Ben & Jerry's

Ben & 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, and owned by Unilever.

History

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, using distinctive production methods they learned from Steve Herrell. Starting with a $12,000 investment ($4,000 of which was borrowed), the company built a devoted following, both for their products and business practices.

The company experienced difficulties with their distribution early on. Ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs, at the time a subsidiary of Pillsbury, tried to force independent distributors to choose one of the brands, and Ben and Jerry's filed a lawsuit against the Häagen-Dazs subsidiary saying that it had acted illegally in its operation and was trying to put Ben and Jerry's out of business. To coincide with the lawsuit, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield also began the "What is the Doughboy afraid of?" campaign to raise public awareness. They also encouraged a boycott of all Pillsbury subsidiaries, which included 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. The Ben and Jerry's brand grew tremendously, partly because of the success of the David and Goliath case and the publicity the brand received because of 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 return the company to private ownership, Ben and Jerry's was purchased in August 2000 by the Unilever conglomerate for slightly over $326.43 million. Jerry made about $19 million dollars through the deal, and Ben about $46 million. Other Unilever brands of ice cream include Good Humor, Klondike, Breyer's, Magnum, Wall's, and Solero. For European markets the ice cream is made at a Unilever factory located in Hellendoorn, Netherlands.

The company today

The company is known for creating innovative flavors that emphasize the use of natural ingredients; for example, the farmers that provide their cream pledge that it comes from cows that 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.

The packaging for their pint containers is made from recycled, bleach-free paper. The company is supporting research into thermoacoustic refrigeration 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 Garcianamed after Jerry Garcia, and Phish Food, named after the Vermont-based band Phish, as well as Dave Matthews Band's Magic Brownies, and now defunct "One Sweet Whirled", named after DMB's regularly played song "One Sweet World" Rum Raisin, have actually simply been retired as new ones are created. Retired flavors enter what is referred to as the "flavor graveyard" [http://www.benjerry.com/our_products/flavor_graveyard/departed_flavors.cfm" target="_blank" >^*. Their website offers a list of both new, older, and limited edition flavors. 2006's new flavors include: Turtle Soup, Vermonty Python, Neapolitan Dynamite, and Black & Tan. Due out late summer will be an apple pie type flavor titled American Pie, which will contain pieces of pie crust.

Despite their strong reputation in the LGBT community, the Unilever subsidiary only scored a 71% on the 2004 Corporate Equality Index by the Human Rights Campaign.

In 2005, Ben and Jerry's opened a store in Austin, Texas, operated by LifeWorks, a community organization that helps at-risk youth and families. The store provides job opportunities for LifeWorks clients. All profits from the store go directly to LifeWorks and Ben and Jerry's does not collect a franchise fee.

Also in 2005, it hosted Sundae on the Common on Clapham Common, which, for a £5 ticket, visitors could have unlimited free ice cream, listen to live performances by The Thrills and other bands, and go on fun rides. The 2006 event is scheduled to take place on Sunday 30th July, tickets went on sale on the 19th May 2006 and sold out in 8 hours. With performances by Jose Gonzales and The Wonderstuff and free ice cream all of the £5 ticket goes to regenerating Clapham Common.

Each year on one day either in late April or early May, Ben and Jerry's observes Free Cone Day, on the anniversary of its opening as a "thank you" to its customers. On this day, over one million cones are given away. The 28th annual Free Cone Day was held on April 25, 2006.

Ben & Jerry has been rated the best ice cream store of the Montreal area in the popular "Best of Montreal" readers poll 2006 of the Canadian Mirror paper.

Black & Tan naming controversy

In March 2006, Ben and Jerry's released Black & Tan, an ice cream flavor based on the Black and Tan "cream stout" drink, made from chocolate ice cream and non-alcoholic stout extract. With the packaging peeled off, the ice cream resembles a "pint" of beer.

The name is slightly controversial as the Black and Tans were the former British soldiers brought into Ireland during the War of Independence by the British Government in London after 1918 to assist the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) in their work. Once there, they participated in a number of atrocities (including the burning of Cork City). However, the name for the drink was first used in 1889, and predated political events.

On April 21, 2006, the company apologized for using the "Black & Tan" flavor name on its ice cream. A Ben & Jerry's spokesman was quoted as saying, "Any reference on our part to the British Army unit was absolutely unintentional and no ill-will was ever intended."

Trivia

In the Bollywood movie Salaam Namaste, the lead character craves Ben and Jerry's Belgian Dark Chocolate ice cream during her pregnancy.

External links

Ben & Jerry's | Ben & Jerry's | Ben & Jerry | เบนแอนด์เจอร์รีส์

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Ben & Jerry's

History

The company today

Black & Tan naming controversy

Trivia

See also

External links