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.


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.


From School Library Journal
YA-As the first and only journalist ever to gain access to the Mars company, Brenner probes its secretive practices and explores its bitter rivalry with the Hershey company, one of the most notorious in American business. She tells the stories of how Forrest Mars, Sr. and Milton S. Hershey both turned their small mom-and-pop enterprises into multibillion-dollar international operations. Similar to J. C. Louis's Cola Wars (Everest House, 1980; o.p.), the book explores the hostile legal and marketing fights between the two chocolate industry giants, including how Reese's Pieces became E.T.'s favorite candy instead of M&M's. Along with business and financial theory, this book has everything from espionage and personality clashes to dreams and failures. Reading about the paranoid Mars company and the fact that Hershey had to stop conducting factory tours in order to protect manufacturing techniques is sure to remind YAs of the candy man of their childhood, Willy Wonka.Ginger J. Schwartz, Potomac Community Library, Woodbridge, VA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
In 1997, the per capita consumption of chocolate in America was approximately 12 pounds. Here Brenner expands her prize-winning 1992 Washington Post Magazine story on Mars, Inc., with an impressive behind-the-scenes analysis of the two giants of the American candy business, Mars and Hershey. As mysterious as Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, the rival Mars and Hershey ways of making chocolate are thoroughly detailed in this marvelous delight, sure to whet readers' appetites for chocolate. Brenner reveals the Hershey dream of industrial paradise, the Howard Hughes-like reclusiveness of the Mars family, candy spying as serious as Cold War espionage, and other insights into the multibillion-dollar business. With unprecedented access to members of both families and many former and current executives forming an extensive background, Brenner provides an eye-opening look at this fascinating industry. Highly recommended.?Dale Farris, Groves, TXCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Judith Newman
At the outset she tells us that the story of Mars and Hershey will be "a history of America, as told through its sweet tooth." Her book comes close to living up to that grandiloquent promise.


The Boston Globe, Charles Stein
Candy makers could give the CIA lessons in how to keep a secret. Thanks to Brenner's sleuthing, and her lively book, The Emperors of Chocolate, the rest of us can get some idea of what's been going on all these years.


From Kirkus Reviews
Former Washington Post reporter Brenner expands a simple assignment into an inviting visit to candy land, a place dominated by the legacies of two very different corporate dictators. The late Milton Hershey was, reportedly, benevolent and sweet as a Hersheys Kiss; Forrest Mars Sr., obsessed with control and perfection, was not so sugary. Says Brenner: ``where Milton Hershey saw utopia, Forrest Mars saw conquest.'' Now their firms are locked in fierce competition for confectionery hegemony. It's not for peanuts. The retail sales value of candy hit $28 billion last year, and Mars and Hershey together control three quarters of the candy rack. M&Ms by Mars produces more dollars than Camel cigarettes, and Hershey's Reese's Peanut Butter Cups outsell Ivory Soap. It's a global industry, secretive and underreported (especially in the case of privately held Mars). Mars, where they taste dog food to ensure quality, is paranoid, and Hershey, to protect manufacturing techniques, no longer conducts factory tours. Well, how would you get an almond inside a Kiss? Brenner tells how. She tells how Reese's Pieces became ``E.T.'s favorite candy.'' She tells how cocoa is transformed from pods in the tropics to Milky Ways in the supermarket and why chocolate tastes so good. And she describes the people whose life's calling was and is to create cravings for candy. The 25 pounds of sweets Americans ingest each year provide wholesome energy, they say, never acne or tooth decay. The big rock candy mountains have grown and diversified. They sell pasta and dog food. Mars may earn as much from commodity futures trading as from candy sales. With this text, the industry will be a bit better understood by those who don't read Confectioner magazine. Stock up on Godiva and Goo-Goo Bars and be entertained by this substantial report, without sugar coating, on a surefire topic. (photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"The Emperors of Chocolate brilliantly chronicles the near-century-old battle for the hearts and stomachs of consumers all over the world . . . Reminiscent of Barbarians at the Gate . . . it's a fast, exciting, and even moving story about an industry that's anything but sweet."
--Providence Journal

"Espionage, deception, and obsessive secrecy--it sounds more like covert warfare . . . A remarkable new look at an enterprise that's much nuttier than you might have thought."
--People (starred review)

"A richly satisfying read . . . Brenner's fast-paced book is sprinkled with welcome detail, lively quotes, evocative descriptions of one chocolate's 'mouthfeel' vs. another's . . . Consider making a present of this appropriately flavored book."
--Washington Post Book World

"Delicious . . . a trenchant account of a fascinating industry--one that certainly has a generous sprinkling of nuts."
--Entertainment Weekly


Review
"The Emperors of Chocolate brilliantly chronicles the near-century-old battle for the hearts and stomachs of consumers all over the world . . . Reminiscent of Barbarians at the Gate . . . it's a fast, exciting, and even moving story about an industry that's anything but sweet."
--Providence Journal

"Espionage, deception, and obsessive secrecy--it sounds more like covert warfare . . . A remarkable new look at an enterprise that's much nuttier than you might have thought."
--People (starred review)

"A richly satisfying read . . . Brenner's fast-paced book is sprinkled with welcome detail, lively quotes, evocative descriptions of one chocolate's 'mouthfeel' vs. another's . . . Consider making a present of this appropriately flavored book."
--Washington Post Book World

"Delicious . . . a trenchant account of a fascinating industry--one that certainly has a generous sprinkling of nuts."
--Entertainment Weekly

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Corporate candy giants Milton Hershey and Forrest Mars built business empires out of one of the world's most magical, sought-after substances: chocolate. In The Emperors of Chocolate, Joël Glenn Brenner—the first person to ever gain access to the highly secretive companies of Hershey and Mars—spins a unique story that takes us inside a world as mysterious as Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Packed with flavorful stories and outrageous characters that give the true scoop on this real-life candyland, The Emperors of Chocolate is a delectable read for business buffs and chocoholics alike. Start reading and you'll soon be hungry for more.

SYNOPSIS

Are you addicted to melt-in-your-mouth M&M's? Or do Hershey Kisses satisfy your sweet tooth? No matter what candy you crave, you'll love this flavorful social history of two legendary chocolate companies and their ultracompetitive war for space in the candy aisle. Prize-winning journalist Jo￯﾿ﾽl Glenn Brenner captures the personality and genius of the Mars and Hershey empires and their pivotal roles in the world's ongoing love affair with chocolate.

FROM THE CRITICS

USA Today

A sweet treat.

Rob Stout

...[A] fascinating corporate expose....[A] remarkable new look at an enterprise that's much nuttier than you might have thought. —People Magazine

James Surowiecki

...[O]ften entertaining...[a] mix of business and cultural history....Her book is filled with sharply drawn anecdotes about candy making and candy eating....An important part of this story...is [the fact that] having even one competitor is enough to keep a company on edge. —The Washington Monthly

School Library Journal

YA-As the first and only journalist ever to gain access to the Mars company, Brenner probes its secretive practices and explores its bitter rivalry with the Hershey company, one of the most notorious in American business. She tells the stories of how Forrest Mars, Sr. and Milton S. Hershey both turned their small mom-and-pop enterprises into multibillion-dollar international operations. Similar to J. C. Louis's Cola Wars (Everest House, 1980; o.p.), the book explores the hostile legal and marketing fights between the two chocolate industry giants, including how Reese's Pieces became E.T.'s favorite candy instead of M&M's. Along with business and financial theory, this book has everything from espionage and personality clashes to dreams and failures. Reading about the paranoid Mars company and the fact that Hershey had to stop conducting factory tours in order to protect manufacturing techniques is sure to remind YAs of the candy man of their childhood, Willy Wonka.-Ginger J. Schwartz, Potomac Community Library, Woodbridge, VA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Richard Abraham Johnson - Entertainment Weekly

...[A] trenchant account of a fascinating industry --one that certainly has a generous sprinkling of nuts.Read all 8 "From The Critics" >

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