Ben & Jerry's: Vermont's Finest

Ben & Jerry's:

Vermont's Finest

PSY 320: Human Motivation

Ben & Jerry's: Vermont's Finest

All it takes is a dream, two boyhood friends, and a handful of startup cash. An empire was born on May 5th, 1978, in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont; it was called Ben & Jerry's. Their investment in the business was $12,000, with $4,000 from loans. (http://www.benjerry.com/our_company/about_us/our_history/timeline) On April 12th, 2000, Ben & Jerry announced the sale of Ben & Jerry's to Dutch-owned Unilever for $326 million. Here is a look at the history of how two friends went from small business owners to international recognition as ice cream moguls. This is a look into success from a background of the industry, to corporate culture and management, and finally to the motivational strategies used.

Background of the Industry

A brief history of the business

Vermont natives and boyhood friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened their first homemade ice cream scoop shop in Burlington, Vermont. In 1980, they began packing and distributing their ice cream product into pint-sized containers for local grocery and "Mom & Pop" stores. The "Cowmobile" was born in 1986, a modified mobile home, as a unique cross-country marketing drive to distribute free scoops of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. In 1988, the Ben &