Started in 1978 on the corner of St.Paul and College streets in Burlington, Vermont. Ben and Jerry met in 1963 while in 7th grade gym class. That was the start of their lifelong friendship and partnership in business. Their first ice cream stand was an old renovated gas station in downtown Burlington. Ben and Jerry started their corporation with a $12,000 investment. The outstanding taste of their ice cream, which comes from the fresh Vermont milk and cream, would soon turn their $12,000 investment into a multi-million dollar corporation. Ben & Jerrys Homemade, Inc. is a Vermont (USA) corporation.
“We make super premium ice cream, frozen yogurt, and ice cream novelties in unique as well as traditional flavors; our products are marketed through supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, and food service operations, as well as through licensed scoop shops, franchised scoop shops, and company-owned scoop shops.” Ben & Jerrys products are distributed in all 50 states, and youll find over 120 Ben & Jerrys franchised scoop shops in 20 states (including Washington, D.C.). Internationally, there are franchised scoop shops in Canada and licensed scoop shops in Israel and the Netherlands. One of Ben & Jerrys biggest resources is its money. In 1997 their sales reached $174 million. Making wonderful profits and revenue allows the company to give back to the community to which it is a part.
When Ben and Jerry first started their company, they started the concept of giving back to the community as a whole. This routine is still regular and is planned to be for the future. In 1978, Ben and Jerry had their first free summer movie festival, where they projected movies on the outside wall of their scoop shop in Burlington. In 1984 they found out how they could offer stock only to residents of Vermont, giving the people of Vermont a chance to gain something from the company, and giving the Ben & Jerrys corporation money to build a new manufacturing plant in Waterbury Vermont.
In the following year Ben and Jerry set up the Ben & Jerry Foundation, which would serve to fund community orientated events. The Ben & Jerry Foundation was founded in 1985 with a donation of some stock in the Ben & Jerrys corporation. Every year the Board of Directors for the Ben & Jerrys Homemade Inc. provide the corporation with 7.5% of the companys profits before taxes. Most of these funds go to the corporation but a portion of the funds goes to CAT teams. These are employee led Community Action Teams which help small groups within Vermont by giving grants and helping with organizations.
All donations made by the Foundation to groups throughout the country are made with the idea that the money will be used “..for creating social change in any number of areas”. The following is a list of needs that a program must follow in order to get funds from the Foundation: 1. Lead to societal, institutional, and/or environmental change 2. Address the root causes of social or environmental problems 3. Lead to new ways of thinking and acting 4. Help ameliorate an unjust or destructive situation by empowering constituents 5.
Facilitate leadership development and strengthen the self-empowerment efforts of those who have been disenfranchised in our society 6. Support movement building and collective acting Along with these restrictions the foundation does not support any of the following Social service programs In 1998 the 7.5% of the pre-tax profits that went to the Foundation totaled $792,600. Starting in 1989, Ben & Jerrys started what I like to call their environmental campaign. It started off with the making of Rainforest Crunch ice cream, which features special types of nuts that come from rainforest trees. Part of the sales of Rainforest Crunch goes to the preservation of the rainforest.
The next step in Ben & Jerrys environmental campaign was in 1991 when they took their “Circus Bus” and toured around the nation. Ben and Jerry took with them a whole array of talented street performers and a message promoting solar energy. Solar energy panels on the roof of the bus powered all of the electronics on the “Circus Bus”. In the year of 1991, dairy product prices were getting to the point where the farmers would not be able to make any kind of profit at all. Those farmers that supplied milk and dairy products to Ben & Jerrys Homemade Inc., and followed Ben & Jerrys protest against the growth hormone BGH, received a total of a half million dollars in dairy premiums to help the family farmers out during hard times. The half million dollars prevented the family farms from going out of business and also continued the supply of BGH free dairy products to the company.
The company continues to do all that it can to protect the environment as well as the good of all human beings. All of the companies waste products from the production of ice cream either goes to a local farm where pigs feed on it, or it is sent to a huge compost pile and converted in useable soil for many years. Technical issues dealing with the Ben & Jerrys Homemade Inc., are hard to come by due to the fact that the company keeps all of this information to itself. While attending one of their tours at the main production plant, I was able to attain a little information on the process, which the company uses to produce the ice cream. In the main facility there is a huge production floor where 75% of all the ice cream produced by Ben & Jerrys is made. The first step involves taking specific amounts of cream and milk along with some types of sugar and other ingredients depending on the type of ice cream that is to be produced.
All of these ingredients are mixed together until a milk shake type substance is made. This substance is then pumped into huge 6,000-gallon tanks where it is cooled for 24 hours. It is then pumped back into the production room where any type of cookie or candy is placed into the ice cream. From then on it becomes the basic task of having a conveyor belt where the ice cream is packaged into one-pint containers.
Beside the actual production of the ice cream, there are the scientific tests on the ice cream to make sure that it is of the highest quality. Ingredients are tested to make sure that there is the correct distribution of ingredients throughout the entire pint. By no means is this the complete technical report on how Ben & Jerrys makes their world class ice cream. I believe it is the fact that they dont share this information that they have been able to stay at the top of the ice cream field.
Ben & Jerrys Homemade Inc, is a successful business mainly due to the fact that they have a Franchised Scoop Shop Program. To first determine where a scoop shop shall be allowed to operate, Ben & Jerrys Homemade Inc. first looks for a specific market where a large customer base is available. The selected market is compared to the physical and financial specifications that the company wants to present when dealing with their customers.
If the Franchise site is not up to par with the standards that the company holds then the franchise is not allowed to start up. “We are very particular about the appearance and location of our scoop shops.” Ben & Jerrys make the process of finding new people to run franchises in target market area a long and hard process. They only focus on a few new markets at a time when they are planning for the future so they want to make sure that the correct market is selected with the right people to run the franchise. Here is a list of qualifications that one must have to be able to obtain a Document minimal net worth Ben & Jerrys make the qualifications for obtaining a site and operator for the franchises because they want to keep their high standard of quality. A Ben & Jerrys Partner Shop is another way that the Ben & Jerrys corporation is working to advance the community. Ben & Jerrys partner shops “put a profit-making business to work with a non-profit organization to …
