History of Ben & Jerry's

Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were childhood friends born four days apart in 1951 in Brooklyn, New York. They met in 7th grade gym class in Long Island in 1963. They were the two slowest kids in class. Ben and Jerry moved to Vermont and completed a $5 correspondence course in ice cream-making from Penn State University. They remained friends though high school and both graduated from Merrick's Calhoun High in the late 1960s.

In May 1978, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, opened their first-ever ice cream parlor. They set up shop in a renovated gas station in Burlington with a $12,000 investment.

Ben & Jerry’s was originally going to be a bagel company, but Ben and Jerry found the bagel-making equipment to be too pricey. Their plan was to deliver bagels, lox, cream cheese, and the New York Times on Sunday mornings. Instead, they settled on ice cream.

They decided Burlington, Vt., was an ideal location for a scoop shop because it was a college town without an ice cream parlor. Ben & Jerry’s is a fast favorite among Vermonters and word travels far and wide. It was an immediate success and soon a favorite spot in Burlington. Greenfield made most of the ice cream, while Cohen handled all the other aspects of the operation.

In 1980 Ben and Jerry rent space in an old spool and bobbin mill on South Champlain Street in Burlington and begin packing their ice cream in pints. In 1983, the company opened its first non-Vermont franchise in Maine and signed a deal with a Boston distribution company.

Ben & Jerry's introduces Cherry Garcia® ice cream in 1987. Named for Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia at the suggestion of two "DeadHeads" from Portland, Maine, Cherry Garcia® becomes the first ice cream named for a rock legend.

In 2000 international food giant Unilever purchased the Ben & Jerry’s brand for $326 million.
History of Ben & Jerry's

Jacob Fussell - Father of the Ice Cream Industry

Jacob Fussell (1819-1912), a Quaker, was born in Little Falls, Hartford County, Maryland. He ran a four-route milk and cream delivery business in Baltimore selling "country fresh" dairy products from farms in York County.

He ran four routes throughout the city and always had a little milk and cream left over – from which he made small batches of ice cream.

Until 1800, ice cream remained a rare and exotic dessert enjoyed mostly by the elite. Around 1800, insulated ice houses were invented. Jacob Fussell was the first to make ice cream in large quantities and sell it at a low price. He set up America's first ice cream factory, in Pennsylvania.

At first, he made much of the ice cream himself, with the help of a few workers using hand-cranked machines. As someone who already had access to vast amounts of milk, he was able to increase his production and undercut the prices of his rivals.

He made his ice cream inexpensive and made it easy to buy by delivering it to the customer's door. Expanding production, he opened the first ice cream factory in Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania in 1851. Fussell was soon head of a formidable ice cream empire with factories across the eastern seaboard of the United States and is recognized as ‘the father of the wholesale ice cream industry’.
Jacob Fussell - Father of the Ice Cream Industry

Bennett Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream

Ben & Jerry’s Homemade ice cream has been pleasing customers since 1978. It is one of the most famous products to come from Vermont.

Bennett Cohen was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1951 and grew up in Merrick, Long Island. His parents were Irving and Frances Cohen.

As a high-school senior he got a job selling ice-cream from a truck in various neighborhoods in Merrick on Long Island where he grew up.

He eventually enrolled at Colgate University, but dropped out after a year and a half. He then attended Skidmore College, where he studied pottery and jewelry making.

After leaving Skidmore, he returned to New York City and continue studying ceramics while working a variety of part-time jobs including taxi-driver, delivery person and hospital emergency-room clerk.

In 1977, Ben left the school, and decided to go into business with an old high school friend, Jerry Greenfield.

They planned make and sell bagels, but when they learned how expensive the machinery would be, Ben and Jerry decided to try selling ice cream instead. So they took a correspondence course from Pennsylvania State University in ice-cream making.

A few months later they were selling Ben & Jerry’s homemade ice cream from a converted gas station in downtown Burlington. In 1981 the company opened a larger packing facility in South Burlington as well as its first franchise store in nearby Shelburne.
Bennett Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream