The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
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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.”
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.”
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…”
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.”
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 …”
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.”
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…”
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.”