Ben & Jerry’s is an independent ice cream producer based out of Burlington, Vermont.
Founded in 1978 by two childhood friends, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield had very
little experience in the making of ice cream and
...
Ben & Jerry’s is an independent ice cream producer based out of Burlington, Vermont.
Founded in 1978 by two childhood friends, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield had very
little experience in the making of ice cream and started off their business by initially
borrowing
$4000.00 and putting in $8000.00 of their own savings. From its start as a simple ice
cream scoop shop, Ben & Jerry’s has been steadily gaining market share to where today
the little company from Burlington Vermont is considered one of the leaders in the super
premium ice cream market in both Boston and New York City (Cummings & Worley,
2009).
In addition to being involved in the super premium ice cream market competition
against Häagen-Dazs - run by Pillsbury, Frusen Glädjé - run by Kraft and Steve's Ice Cream -
based out of Boston, Ben & Jerry’s has over 80 ice cream scoop shop franchises and
distributes their product throughout the United States. Ben & Jerry’s company headquarters
and manufacturing facility located in Burlington have become synonymous with the state of
Vermont and has become the second largest tourist attraction for the state, attracting over
600,000 visitors per year (Cummings & Worley, 2009).
Ben & Jerry’s organizational culture was originally designed to be very different
when compared to any other corporate culture found in the United States. One of the keys to
the Ben & Jerry’s culture is the belief that a business draws from its local community.
Because of this link the company has an obligation to give something back to the local
community in appreciation of the received support. Ben & Jerry’s supports its local
community by only using Vermont based dairies as its milk suppliers and it is heavily
involved with local charities. Also, when it came time to expand the business, instead of
going through venture capitalists for its funds, Ben and Jerry instead offered and sold stock
options by going door to door to local Vermonters. Having
[Show More]
.png)
