The Ledger
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Pillsbury threatened independent distributors who carried Ben & Jerry's
“Pillsbury had bought Haagen-Dazs, so they owned them, and they went to independent ice cream distributors, who were distributing all sorts of different brands of ice creams, and you know, told them that if those distributors continued to deliver Ben & Jerry's,…”
Ben & Jerry's issued a formal statement supporting Black Lives Matter
“Within the last year, the company came out with a statement in support of Black Lives Matter.”
Ben & Jerry's supported the anti-corporate Occupy Wall Street movement
“The company came out in support of Occupy Wall Street a few years ago, which, you know, is amazing because that was essentially an anti-corporate movement.”
Greenfield: Ben & Jerry's publicly supported Occupy Wall Street
“The company came out in support of Occupy Wall Street a few years ago, which, you know, is amazing because that, that was essentially an anti-corporate movement.”
Tom Rinks: Consumer brands must maintain strict discipline around their distinct edge
“Be really disciplined on who the, what the brand is, right? If you look at Ben and Jerry's and the names of their products and the humor and the way they write, they went all in on that liquid death, all in on their edge. It's just so, I know who they are.”
Ice cream eaters prefer big chunks over evenly distributed pieces
“So I was arguing for having a larger number of smaller chunks that were well distributed throughout the ice cream. And, you know, Ben was saying, no, what people want, and this is what Ben wanted, of course, but what people want is a really big chunk, and they…”
Founders invented chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream
“But it wasn't always a classic flavor, because in fact, it was invented by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in that tiny little shop in Burlington in the 19 eighties.”
Founders altered early business projections when numbers showed failure
“When we first wrote out and figured out our projections for how much ice cream we would sell and how much it would cost, the projections told us that We weren't going to sell enough ice cream to stay in business. So we just changed the projections.”
Pillsbury threatened to cut off distributors who carried Ben & Jerry's
“Well, Pillsbury had bought Haagen-Dazs, so they owned them, and they went to, Independent ice cream distributors who were distributing all sorts of different brands of ice creams, and, ah, you know, told them that if those distributors continued to deliver Ben…”
Ben & Jerry's would not have succeeded if founded in New York
“I think if we had started in New York, we never would have gained the local following that we gained in Vermont. In Vermont, it would, we could be A bigger fish in a smaller pond.”
Greenfield: Ice cream eaters prefer occasional large chunks over evenly distributed small ones
“So I was arguing for having a larger number of smaller chunks that were well distributed throughout the ice cream, and you know, Ben was saying, No, what people want, and this is what Ben wanted, of course, but what people want is a really big chunk, and they …”
Unilever must maintain Ben & Jerry's activism to preserve brand equity
“You know, if Unilever bought a brand and bought the goodwill that goes along with that brand and bought the reputation that goes along with that brand, they need to continue those activities in order to keep that brand strong.”
Unilever's buyout offer was so high the board had to accept it
“Well, it was a public company which meant that anybody could own shares, and Unilever ended up offering so much money that the board of the company couldn't find an alternative for the shareholders that that they thought was acceptable.”
Ben & Jerry's was featured in a 1981 Time magazine cover story
“Well, but not only that, so it was the cover story of Time Magazine.”
Founders split a single $5 ice cream-making correspondence course
“Five dollars. We split one between the two of us.”
Founders put Ben & Jerry's up for sale in the 1980s
“Our reaction to that was to sell the business, and we actually put it up for sale. This was early on. This was in the eighties.”
The Cherry Garcia ice cream flavor was inspired by a fan's postcard
“We got a postcard that said, we're both deadheads, and we're also Ben and Jerry's fans, and we think you ought to come out with a flavor called Cherry Garcia, because it would be a real hoot for the fans, and dead paraphernalia always sells.”
Ben & Jerry's pivoted from bagels because equipment was unaffordable
“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 …”
Founders' initial goal was to make $20,000 a year each
“Our goal when we opened was to make 20,000 dollars a year apiece.”
Scoop shop portion control uniquely alienates customers at the counter
“In every business except for ice cream, the portions are controlled in the back. Out of sight of the customer. And when you're scooping ice cream, you're supposed to control the portion inside of the customer, and if the scoop is too big, you're supposed to ta…”
Ben & Jerry's sourced from Greyston Bakery for its social mission
“That, that, that's our project with the Greyston Bakery and deliberately choosing to use this ingredient supplier because this particular ingredient supplier was driven by a social mission of providing employment opportunities for formerly unemployable people.”
Founders copied a pizzeria business plan to secure bank financing
“Ben and I pretty much copied that business plan, except every place where it said slice of pizza, we crossed it out and we wrote an ice cream cone.”
Ben & Jerry's packaged pints to solve scoop shop portion control
“One of the reasons we started packaging our ice cream was because we weren't so good at running a shop, and one of the things we thought about was, well, maybe we can't control how much ice cream we're putting on a cone, but you certainly can control how much …”
Free Cone Day was created because founders expected business to fail
“It was actually during that first winter when Ben and I came up with the idea of Free Cone Day, that if we were still in business after a year, we would celebrate and treat all our customers by giving out free ice cream, because we thought it was so unlikely t…”
Cohen: Commercial ice cream lacked large chunks due to machinery limitations
“No commercial ice creams. We're packaging ice cream like that, and as we discovered, the reason why they weren't doing it is because the machinery The commercial ice cream machinery was not designed to be able to handle large chunks. So all you would get would…”
SBA mentor advised Ben & Jerry's to ask for a loan moratorium
“He was an old guy named Manny, and, ah, he said, well, just tell him you can't pay your loan right now, that you can pay it, you know, when the weather turns. You know, they'll, they'll, they'll like, just let you pay interest. And we went to the bank, and we …”
Cohen and Greenfield split a $5 Penn State ice cream correspondence course
“Five dollars. We split one between the two of us.”
Cohen and Greenfield refused to serve on Unilever's social mission board
“There was going to continue to be an independent board in the new entity that oversaw the social mission, and I think Ben and I could have Remained on that board, and we both chose not to.”
Ben & Jerry's pivoted to pints to solve scoop shop portion control
“One of the reasons we started packaging our ice cream was because we weren't so good at running a shop, and one of the things we thought about was, well, maybe we can't control how much ice cream we're putting on a cone, but you certainly can control how much …”
Ben & Jerry's created Free Cone Day because they expected to fail
“First winter when Ben and I came up with the idea of free cone day, that if we were still in business after a year, we would celebrate and treat all our customers by giving out free ice cream because we thought it was so unlikely that we would still be in busi…”
Cohen and Greenfield initially planned to become cross-country truck drivers
“Let's do something for a couple of years, and then... After we do that, let's do something else. We talked about becoming cross-country truck drivers after we did this ice cream shop.”
Ben & Jerry's founders put the company up for sale in 1980s
“Our reaction to that was to sell the business, and we actually put it up for sale. This was early on. This was in the eighties.”
Cohen: Ice cream faces unique retail portion control friction
“In every business except for ice cream, the portions are controlled in the back. Out of sight of the customer, and when you're scooping ice cream, you're supposed to control the portion inside of the customer, and if the scoop is too big, you're supposed to ta…”
Founders researched starting Ben & Jerry's using 30 SBA pamphlets
“We sent away for 30 SBA pamphlets that cost between 15 cents a And three dollars per on all the different aspects of running a business.”
Ben & Jerry's discounted winter cones based on freezing temperatures
“For every degree below zero Celsius which is 32 degrees Fahrenheit you got a penny off the price of your cone, which was significant at the time because a cone cost 52 cents.”
First unconventional flavors were Oreo Mint and Heath Bar Crunch
“You know, the first two flavors that we did that were not your normal ones were Oreo Mint and Heath Bar Crunch.”
Bank granted loan moratorium to save Ben & Jerry's first winter
“And we went to the bank, and we said that, and they said, sure, no problem. Just pay interest, and, you know, we'll extend the loan, and that got us through.”
Raz: Ben & Jerry's founders learned ice cream making through Penn State
“That, that's how they learned how to make ice cream. They did it By a correspondence.”
Ben & Jerry's initial financial goal was earning $20,000 each per year
“Our goal when we opened was to make 20,000 dollars a year a piece.”