The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars [Hardcover]

Joël Glenn Brenner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 22, 1998

Forrest Mars and Milton Hershey built business empires out of chocolate. In this long-awaited history of the candy business, over eight years in the making, former Washington Post reporter Joël Glenn Brenner tells a unique story that is like chocolate itself, a rich blend of many compelling ingredients--in this case, biography and cultural history, investigative reporting and literary journalism. Along the way, Brenner takes us inside a world as mysterious as Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, where industrial spies jockey for inside information as paranoid executives fight an all-out war for America's sweet tooth.
        
Forrest Mars, often called "the Howard Hughes of candy," was one of the most successful (and private) entrepreneurs in America, a brilliant autocrat who built a unique $20-billion-a-year empire. Milton Hershey was a dreamer who wanted to create not just a company but an industrial paradise, and after making an immense fortune, he promptly gave it all away. To this day, the Hershey company is controlled by a charitable trust and its profits fund the wealthiest orphanage in the world.
        
What began as a fraternity of small family-owned businesses has grown into a cutthroat industry increasingly dominated by corporate leviathans fighting for shelf space and swallowing their smaller competitors. Joël Glenn Brenner's investigation of this cloistered world is authoritative, eye-opening, and written with deep understanding of and feeling for her subject.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The chocolate wars between industry giants Hershey and Mars are anything but sweet. In The Emperors of Chocolate, Joel Glenn Brenner reveals the bitter legal and marketing fights, palace intrigue, and personality clashes that dominate Hershey and Mars--and the candy industry as a whole. A talented writer and dogged researcher, Brenner concludes that after decades of competition between the two companies, the drama still is unfolding. Will Mars--privately held and publicity shy--be the ultimate winner with its global game plan? Or will it be Hershey--publicly traded and philanthropy-minded--with its aggressive strategy of growth by acquisition?

Brenner, a former Washington Post financial reporter, tells the stories of how Forrest Mars Sr. and Milton S. Hershey turned their two companies from small mom-and-pop operations into international forces over the last century. While they may have started small, their products--Mars's Snickers and M&M's and Hershey's milk-chocolate bars and Kisses--are ubiquitous. Hershey was a benevolent philanthropist who spent hundreds of millions to create a town and orphanage to fulfill his altruistic dreams. Mars was a short-tempered perfectionist who yelled at anyone who failed to meet his standards. "What made Forrest's blood rush was the thrill of mastering new opportunities and taming uncharted worlds," the author writes. "Like Milton Hershey, he was driven by his visions; but where Milton Hershey saw utopia, Forrest Mars saw conquest." Nine years in the making, The Emperors of Chocolate is a satisfying read about the two titans of the chocolate world and how they capitalized on our love of sweets. --Dan Ring

From Publishers Weekly

Forrest Mars and Milton Hershey effortlessly hold center stage in this superb study of their competing candy companies. Although both men got rich on chocolate, Mars and Hershey are such markedly different characters that Brenner's book is a riot of dramatic contrasts. Mars is irascible, empire obsessed and insanely tightfisted (his three children never tasted a single M&M during their childhoods because he told them he couldn't spare any). Hershey was generous to a fault, a utopian dreamer who planned and built Hershey, Pa., as a home for his company and its workers. He founded an orphanage for disadvantaged children and, in 1918, almost 30 years before his death, donated his entire estate to the Hershey Trust for the benefit of the orphanage. To her credit, former Washington Post hand Brenner goes beyond these two titans and portrays the entire candy industry. Her prodigious research reveals how the personal style of each candy patriarch continues to influence the current structure and strategy of the company he led. By fully exploiting the many differences between the two companies (Mars is privately held and family-run; Hershey is a publicly held company administered by a management team responsible to the Hershey Trust), Brenner has produced a stellar work of corporate history. Photos. Agent, Flip Wrophy at Sterling Lord; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 366 pages
• Publisher: Random House (December 22, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679421904
• ISBN-13: 978-0679421900
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (174 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put this book down!, October 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars (Hardcover)

Overall, a well-written and insightful portrayl of how two very different approaches can build business empires. However, the author's account of Hershey leans toward the historical, and pales somewhat next to her dramatic ancedotal account of the Mars family. In the same token, the book provides a deeper understanding of how the Mars family thinks; the Hershey mindset is a little lacking (but which may be the point). Nevertheless, this book is great reference material for a case study as well as an exciting read.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, yet slightly sad, March 1, 2000

By 

Kevin Cottrell - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars (Paperback)

After visiting Hershey, PA last fall and learning a little about the history of chocolate I was very interested in learning more about the industry. This book seemed to be the perfect place to start since I enjoy both Hershey and M&M/Mars chocolate. What an eye-opener! After reading the book I still felt like I had just caught a glimpse of how the chocolate empires are run but what a glimpse it was! To see two totally different approaches to product selling and corporate expansion and the results was fascinating. I now know why I can eat an entire one pound bag of M&Ms in a day (I feel so manipulated.)

After I put the book down, though, I was struck by the thought that even after building chocolate empires and amassing wealth and power, at the end of their lives both Hershey and Forrest Mars, Sr. had so very little. Hershey died a lonely man in a room he rarely left and Mars died an anonymous death in Florida leaving three very messed up children to run his business.

Great read! Highly recommended!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sweet but sad story, March 3, 2000

By 

Kim E. Larsen - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars (Paperback)

Anyone who likes candy will love this book. It is a fascinating look at the development of chocolate in the U.S. and the wars between the two giants in the business. Mr. Hershey comes across as a grandfatherly person who shows great concern for orphans. I had no idea until I read this book that he built a wonderful orphanage near his factory and provided the orphans with all that they needed and helped them achieve success in the world. Mr. Mars, on the other hand, comes across as a mean and uncaring person. Both men achieved great success in the chocolate business, but their lives ended in loneliness, showing that material success does not necessarily bring happiness. Included in the book are short discussions of other candy companies and their products. The author was able to penetrate a lot of the secrecy that surrounded Mr. Hershey, Mr. Mars, and their factories and business practices. Brenner is an ace reporter.