THE CANDY SHELL THAT
CHANGED CHOCOLATE
M&M's were introduced in 1941 by Forrest Mars Sr. and Bruce Murrie in Newark, New Jersey. The candy got its name from the founder's last names. The M&M idea came from Forrest Mars Sr. who saw civil war soldiers eating small pieces of chocolate covered in a hard sugar shell to stop them from melting. Mars then partnered up with Marie who was the president's son at Hershey to ensure he had the adequate ingredients and to make the idea come to life. Mars then got the M&M manufacturing process patented in 1941 and began packaging M&Ms in small cardboard tubes.
FROM WAR RATIONS
TO CANDY AISLE ICON
Like Hershey chocolate bars M&Ms were also pulled from the public and were sold exclusively to the U.S. Armed Forces during WWII. After the war M&Ms were in high demand, soldiers were waiting for them to hit the shelf. They were released in 1947 to the general public, a 4 oz package was priced at 15 cents. Forrest Mars Sr. later purchased Bruce Murrie’s 20% share of M&M’s, giving him full ownership of the brand. M&M packaging was then changed from the cardboard tubes to the brown paper bag with the M stamped on each M&M. Today the MNM brand is still owned by the Mars family throughMars, Incorporated.
