Ben & Jerry’s

By : Isaiah Johnson

Background & Facts

• Ben and jerry’s was founded in Vermont in 1978 by Ben Cohen an Jerry Greenfield. • Ben and Jerry are childhood friends from

Brooklyn, NY. Born in 1951.• At first the two thought about making bagels

but decided the necessary equipment was too expensive. Instead , they settled on ice cream.

Background & Facts Continue

• They decided Burlington VT., was an ideal location for a scoop shop because it was a college town without an ice cream parlor.

• They took a five dollar course on ice cream making and in 1978 opened the first Ben & Jerry’s in a converted Burlington gas station.

Hardships

• Some hardships are, they have some serious competition facing them in the ice cream industry; they have faced financial struggles, internal issues, and some social and economic factors.

Accomplishments• Business increased significantly. In 1983, the

company opened its first non-Vermont franchise in Maine, and signed a deal with a Boston distribution company. Signature flavors were unveiled during the 1980s – including New York Super Fudge Chunk and Cherry Garcia – and by 1987 sales were at $32 million. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan named Ben and Jerry the U.S. Small Business Persons of the Year, and by the year’s end the company was operating shops in 18 states.