B&J redirects here. For the beverage company see Bartles and Jaymes.

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Ben & Jerry's is an American ice cream company, a division of the British-Dutch Unilever conglomerate, that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and ice cream novelty products. These are manufactured by Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Burlington, Vermont, United States, with the main factory in Waterbury, Vermont. It is best known as a premium ice cream brand, founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont.

History[link]

Jerry Greenfield (left) and Ben Cohen (right) in 2010.

In 1977 lifelong friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield completed a correspondence course on ice cream making from Pennsylvania State University's Creamery. On May 5, 1978, with a $12,000^[2] investment the pair opened an ice cream parlor in a renovated gas station in downtown Burlington, Vermont. In 1979, they marked their anniversary by holding the first-ever free cone day, now an international annual celebration.

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 and 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. That same year, the cows on their cartons were redesigned by local artist, Woody Jackson.^[3]

In 1984, Häagen-Dazs wanted 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 & Jerry's 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.”^[4]

In 1988, the pair won the title of U.S. Small Business Persons Of The Year, awarded by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.^[5] Also that year, the first brownies were ordered from Greyston Bakery, which led to the development of the popular Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavor.^[6] In 1992, Ben & Jerry’s joined in a co-operative 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 1995, they hired Robert Holland, Jr. as CEO after holding an essay contest as part of the search. Holland left after 20 months following philosophical differences and was replaced by Perry Odak in 1997.^[7]

Ben & Jerry's ice-cream branch at the United Square Shopping Mall in Singapore.

In April 2000, Ben & Jerry's sold the company to British-Dutch multinational food giant Unilever.^[8] Unilever said it hopes to carry on the tradition of engaging "in these critical, global economic and social missions." Although the founders' names are still attached to the product, they do not hold any board or management position and are not involved in day-to-day management of the company.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, Jostein Solheim, a Unilever executive from Norway, became the new CEO of the company and had this to say about the transition: "My mantra that I've repeated a hundred times since starting at Ben & Jerry's is: ‘Change is a wonderful thing,'" he said. "The world needs dramatic change to address the social and environmental challenges we are facing. Values led businesses can play a critical role in driving that positive change. We need to lead by example, and prove to the world that this is the best way to run a business. Historically, this company has been and must continue to be a pioneer to continually challenge how business can be a force for good and address inequities inherent in global business."^[9]

In 2001, Ben & Jerry's U.S. completed transition to "Eco-Pint" packaging, which packaged all pint flavors in environmentally friendly unbleached paperboard Eco-Pint containers, a decision it later reversed. The use of brown-kraft unbleached paperboard had been a critical first step toward a totally biodegradable pint made without added chlorine. However, due to what they described as increasing supply, quality, and cost challenges, Ben & Jerry's discontinued their use of the Eco-Pint in 2006, transitioning to a pint container made out of a bleached paperboard that it said was more readily available with superior forming characteristics.^{[citation needed]}

On Earth Day in 2005, when a vote in the U.S. Senate proposed the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, Ben & Jerry's launched a protest by creating the largest ever Baked Alaska, which weighed 900 pounds, and placed it in front of the U.S. Capitol Building.^[10][11]

In March 2009, "CyClone Dairy" launched an advertising campaign and a website to promote its milk products, which purportedly came exclusively from cloned cows.^[12] On April 1, 2009 (April Fool's Day), Ben & Jerry's announced that it was behind this fake company. Ben & Jerry's had created the tongue-in-cheek hoax to raise awareness of the increasing presence of products from cloned animals within American food,^[13][14] and to campaign for a tracking system of cloned-animal products.^[15] The hoax was revealed on April Fool's Day with the message: "We believe you should have the right to choose which foods you eat – and not to eat cloned foods if you don’t want to. And that's why Ben & Jerry’s believes we need a national clone tracking system, so people and companies can know where their food is coming from."^[16]

On February 24, 2012, Ben & Jerry's released a new Greek yogurt line, which comes in five flavors: Strawberry Shortcake, Blueberry Graham, Raspberry Chocolate Chunk, Peanut Butter Banana, and Vanilla (scoop shop exclusive).^{[citation needed]}

Original flavors and sundaes[link]

Chubby Hubby consists of vanilla malt ice cream swirled with fudge and peanut butter, and containing pretzel nuggets covered in fudge and filled with peanut butter. For the month of September 2009, Ben and Jerry's, in partnership with Freedom to Marry, renamed Chubby Hubby to Hubby Hubby, in celebration of the legalization of same-sex marriage in the company's home state of Vermont. The carton featured the image of two men getting married beneath a rainbow.^[17][18][19]

On March 13, 2012, Ice cream giant Ben & Jerry’s announced today it will be changing the name of one of its ice cream flavours in the UK in support of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Oh! My! Apple Pie! will become Apple-y Ever After and tubs will feature a gay couple atop a wedding cake decorated with rainbows.^[20]

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield appeared on the The Colbert Report on March 5, 2007 to promote their new ice cream flavor, Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream, and their grassroots education and advocacy project, TrueMajority.

The company renamed a flavor, Yes Pecan, in reference to Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. They later decided in January 2009 to donate all proceeds made on the sale of that flavor to the Common Cause Education Fund.^[21]

On March 2, 2011 Cohen and Greenfield appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and unveiled their new flavor of ice cream, Late Night Snack, whose carton features a picture of Jimmy Fallon on it.^[22]

The Vermonster is a large ice cream sundae served in a "Vermonster Bucket" in Ben & Jerry's "scoop shops." Its ingredients are 20 scoops of ice cream, 4 bananas, 4 ladles of hot fudge, 3 chocolate chip cookies, 1 chocolate fudge brownie, 10 scoops of walnuts, 2 scoops each of 4 toppings of your choice, and whipped cream. It contains 14,000 calories, and 500 grams of fat.^[23]

Girl in cow costume promoting Free Cone Day outside a Ben & Jerry's shop in Stockholm, Sweden

Free Cone Day is an annual event held between late March and early May, in which Ben & Jerry's scoop shops give out free ice cream cups and cones. The most recent event took place on Tuesday, April 3, 2012 from noon to 8 pm. The first Free Cone Day was held on Saturday, May 5, 1979 by Ben and Jerry as a customer and staff appreciation event for the first anniversary of their store's opening.

Over one million free cones are given away each year, prompting the company's ad slogan "Be One In A Million." Charitable organizations are often present at the stores each year and enjoy a significant amount of fundraising success. Oftentimes, local celebrities show up at various stores, promoting the day and the charities there.^[24] Sometimes the event is scheduled to coincide with Earth Day and sometimes volunteers are on hand with clipboards and voter registration forms to help those who would like to register to vote.

Additionally, the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory has an ice cream graveyard on site, where the graves of past ice cream flavors exist. However, favorite flavors can be resurrected from their grave to be brought back into stores. Customers can simply bring an ice cream flavor back from the past by filling out a form on their website.^[25]

Cultural significance and reach[link]

The interior of the Ben & Jerry's in Hoboken, New Jersey.

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 & Jerry's scoop shop on board.^[26]

Controversies[link]

Rumors have suggested that Ben & Jerry's supported the defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted in 1982 of killing Philadelphia Police officer Daniel Faulkner. Despite several appeals, Abu-Jamal's conviction has been upheld. As a result of this alleged support, e-mails claimed that the Fraternal Order of Police called for a boycott of Ben & Jerry's products.^[27] The Ben & Jerry's website denies that the company has had any connection with the case; however, it adds that Cohen did sign a petition as a private citizen asking that "the system of American justice be followed fully in the case."^[28]

The company raised controversy in 2006 after releasing a flavor of ice cream called "Black and Tan." It had named the flavor after the alcoholic drink made by mixing stout with pale ale. However, outrage stemmed from the fact that Black and Tans was also a name given to the irregular force of British ex-servicemen recruited during the Irish War of Independence and renowned for their brutality.^[29]

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer-advocacy group, had urged Ben & Jerry's to stop labeling their ice cream as "all natural" due to the company's use of corn syrup, alkalised cocoa, and other chemically modified ingredients.^[30][31] In September 2010, the company agreed to stop labeling their ice cream and frozen yogurt as "all natural."

In 2011, Ben & Jerry's released a flavor named Schweddy Balls, in homage to the Saturday Night Live skit of the same name. The American Family Association protested, saying that the name was too explicit for grocery store shelves. Actor Alec Baldwin, who appeared in the SNL skit as baker Pete Schweddy, hosted the September 24th, 2011 episode of the show and mentioned the AFA's outcry in his introduction: "[...] but one sketch people always ask me about is Pete Schweddy and his famous Schweddy Balls. And now Schweddy Balls is its own Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor. Now, true story, true story, there is a family organization that is angry about the name because they think it is inappropriate for the grocery store aisle. Well if you don't like Schweddy Balls, Ben & Jerry's has a new ice cream flavor just for you, its called Go Fudge Yourself."

In 2012, Ben & Jerry's created a vanilla-flavored frozen yogurt named "Taste the Lin-Sanity" in honor of Asian-American basketball player Jeremy Lin. It contained lychee honey swirls and fortune cookie pieces, but after initial backlash, Ben & Jerry's replaced the fortune cookies with waffle cookies. The company, however, said the primary reason was because the fortune cookies got soggy.^[32] It later apologized to anyone offended by their Lin-Sanity flavor.^[33]

Global locations[link]

Ford Kuga

Ben and Jerry's has locations around the world.^[34]

Wages[link]

Ben & Jerry's used to have a policy that no employee's rate of pay shall exceed seven times that of entry-level employees. In 1995, entry-level employees were paid $8 hourly, and the highest paid employee was President and Chief Operating Officer Chuck Lacey, who earned $150,000 annually. When Ben Cohen resigned as Chief Executive Officer and Ben & Jerry's announced the search for a new CEO in 1995, the company ended the seven-to-one-ratio policy.^[35]

In 2006 Ben & Jerry's started selling their first Fairtrade certified ice cream. The company has promised that all the ingredients they use that can be Fairtrade certified will be certified by the end of 2013.^[36]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Wieder, Tamara. "Coneheads." The Boston Phoenix. August 8–14, 2003. – Boston Phoenix Interview with founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield
• Criswell, Ann. "Ben & Jerry's is sweet on social issues." Houston Chronicle. Wednesday June 24, 1992. Food 1.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ben & Jerry's

• Official website

	Vermont portal
	Companies portal
	Food portal

Jerry's may refer to:

• Jerry's Foods, owner of several grocery store chains, headquartered in Edina, Minnesota
• Jerry's Subs & Pizza, a fast casual sandwich and pizza restaurant chain in the Washington, D.C. area
• Jerry's Restaurants, formerly located in the Midwest and Southern U.S., now mostly converted to Denny's restaurants

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Jerry Greenfield
Jerry Greenfield in 2010
Born	(1951-03-14) March 14, 1951 (age 61) Brooklyn, New York
Residence	Williston, Vermont
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Oberlin College (1973)
Occupation	businessman
Known for	Co-founder of Ben and Jerry's
Home town	Merrick, New York

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2010)

Jerry Greenfield (born March 14, 1951) is a co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc.

Throughout his childhood, Greenfield lived in New York, on Long Island. In 1969, he enrolled at Oberlin College, where he followed a pre-med curriculum before graduating in 1973. He applied unsuccessfully for medical school in two successive years, 1973 and 1974.

In 1978 Greenfield and his friend Ben Cohen opened Ben and Jerry's Homemade ice cream scoop shop in an old gas station in downtown Burlington, Vermont. The company has since opened almost 200 franchised shops and reports earnings of $237 million annually.^[1]

Life[link]

Jerry Greenfield was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a stockbroker, in 1951. He lived on Long Island throughout his youth until he left to attend Oberlin College in 1969. In 1963, Greenfield met Ben Cohen during gym class at Merrick Avenue Junior High School. Their initial bond formed when the gym teacher yelled at them for running the mile too slow and warned they would have to run a second mile. At this point, Cohen yelled back, "Gee coach, if I don't do it in under seven minutes the first time, I'm certainly not going to do it in under seven minutes the second time", at which point, Greenfield knew he liked him. Over the next few years, their friendship grew until the two graduated from Calhoun High School and split up to attend separate colleges.^[2]

Greenfield was known for being hard-working and studious throughout high school and when he chose to pursue a pre-med curriculum at Oberlin, it took nobody by surprise. At Oberlin, Greenfield began working as an ice cream scooper in the school's cafeteria. His favorite class was "Carnival Techniques," where he learned tricks such as eating fire, something he claims to do still on rare occasions.^[3]

After graduating in 1973, Greenfield failed twice to get into medical school. At this point, Greenfield decided to move back to New York where he shared an apartment with Cohen on East 10th Street and worked as a lab technician. In 1974, Greenfield tried another time to enter medical school, but when rejected, he decided to move to North Carolina with his future wife, Elizabeth Skarie, where he continued to work as a lab technician.^[2]

In 1976, Greenfield moved back north, this time to live with Cohen in Saratoga Springs, New York, where the pair began putting their dream of owning their own business. After initially considering opening a bagel shop, the pair turned their attention to ice cream because the equipment for such a shop was much cheaper. After taking a five dollar correspondence course in ice-cream making, the cost of which they split, the two searched for a warm-weather college town to open up shop in before settling on Burlington, Vermont. Ben & Jerry's opened in the summer of 1978.^[1]

During the 1980s, Greenfield left the business to support Elizabeth in Arizona as she pursued a Ph.D. in psychology. The couple returned to Vermont in 1985, when Greenfield assumed the position of Director of Mobile Promotions.

In 1987, Greenfield married Elizabeth, and in 1988, their son Tyrone was born. He resides in Williston, Vermont, a small town just outside of Burlington.^[4]

Ben & Jerry's[link]

Greenfield and Cohen began looking for a proper location for their ice cream parlor in 1977. The criteria that they set down was that the location should be a college town, since they assumed college students ate a lot of ice cream, and that it should be warm. After comparing information from almanacs and a guide to American colleges, the pair realized that every warm college town already had an ice cream shop and settled on Burlington, Vermont, the home of the University of Vermont, as the location for their shop.^{[citation needed]}

After choosing their town, the two businessmen needed to find a suitable building. They decided on an old gas station and began looking for financing. With a combined savings totaling around $8,000, Greenfield and Cohen began searching for a bank to lend them money. Repeatedly they found themselves rejected because the gas station could only be leased for one year at a time and it was judged unwise to invest large amounts of capital in such a venture. Finally they managed to receive a $4,000 loan and began renovating the station. On May 5, 1978, the parlor opened and throughout the summer experienced success, however, the pair struggled throughout the winter.^{[citation needed]}

In 1980, after experiencing initial success in their attempts to distribute their ice cream to restaurants throughout Vermont, the company moved to a larger facility and began packaging ice cream in pint size containers. In 1984, Häagen-Dazs tried to limit distribution of Ben & Jerry’s in Boston, prompting Ben & Jerry’s to file suit against Häagen-Dazs' parent company, Pillsbury, in its now famous “What’s the Doughboy Afraid Of?” campaign.^[5] In 1987 Häagen-Dazs again tried to enforce exclusive distribution, and Ben & Jerry’s filed its second lawsuit against the Pillsbury Company.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2000, Ben & Jerry's was bought by the multinational food giant, Unilever.^[6] Since the purchase, Greenfield and Cohen remain active in the company, but claim they have “no responsibility, no authority.”^[7]

Quotations[link]

"If it's not fun, why do it?"^[8]

See also[link]

• Ben Cohen
• Ben & Jerry's
• Ice Cream

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jerry Greenfield biography
• Ben & Jerry's Website