Ben & Jerry’s have been making great ice cream since the company was founded by school friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, back in 1978. Their aim is (and always has been!) to make the best possible ice cream, in the nicest possible way. They use Fairtrade certified ingredients, including sugar, cocoa, vanilla, bananas and coffee. Ben & Jerry's, a Vermont corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of Unilever since 2000, is available in 35 countries globally.
Ben & Jerry’s was the first ice cream company to use Fairtrade-certified ingredients. It positions itself as unconventional and quirky, with its fun flavour names, and it has strong sustainability credentials. The Ben & Jerry’s story began in 1978, when school friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened their first scoop shop in a renovated Vermont gas station. The brand was acquired by Unilever in 2000. It is available in 33 countries around the globe.
They also agreed that it was no fun being in business just to earn a living – they wanted to enjoy themselves and make a difference too.
In 1977 they enrolled in a $5 correspondence course in ice cream and a year later they started their Ben & Jerry’s business in a renovated petrol station. Their recipe was a sophisticated concoction: a blend of fresh Vermont milk, cream and generous portions of, well, whatever ingredients took their fancy on any given day.
In 1982 they moved to new premises and by 1986 it was time to open a new plant in Waterbury, Vermont. Over the years more and more people discovered the delights of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, until by the end of the 80s, they had over 80 ice cream scoop shops in 18 American states.
It was around about this time too that the best friends decided to put down their beliefs in writing, that making the best possible ice cream should be done in the nicest possible way, and created their three part mission statement – an approach to business that still lives strong today, evidenced most recently by the range becoming fully Fairtrade certified in 2011.
The following decade Ben & Jerry’s spread its wings and went global, popping up in the UK by 1994, then Ireland in 2000, closely followed by the rest of Europe.
With flavour names like Phish Food and Karamel Sutra, Ben & Jerry’s has built a reputation over the years as a fun-loving company with a unique and creative approach to business.
The company was acquired by Unilever in 2000, offering lovers of Ben & Jerry’s even more choice in more places.
Building on the success of the soft core range, 2015 has seen the launch of the Cookie Core – chunk-worthy cookie goodness surrounded by our famous Fairtrade ice cream. With Utter Peanut Butter Clutter, What-a-lotta Chocolate and Speculoos? Speculove, there’s a flavour to satisfy everyone’s cookie desires.
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