Ben and Jerry's factory in Waterbury, Vermont
Ben and Jerry's is a brand of ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and novelty products, manufactured by Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., headquartered in South Burlington, Vermont.
Childhood friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield took a correspondence course in ice cream-making from Penn State University, Agriculture 5150, and founded the company in 1978 in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont. Starting with a $12,000 investment ($4,000 of which was borrowed), the friends built a devoted following, both for their products and the company's business practices.
The company experienced difficulties with their distribution early on as Häagen-Dazs tried to force independent distributors to choose one of the brands, Ben and Jerry's began a law suit against the Pillsbury subsidiary saying that it had acted illegally in its operation and was trying to put Ben and Jerrys out of business. To coincide with the law suit Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield also began the “What is the Doughboy afraid of?” smear campaign to raise public awareness. They also encouraged a boycott of all Pillsbury subsidiaries which included their beloved Burger King
Pillsbury went to Ben and Jerry's with an out of court settlement and signed an agreement that stated it would not impose any such rules on the suppliers and the Ben and Jerry's brand grew tremendously. This was partly because of the success of their David and Goliath case and the publicity they received because if it.
As demand for their products grew, the friends decided to fund their growth by taking the company public. The capital raised from their IPO helped fuel rapid expansion, but also reduced the founders' control.
In 1988, Ben and Jerry were named "U.S. Small Business Persons of the Year" by President Ronald Reagan.
After a failed attempt by Ben Cohen to retake the company private, Ben and Jerry's was purchased in August 2000 by the Unilever conglomerate for slightly over $170 million. Other Unilever brands of ice cream include Dove, Breyer's, Magnum, Wall's, and Solero.
As producers, the company is known for creating innovative flavors that emphasized the use of natural ingredients; for example, the cattle that produce their cream are free from bovine growth hormone. However, in 2002, the Center for Science in the Public Interest accused Ben and Jerry's of abusing the "All Natural" label for using artificial flavors, hydrogenated oils, and other factory-made substances in their products. Ben and Jerry's official response was that they used a different definition of "all natural" than the CSPI. They have since removed the "All Natural" tag-line from below their logo.
The packaging for their pint containers is made from recycled, bleach-free papers. The company is supporting research into thermoacoustics to minimize the potential negative environmental impact from using ozone-depleting refrigerants. As a whole the company is very eco-friendly and encourages its users and consumers to be the same.
Some of their ice cream flavors are named after musicians, such as their most popular flavor Cherry Garcia[1], named after Jerry Garcia, and Phish Food, named after the Vermont-based band Phish, as well as Dave Matthews Band's One Sweet Whirled [2]. Flavors from the company come and go, with seasonal "limited edition" ones appearing each year. Other types, such as Rainforest Crunch, have actually simply been retired, as new ones are created. Retired flavors enter what is referred to as the "flavor graveyard" [3]. Their website offers a list of both new, older and limited edition flavors.
Those mourning the loss of a beloved flavor, fret not. Through April 30, 2005 Ben and Jerry's will accept nominations for flavors worthy of resurrection. Top nominees include Wavy Gravy, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, and Bovinity Divinity. A vote will be held, after which the winning flavor will once again be made available, though for a limited time.
Some of their flavors, such as Chunky Monkey and Cherry Garcia were suggested by fans/eaters.
For one day every April, Ben and Jerry's observes Free Cone Day as a "thank you" to its customers. On this day, over one million cones are given away. In 2005, Free Cone Day was on Tuesday, April 19th. Participating Ben & Jerry's stores can be found by visiting The Ben & Jerry's Website
Diversity
Despite their strong reputation in the GLBT community the Unilever subsidiary only scored a 71% on the 2004 Corporate Equality Index by the Human Rights Campaign.
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