Ben & Jerry’s History

Ben & Jerry’s Waterbury, VT (population 4,915) plant is the number one tourist attraction in the state of Vermont. How two Long Island, NY kids ended up there was what I was looking for when I visited their plant on my trip to Montpelier.

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield met in a 7th grade gym class in Merrick, NY where they were the two slowest, chubbiest kids trying to run a mile in under seven minutes. They stayed in touch with each other during college and after both trying to work for other people decided that they should set up a business together.

Their first choice was to start United Bagel Service, which would deliver fresh bagels every Sunday morning along with lox, cream cheese and the local newspaper. What to do the other six days of the week and start up costs of $40,000 nixed that idea, since neither had more than $4,000 to invest.

A $5 correspondence course in ice cream making from Penn State, researching homemade ice cream shops and a desire to local in a rural community with a warm climate and a large college population. They ended up in Vermont, only 40 miles south of the Canadian border because it was the only town they could find without another specialized ice cream shop. So much for a warm climate! Vermont was also the only state that didn’t have a Baskin-Robins franchise.

The business started out as an ice cream and crepe parlor. The idea was that crepes might help them survive the cold Vermont winters when ice cream sales were likely to plunge with the temperature.

With no money to pay two workmen who helped them remodel an old gas station, Ben and Jerry started the “Ice Cream for Life Club”, including any future franchises, a far-out thought in 1978. First full year sales were $373,000 with Ben driving around the state selling to wholesale accounts when crepe cooking didn’t fit his personality.

The business had many rocky years, balancing on the verge of bankruptcy several times. But loyal fans and a few friendly bankers allowed them to continue to grow the business. By 1992 their sales topped $100 million and in 1999 were up to $237 million when the company was sold in 2000 to Unilever, a Dutch multinational company.

How does an area start more Ben & Jerry’s? Having new companies in the works is critical as companies come and go or are sold. What are you doing to start new businesses in your town?