Ben And Jerry’S Ice Cream – A Story Of A Successful Business

Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream is a very well-known, successful ice cream company. Most people would recognize the brand’s name. However, what you might not think about it the years and years of effort that went into the company to make it as successful as it is today. Their 40-year-old story ranges from meeting as young kids in gym class to eventually selling the company for about 326 million dollars. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield met in 7th grade, which was in 1963. It was in a gym class, running around a track. This is where they became friends. Both Ben and Jerry hated gym. This was probably because they were the two slowest runners in the class and were chubby. According to Wikipedia, the two of them were not running the mile fast enough, so the coach warned them they would have to run a second mile. Ben replied, “Coach, if we don’t run a mile under seven minutes the first time, we certainly won’t do it the second time. ” It says that it was at this point Jerry knew he liked Ben. These two friends stayed together until college, where they parted ways temporarily and went to separate colleges.

In the year of 1978, Ben and Jerry decided that they wanted to start a company. At first, the two of them considered a business making bagels. Benjerry. com states that their plan was to deliver bagels, lox, cream cheese, and the New York Times to people on Sunday mornings. However, they soon came to realize that bagel-making equipment was quite expensive. This put an end to that plan. The reconsidered and decided that an ice cream shop instead. So, on May 5, 1978, Ben and Jerry opened up their first ice cream shop with a $12, 000 investment and knowledge from a $5 correspondence course from Pennsylvania State University’s creamery about ice-cream making. This shop was in Burlington, Vermont, inside an old renovated gas station. One year after the grand opening of the shop, in 1979, the two business partners decided to celebrate by giving out free cones to anybody who came into their shop. Free cone day at Ben and Jerry’s has become a tradition.

It is now an annual international celebration at every Ben and Jerry’s store around the world. Jerry became the first chief executive officer, CEO, of the company, so he made it up to Ben by putting his name first in the name of the company. This all worked out, and a year after free cone day, they rented space in an old spool and bobbin mill in Burlington, Vermont, the same city as their shop. This space was for packing their ice cream in pints. They still use this idea today, and you can buy these pints in stores around the world. There is something very surprising about how one of the company’s trademarks came about. This is the chunks in their ice cream. Ben has a bad form of anosmia, which prohibits him from tasting and smelling. They use the chunks in the ice cream so Ben can rely on the feel in his mouth and texture to provide variety in his diet.

Another thing that happened in their beginning years was an event that found them inside the record books. The year was 1983, and there was an attempt to make the largest sundae. The ice cream that was chosen to be used was none other than Ben and Jerry’s. The attempt was quite successful. It ended with a sundae that weighed over 27, 000 pounds. However, this record is broken now. Nevertheless, it was still quite an accomplishment when it happened and it was thanks to Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Ben and Jerry were very smart in marketing their business. They turned out to be very successful at it. When they first opened, they impressed customers with their extremely friendly customer service. People that went their told everybody that their ice cream was amazing. The word was spreading a lot by mouth. However, this is not the only way they got their name out. In 1985, they established the Ben and Jerry’s foundation. With this foundation, they funded community events. They also gave away 7. 5% of their profits before tax. This was only one of the ways they gave back to the community. They also hosted a movie night for free once a week during the summer months. This was very successful because everyone became aware of the company and bought a lot of ice cream from them during these movie nights. Also, in 1986, the two men released its “Cow Mobile. ” In this mobile home, Ben and Jerry drove across the country. They would stop and deliver free ice cream. This ice cream was served by Ben and Jerry themselves. It was a very successful marketing campaign. Unfortunately, the Cow Mobile burned to the ground on the trip home around Cleveland, Ohio. Thankfully nobody was hurt during the fire. Ben went on to say that it looked like “the world’s largest baked Alaska. ”

As the years went on, more and more people started to want ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s. They started opening franchises. In 1984, Haagen-Dazs realized they were gaining more popularity and tried to limit their distribution in the Boston area. This led to a lawsuit against Pillsbury, who owned Haagen-Dazs. They tried once more to stop Ben and Jerry’s distribution, but this only led to yet another lawsuit. There was no stopping their growth. They started releasing bunches of new flavors, including one called Chocolate Fudge Brownie. They ordered their first batch of brownies from Greyston Bakery in 1988. These were for this flavor. Chocolate Fudge Brownie became a very popular flavor. Also in that year, Ben and Jerry were awarded the U. S. Small Business Persons of the Year by president Ronald Reagan. To help them grow and be more efficient in business, they started hiring professionals who knew what needed to be done. They got professional help on managing their books and accounts, because they actually didn’t know how to do it hardly at all themselves. As they became a bigger company and more well known, an increase in profits came along with the growth. Ben and Jerry’s was a very successful business for the first 16 years. They kept on making money. Finally, at the end of 1994, when the company’s annual report was released, it revealed that Ben and Jerry’s had suffered its first financial loss. By the year of 1999 the company’s stock was dropped by almost 50% from its peak. This was because of the financial loss they had experienced. Many people thought they had this loss because they were so good at being environmentally friendly and very generous and kind to their employees and the price of maintaining these things was finally catching up with them. It was indeed very expensive way to run a business, but Ben and Jerry believed this was the only way to run it.

The first public share from Ben and Jerry’s was made available in 1984. People were able to buy it through a company called Mini – IPO. The shares were available for sale for $10. 50 per piece. This offer was taken up by 1800 people who wanted to invest in the company. By 1998, the stock price had gone up to $20. That year, it ranged between about $17 to about $20. Also that year, it was estimated that Ben and Jerry’s as a company owned about 3. 5% of the entire market share of the United States. In 1997, they were losing $0. 15 per share. This improved to a profit of $0. 05 per share in the first quarter of the next year. They kept doing better, and by mid – 1998, they were earning $0. 73 for each share they sold. This was obvious progress, which probably attracted some interest of bigger companies, which leads to the next topic.

Ben and Jerry’s was bought for $326 million in 2000. That amounts to more than $40 a share, which is quite the increase from $0. 05! However, this was not all smooth. Many people thought that the values that Ben and Jerry’s was run buy would be lost. This was wrong. Ben and Jerry recognized this concern, and when dealing with Unilever with the sale, they came to the agreement that the company’s core values would not be lost in being sold. They also said in the terms of the sale that Ben and Jerry’s would be run as a wholly separate operation than the other ice cream brands that Unilever owns, which include Magnum, Breyers, Klondike, Popsicle, etc. Another factor of the sale was the bidding war that went into it. Unilever was not the only company interested in buying it. Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Company was a rival of Ben and Jerry’s, and they were trying to buy it. However, their bids only caused Unilever to bid higher, and they eventually got the sale through a four-month process. Ben and Jerry both walked away with millions of dollars in their pocket.

Ben and Jerry have had quite the journey together. It is quite an interesting one as well. Their story ranges from being childhood friends to multimillionaires. It shows how by sticking to what you believe; you can be successful.