milky Way Bar
The company legend of how estranged son Forest Mars reunited with his father Frank after a Chicago jail stint, and pitched turning a malted milkshake into a candy bar over lunch — becoming the Milky Way, Mars's first massive hit.
Forest Mars, arrested for a marketing stunt in Chicago, called his estranged father Frank to bail him out after 13 years of no contact
Over lunch, Forest suggested turning a malted milkshake flavor into a candy bar
The Milky Way launched in 1924 and grew from $73,000 to $800,000 in sales in one year
“I'll be damned if a short time after our lunch the old man has a candy bar and it's a chocolate malted drink he put…”
“with that the Milky Way bar was born with the marketing of a malted milkshake in a candy bar”
Forest Mars's Decade in Europe: Working Chocolate Factory Lines Incognito
After a bitter split from his father, Forest Mars moved his family to Switzerland and worked anonymously on chocolate factory lines at Tobler and Nestlé to learn the trade firsthand, before starting his own Mars Bar business in England.
Forest believed you must personally know how to make a product to get rich from it
He worked undisclosed factory jobs at Tobler and Nestlé rather than seeking management roles
This knowledge let him later launch the Mars Bar in England using Cadbury-supplied chocolate
“you can hire lawyers you can hire accountants you can hire advertising men or financial types but if you want to get rich you got…”
“he doesn't tell anybody who he is his quote on this later is like well they never asked”
The Handkerchief Pitch: How Forest Mars Convinced Hershey to Fund M&M's
Forest Mars anonymously toured the Hershey factory, then theatrically presented un-melted candy-coated chocolates to Hershey's president's son to strike an 80/20 joint venture that became M&M's — cleverly avoiding Hershey's own trust conflict-of-interest concerns.
Forest showed up unannounced at Hershey and demanded to see president William Murray
He demonstrated Dragée-style chocolates that hadn't melted despite a hot train ride and factory tour
The resulting M&M Limited partnership was 80% Forest, 20% Murray's son Bruce, giving Mars access to rationed wartime chocolate
“to which Forest replies just tell him Mars is here that's all he needs to know”
“I've even got the name for it we're going to call it Mars and Murray M&M's and it's a new company”
#M&M's#Hershey#joint venture#dealmaking
❝Story2:24:00
Forest Mars Finally Retakes His Father's Company
Two decades after being cut out of Frank Mars's will, Forest maneuvers his way back into Chicago Mars, waits out a mismanaged CEO tenure by his half-sister's husband, and finally buys full control in 1964, immediately imposing his open-office, no-perks culture.
Forest spent 20 years after his father's death slowly positioning himself to retake Chicago Mars
Revenue dropped 20% under his half-sister's husband's leadership, creating pressure to sell
Once in control, Forest immediately ripped out offices, sold the company jet and art, and instituted time cards for everyone
“I read this story and I thought of the Darth Vader quote I am altering the deal pray I don't alter it any further”
“once he takes control he comes to Chicago he immediately rips out all the office walls in the building open floor plan for everybody”
The Marketing Deal M&M's Passed On: E.T. and Reese's Pieces
M&M's declined to pay for product placement in Steven Spielberg's E.T., letting Hershey's Reese's Pieces take the role instead — a decision that tripled Reese's Pieces sales and cemented the candy's lasting spot in movie theater concessions.
M&M's passed on requiring a guaranteed $1M co-marketing commitment for E.T. placement
Hershey nearly passed too, but ultimately committed the budget
The placement reportedly tripled Reese's Pieces sales and gave it a lasting theater-concession niche
“M&M's passed on the opportunity because it had to come with a guaranteed million dollars of co-marketing consumer promotion trade promotions displays featuring ET”
“multiple sources cite that it 3x the sales of Reese's Pieces when this came out”
The 1995 Stunt That Got Millions to Vote for a New M&M Color
In 1995, Mars ran a national vote asking consumers to choose a replacement color for the boring tan M&M, driving massive engagement via a call-in hotline and celebrating blue's win by lighting up the Empire State Building.
Mars replaced the tan M&M with a nationwide public color vote via a call-in hotline
Blue won and Mars marked the moment by lighting the Empire State Building blue
The stunt created consumer ownership over a purely cosmetic product change
“they needed to spice it up because basically it was boring”
“they lit up the Empire State Building after announcing it was blue with blue genius”
#M&M's#marketing stunt#brand engagement
▲Takeaway· 1
▲Takeaway3:10:30
Mars's $36 Billion Bet on Kellanova and the Path to Becoming Nestlé
Mars's announced $35.9 billion acquisition of Kellanova — Kellogg's global snacks and international cereal business — would be the largest CPG deal since Kraft-Heinz, pushing Mars toward a Nestlé-like scale and diversification.
Kellanova includes Pringles, Pop-Tarts, Rice Krispies Treats, RXBar, and international cereal, minus Kellogg's US cereal business
At $35.9B it would be the largest CPG transaction since Kraft-Heinz in 2015
The deal would make Mars look increasingly like a diversified giant similar to Nestlé
“Mars announced that they have entered a definitive agreement with Kellen NOA to purchase the company for $ 35.9 billion”