West Palm Beach, USA - April 7, 2011: A product shot of two snack sized Hershey's candy bars, Mr Goodbar and Krackel. With its success grew Hershey's revenue from supplying its top rival with milk chocolate - a fact which made Milton realize that the candy bar could be a threat to sales of his finished products.
expanded exponentially, soon becoming a national brand.
Since Mars was a relatively regional company at the time, operating out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, founder Milton Hershey did not think twice about supplying one of the key ingredients for the former's candy bar.Īs the Milky Way took off, becoming an instant hit, Mars Inc. It all started when Frank Clarence Mars, the founder of Mars Inc., approached William Murie, the then President of the Hershey Company, looking for a modest credit on a steady supply of milk chocolate for his newly developed candy bar, Milky Way. However, the fact that most people might be unaware of is that Mars was once codependent on Hershey to procure the key raw material for their product and Hershey enjoyed enormous revenue from supplying chocolate to its number one rival, Mars. One of the most iconic brand wars highlighted in History Channel’s docu-series, 'The Food That Built America', was that of Hershey and Mars – two chocolate companies that continue to battle each other for the top spot in the U.S.