BEN&JERRY'S ICE CREAM

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Ben & Jerry's

Ben & Jerry's is a brand of ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and ice cream novelty products, manufactured by Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc., headquartered in South Burlington, Vermont, United States, with the main factory in Waterbury, Vermont and is owned by the conglomerate Unilever.

History

In 1977, lifelong, ex-hippie friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield completed a correspondence course on ice cream making from the Pennsylvania State University. In May 5, 1978, with a $12,000 investment the pair opened an ice cream parlor in a renovated gas station in downtown Burlington, Vermont. The parlor quickly became popular in the local community because of their innovative flavors, made from fresh Vermont milk and cream and "large portions of whatever ingredients they felt tasted good on the day of making!"[citation needed]. In 1979, they marked their anniversary by holding the first-ever free cone day, now a nationwide annual celebration. They combined ice cream making with social activism.{elaborate} In 1980 Ben and Jerry rented space in an old spool and bobbin mill on South Champlain Street in Burlington and began packing their ice cream in pints. In 1981, the first Ben & Jerry’s franchise opened on Route 7 in Shelburne, Vermont. In 1983, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream was used to build “the world’s largest ice cream sundae” in St. Albans, Vermont; the sundae weighed 27,102 pounds. In 1984, Häagen-Dazs tried to limit distribution of Ben & Jerry’s in Boston, prompting Ben & Jerry’s to file suit against the parent company, Pillsbury, in its now famous “What’s the Doughboy Afraid Of?” campaign. In 1987, Häagen-Dazs again tried to enforce exclusive distribution, and Ben & Jerry’s filed its second lawsuit against the Pillsbury Company. In 1985, the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation was established at the end of the year with a gift from Ben and Jerry to fund community-oriented projects; it was then provided with 7.5% of the company’s annual pre-tax profits. In 1986, Ben & Jerry’s launched its “Cowmobile,” a modified mobile home used to distribute free scoops of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in a unique, cross-country “marketing drive” -- driven and served by Ben and Jerry themselves. The “Cowmobile” burned to the ground outside of Cleveland four months later, but there were no injuries. Ben said it looked like “the world’s largest baked Alaska.”2 In 1988, the pair won the title of "U.S Small Business Persons Of The Year," awarded to them by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. In 1992, Ben & Jerry’s joined in a cooperative campaign with the national non-profit Children’s Defense Fund; the campaign goal was to bring children’s basic needs to the top of the national agenda. Over 70,000 postcards were sent to Congress concerning kids and other national issues.

In April 2000, Ben & Jerry's announced its acquisition by multinational food giant Unilever.3 Unilever said it hopes to carry on the tradition of engaging "in these critical, global economic and social missions." In 2001, Ben & Jerry’s completed transition to Eco-Pint packaging, which packaged all pint flavors in unbleached paperboard Eco-Pint containers; using brown-kraft unbleached paperboard is a critical first step toward a totally biodegradable pint made without added chlorine. Due to increasing supply, quality, and cost challenges, Ben and Jerry's discontinued their use of the Eco-Pint in 2006, transitioning to a pint container made out of a bleached paperboard that is more readily available and that has superior forming characteristics. Ben and Jerry's Social and Environmental Assessment 2006.

Although the founders are still engaged with the company, they do not hold any board or management position and are not involved in day-to-day management of the company.

 

Cultural significance and reach

 

Ben & Jerry's was the first brand-name ice cream to be taken into space aboard the Space Shuttle. Most of the cruise ships of the Royal Caribbean International have a Ben and Jerry's scoop shop on board.

Ben and Jerry's struck a deal with Six Flags and have added Ben and Jerry's to parks such as Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, and Six Flags New England.

The pictures of the cows on Ben & Jerry's ice cream cartons were painted by Woody Jackson.