A pile of plain M&M's. Photo Evan-Amos, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
M&M's
What it took directly
- documentedM&M's took from small chocolates in a hard sugar shell that Forrest Mars Sr. is said to have seen soldiers eating during the Spanish Civil War"legend has it that Forrest Mars, Sr.―the first M in M&Ms―visited Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), where he saw soldiers eating small chocolates with a hard, sugary coating that prevented the candies from melting." MoMA, which calls it a legend; the Lemelson-MIT Program adds that no one seems to know for sure
- documentedM&M's took from Hershey's chocolate, secured through Bruce Murrie, son of Hershey's president William Murrie, as a wartime shortage loomed"Forrest Mars teamed up with Bill Murrie’s son Bruce to ensure a supply of scarce chocolate for their new product: M&Ms (for Mars and Murrie) during the war years." Hershey Community Archives
- documentedThe name "M&M" took from the two partners: Forrest Mars Sr. and Bruce Murrie, who put up some of the capital"One of the two "M's" was for Forrest Mars Sr., the company founder. The other "M" was for Bruce Murrie, who put up some of the capital for the projected new candy-making operation." Nat Bodian, Old Newark Memories
- documentedM&M's took from Forrest Mars's own kitchen, where he worked out the recipe"Inspired by this idea, Forrest Mars went back to his kitchen and invented the recipe for M&M's chocolate candies." Nat Bodian, Old Newark Memories
- documentedM&M's took from the U.S. military in the Second World War, which put them in soldiers' C-rations because they stood up to heat"they were quickly adapted by the military who included them in American soldiers' C-rations because they withstood extreme temperatures." Nat Bodian, Old Newark Memories
- documentedThe "m" printed on each candy (1950) took from the need to show customers they had the original"In 1950, the company began imprinting an 'm' on each candy to ensure customers they were getting the original, “real thing.”" Lemelson-MIT Program (2005)
What it learned to do
- documentedForrest Mars Sr. learned from Nestlé and Tobler, where he worked in Europe to learn the candy business"In Europe, Forrest Mars worked for Nestle and Tobler to learn more about the candy business." Lemelson-MIT Program (2005)
- documentedM&M's learned from Hershey, which supplied chocolate, sugar and technology under the deal Murrie brokered"whereby Murrie would provide some capital, and Hershey would provide chocolate, sugar, and technology." Lemelson-MIT Program (2005)
- documentedThe Newark M&M's plant learned from Ingmar Monson, an engineering contractor from Fairfield, New Jersey, who worked 80-90 hour weeks to stretch its capacity"with help from Ingmar Monson, an engineering contractor from Fairfield NJ, who was putting in 80-90 hours a week, the Newark plant's capacity was gradually stretched to 600,000 pounds per week." Nat Bodian, Old Newark Memories
The tradition it sits in
- documentedM&M's comes from William Murrie's handling of Mars as one of Hershey's major industrial customers"His relationship with Mars resulted in a new relationship between the companies during the pre-World War II years." Hershey Community Archives
- inferredThe M&M's candy shell comes from soldiers, at both ends: soldiers' chocolate is said to have inspired it, and soldiers were its first big market"He'd encountered soldiers eating pellets of chocolate encased in a hard sugary coating which prevented them from melting." inferred — Bodian reports the soldiers in Spain and then the C-rations; no source draws the line between the two
Where the whole form comes from
- documentedForrest Mars Sr.'s candy making comes from his father Frank C. Mars, who with his wife began making candies in their Tacoma, Washington, kitchen in 1911"In that year, Frank Mars and his wife began making candies in the kitchen of their Tacoma, Washington, home." Nat Bodian, Old Newark Memories
Start here