Fast Facts
Founded 1978	Location Paris, France	Product Dessert Products	Employees 850	1999 Revenues $237 million
Ownership Part of the Unilever Group as of August 4, 2000

Ben & Jerry's produces a wide variety of super premium ice cream, ice-cream novelties, low-fat ice cream, low-fat yogurt and sorbet, using Vermont dairy products and high-quality, all-natural ingredients. Ben & Jerry's is committed to using milk and cream that have not been treated with the synthetic hormone, rBGH. Ben & Jerry's products are distributed across the United States and in selected foreign countries in supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, franchised Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shops, restaurants and other venues.

Company History

Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., the Vermont-based manufacturer of ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet, was founded in May, 1978 in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont, by childhood friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. They soon became popular for their innovative flavors, made from fresh Vermont milk and cream. The company currently distributes ice cream, low-fat ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet and novelty products nationwide as well as in selected foreign countries in supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, franchised Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shops, restaurants and other venues.

The Statement of Mission

In 1988, Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc. created a document called the Statement of Mission. The company is dedicated to the creation and demonstration of a new corporate concept of linked prosperity. Its mission consists of three interrelated parts: product, economic and social.

Ben & Jerry's corporate culture gets its main inspiration from "Do Good by Doing Good" and "Peace, Love and Ice cream."

Other famous quotes regularly used are:

• From Ben: "Businesses have a responsibility to give back to the community."

• From Jerry: "If it's not fun, why do it?"

Together, these two sum up the essence of Ben & Jerry's company philosophy and personality.

Ben & Jerry's Foundation

Ben and Jerry's Foundation was established in 1985 through a donation of stock in Ben and Jerry's Homemade, Inc. These funds are used as an endowment. In addition, Ben and Jerry's Homemade, Inc. makes quarterly donations at its board's discretion of approximately 7.5 percent of its pre-tax profits. The Foundation receives a portion of those funds. An additional portion is earmarked for employee Community Action Teams (CATs). The CATs distribute small grants to community groups within the state of Vermont.

The Ben & Jerry's Foundation offers competitive grants to not-for-profit, grassroots organizations throughout the United States which facilitate progressive social change by addressing the underlying conditions of societal and environmental problems. All of the Foundation's funding decisions are made by a team of Ben & Jerry's employees that meets three times a year to review proposals.

Franchises

Ben & Jerry's has more than 320 franchised ice-cream Scoop Shops and PartnerShops in the United States. It also has Scoop Shops in Canada, France, Israel, The Netherlands, Peru and The United Kingdom. The total number of Scoop Shops and licensed scooping operations worldwide is expected to be more than 325 by the end of year 2000.

International

Ben & Jerry's was first established in Canada and Israel in 1988. While the Canadian market has been slowly growing, the company's licensee agreement in Israel has grown from the original factory in Yavne and the first Scoop Shop in Tel Aviv to nine Scoop Shops and nationwide pint distribution. More recent successful introductions include the UK, France, Benelux and Japan.

In Europe, the entry to the UK and Benelux markets has been a huge success for Ben & Jerry's.

Today, Vermont-based ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry's continues to breathe new life into the UK ice-cream marketplace, proving yet again that it's very cool to be small. In 1999, Ben & Jerry's grew sales volume by 152 percent from 1998, and unprompted brand awareness for Ben & Jerry's in the UK grew from 9 percent to 62 percent. (Marketing Analysis Inc., February 2000).

In the Benelux region, Ben & Jerry's has successfully opened six Scoop Shops and 20 licensed scooping operations in the last four years. In addition, most major supermarkets in the Netherlands and Belgium distribute Ben & Jerry's 500ml pots. Ben & Jerry's corporate philosophy has been especially well received in the Netherlands, where it seems a bit of counter-culture thinking combined with an excellent American product form a winning combination.

Latest Developments

In April 2000, Unilever, the largest ice-cream maker in the world, acquired Ben & Jerry's. Unlike other acquisitions, Ben & Jerry's will be run as a totally independent unit within Unilever, with decisions and direction coming from Vermont. Ben & Jerry's now has the opportunity to utilize Unilever resources as it chooses on a worldwide basis to build a world-class trademark, while maintaining its unique approach to business.