''I'm Ben. This is Jerry. And this is ice cream.'' Who would have predicted an ice cream empire to them then?
They were thirty years ago Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield two friends, one graduated college, the other didn't, both were unemployed. They knew nothing about business, but they knew a lot about eating and especially about ice cream. So they decided to make ice cream. If at that time the wish was more like a child's daydream and no one took them seriously, they really got down to business. Together, they had $8,000 in savings, borrowed $4,000 from a bank, and started a small business in an old gas station in Vermont. He was writing May 5, 1978, which today represents a real holiday for the biggest ice cream enthusiasts. At Ben & Jerry's is still to this day free scoop day.
That May, they started making and creating ice cream flavors with an antique freezer. In fact, they really enjoyed themselves with them, together they madly mixed everything they had ever dreamed of - ice cream flavors and nuts and candies and chocolate, toppings and cookies and all other sweets... Rich, creamy and fun flavors were created, and soon there was a line outside the old gas station, everyone wanted a scoop Ben & Jerry's- a. Their ice cream became an instant hit and it didn't take long for them to start making it for local restaurants, shops, supermarkets, slowly expanding beyond Vermont and slowly beyond the United States.
From the beginning, Ben and Jerry remain as they are – simple, crazy, bold, innovative, full of ideas and childlike mischief. Their history is full of interesting timelines. They are responsible for the biggest ice cream pile in the world, which was created in 1983 in St. Albans in Vermont and weighed a good 46 kilograms. In 1987, they were the first to name a flavor after a rock legend - Cherry Garcia was born. Three years later, they did President Reagan appointed for "Small Business Persons of the Year". In 1991, their Circus Bus with solar panels on the roof went on a national tour. They organized shows in the streets and thus raised awareness about solar energy. In 1994, ice cream first appeared in Great Britain, two years later they introduced ice cream without lactose and cholesterol. Ben and Jerry's has always been charitable, environmentally friendly, raising awareness and donating money to charity, supporting fair trade, and in 2009 the brand itself became part of it.
Even if the chain is now part of Unilever and Ben and Jerry's has distanced itself from ice cream, it remains just as crazy and bold as it was that May thirty-five years ago. There is no end to ideas when it comes to flavors. Vanilla ice cream with salted caramel and fries, flavor of Greek "Greeking good" yogurt, banana split, Boston cream pie, ice cream with brownies and cottage cheese cake, chocolate therapy, coffee flavor, cinnamon, peaches, zucchini, pistachio, Scotch whiskey, pina colada , coconut, lemon and mango. Nothing is easy, and the vanilla at Ben & Jerry's isn't just plain vanilla either, it's vanilla with imagination.
The book was written in 1994 Ben & Jerry's: The Inside Scoop, which chronicles the timelines that marked Ben & Jerry's ice cream and focuses on "how two men built an empire with social responsibility and a sense of humor."
More words would be superfluous. And even if the cold is coming with this story, the ice cream smells right, doesn't it?
