Ben & Jerry's is a leading producer and distributor of ice cream in the United States today. The HSagen-Dazs ice cream company is its leading rival, and the only company that is ahead of Ben & Jerry's in terms of sales. Ben & Jerry's started as a rather unusual company with an unusual philosophy, and it has been this philosophy which has boosted the company into its leading position -- it delivers a high quality product from a personally-owned-and-operated business with a family atmosphere for employees and customers alike. It is this underlying difference between Ben & Jerry's and most other companies that has been much noted in the press, by customers, and even by rivals. Ben & Jerry's is likely to give its competition a strong fight over the next several years because of its image, its product, and its success to date -- a success which has given it a certain momentum.
One of the most successful enterprises in the food business in recent years has been Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., a producer and distributor of ice cream and related products. The company has risen to number two in this business, just behind Grand Metropolitan's HSagen-Dazs, and Ben & Jerry's had 38.6 percent of the 1992 market for super premium ice cream. Ben & Jerry's also has 95 franchised and 4 company-owned ice cream shops across the country. The number one flavor for the company is Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and this product accounted for 17 percent of 1992 sales.
The company was started by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in 1978. They started the company in a vacant gas station with $12,000 as an initial investment. They also had committed themselves to stay in business for one year. The first franchise was opened in 1981, and distribution started outside the home state of Vermont in 1983. The image that Ben & Jerry's has projected is of "two ordinary guys" who started a company on a shoestring and built it into a multimillion dollar operat...