Ben & Jerry's pivoted from bagels because equipment was unaffordable
Jerry Greenfield · Ben & Jerry's: Ben Cohen And Jerry Greenfield (2017) · Mar 23, 2020 · at 7:17
Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's, describes how he and Ben Cohen chose ice cream after pricing out equipment for a bagel business in Albany, New York.
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“We thought about picking a food That was becoming popular in big cities, but had not yet been brought to a college town. And at that time, the foods we thought about were bagels and homemade ice cream. So we went to a used restaurant supply store to price out bagel making equipment. This was G and G restaurant supply in Albany, New York. Lou was there. Lou was this old guy with a gold chain around his neck and a big cigar in his mouth. And he told us we didn't have enough money to buy bagel equipment.”
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