European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 21, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Scooping their Way to Success by Nancy Shulins associated Pressi t was t the Prospect of allure thai bothered Bonnet Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Burlington. I. Success was the problem. The had after All racked up an impressive array of flops Ovar the course of a 20-year Friendship Ormed Between the two Latles. Slowest Guys in their seventh Grade gym class and cemented through four nerdy Girlfriend less years of High school Jerry s failure to get Inlo medical school and Ben s career As College dropout janitor and Potter. Then the iwo friends set out to create a modest ice Cream shop and wound up Wim the America s third largest super Premium ice Cream company right behind Haage Boazs and Frusen Glade. It did t happen overnight of course. Bui Success sort of snuck up on Ben and Jerry and with it came trauma. Two or three years into this there Cama a Day when i had to look Ayseh in he Eya and say i m not an ice Cream Man anymore. I m a businessman " recalls Ben the company s president. It was a real bitter  Biller. Because Ben and Jerry grew up during the 60s, backpacks were in " Mas were out " old value die hard. The Prospect of Success in business literally sent Jerry packing. He moved to Arizona for Zofi years leaving Ben behind to contemplate Selling the company. Thai s when i realized i had another option says Ben i though in i can create a business with no negative things a business that s a positive Force there d be nothing wrong Wilh  and that ice Cream lovers is Why they do things a bit differently Al ban & Jerry s homemade inc. Perhaps the Only $30 million business in the urn led Stales run by two Guys who Don t own a Suil yes $30 million a sales is what Ben & Jerry s expects to hit this year provided America s insatiable appetite for Premium and super Premium ice Cream continues As predicted Market research shows sales of top of the line ice creams rising by 133 percent a year headed Lor $3 4 billion by 1990. According to find sep a new York based firm As Many As 14 super Premium ice creams Are now competing Lor the same space in supermarket freezers Many like Sieve s homemade ice Cream tic launched 15 years ago by a former cab Driver n som Ervite. Mass. Are regional companies that started Small and Are now expanding to fill the growing demand Tor High Quality ice Cream. Premium and super Premium ice creams contain less air and More til Terlato than Garden variety supermarket ice creams which can contain up to 50 percent air and weigh As Little As 4w pounds per gallon. Sen & Jerry s lips the Scales at 7 pounds and contains Only 17 percent air. Ben & Jerry s aficionados lend to talk less about Butts real and air than they do about say the whits and dark chocolate chunks pecans walnuts and chocolate covered almonds in new York super fudge chunk or the big cherries and chocolate chunks in Cherry Garcia iwo of the company s 39 flavors. But it s not just unusual flavors that sets ban 4 Jerry s apart. Each year 7vi percent of pretax protits is donated to Charity. Corporate America considers 2 per cell to be real generous Ben says. One in every 100 Vermont households owns a piece of the company which went Public three years ago with an equity offering Mada available first to vermonters Ihen to the rest of the nation. And neither the company s president nor ils director of Mobile  As Jerry is calling himself this week earns More than $60,000, and nobody earns less than $12,000 no one deserves to make the kind of Money big business people make says Ben who still lives in a rented apartment. At 37, he s bearded and balding with thoughtful Blue eyes and the first Blush of a summer sunburn. He arrives Lor an interview sporting a shiny new set of wheels. Two wheels not four. The bicycle turns out to be his Only major Purchase since becoming an ice Cream magnate. Jerry dark haired outgoing and rumpled arrives in a Green to shirt bearing the company logo a Herd of holsteins on a Field of Green grass with Blue sky and Clouds overhead. The need Lesa of youth is Long gone As arc most of the extra pounds although both sport slight ice Cream bellies and either can Point Oul the Best local sources of French tries tried hot dogs and other junk food standbys. The intensity of their ice Cream can be attributed to Ben s underdeveloped taste buds which in turn can be traced to his Mother s cooking. Ben was the Only kid in our school who thought school Tood was Good says Jerry. To describes Ben As the creative one. The risk taker the perfectionist Jerry says Ben is a great Boss a team player a Good coach " Jerry was the Good student. Ben the underachiever. Despite being voted most Likely to succeed in sixth Grade in was t Success Ben seemed headed for in 77 when he teamed up with his pal Jerry a former lab technician. They pooled their $6.000 savings borrowed $2.000 from Ben s father and Sot about fulfilling their boyhood dream of starting their own business. Their plan was of bring some son of big City Lood to a Small College Lown after Long Debales about shish Kebab and Fondue. They narrowed their choices to ice Cream and bagels in Burlington or Saratoga Springs. . Like most of their decisions this one proved serendipitous. While they were thinking things Over some Guy in Saratoga opened an ice Cream shop they then Learned that the requisite Bagel making machinery Cost $40.000. Jony Qreen Leld left and Bennett Cohan Bounden at ban Jerry homemade inc., in front of to Filer com oblate in Burlington. I. So much for Markel research with a $5 correspondence course in ice Cream making under their rapidly expanding belts they patched the roof of an abandoned Burlington Gas station and opened their scoop shop on May 5,1978. Times being Tough they Ollen were forced to rely on whatever Iree samples came in that Day s mail. This led to some memorable experiments Lemon Peppermint Carob Chip Ben recalls. Honey Apple Raisin oreo.  still they made far More Good ice Cream than bad. And the shop was an immediate hit. Bui despite the endless lines that formed outside the Gas station they barely eked Oul a living that year or the next. When area restaurants began clamouring for their ice Cream Ben packed tip a styrofoam in cooler loaded it into his aging Volkswagen Squar Eback and began speeding around the slate making deliveries. Eventually it dawned on him thai he was driving past an awful lot of supermarkets on his daily rounds. They borrowed $15,000 from the Small business administration and in 1980 began manufacturing ice Cream in pints. Their growth Rale Ever since 100 percent a year. Ben & Jerry s ice Cream is now available in 35slales. The Gas Lalion is Long gone now. Replaced by three company owned stores in Burlington Waterbury and Montpelier and a growing array of franchise shops 29 Al last count with 10 More due to open by year s end. The original 5-gallon Rock Sall and Ica Freezer has been supplanted by a gleaming factory in Waterbury that churns out 17,000 Gallons a Day. But the Ben & Jerry s philosophy has t changed. As the company has grown and prospered. Vermonters have prospered along with it As have school kids old people Farmers and the unemployed. The decision to spurn venture capital in Lavor of Selling shares to vermonters has proven a sound one our advisers said it was a stupid Ihms to  says Ben. But we really wanted the Community to become the  Ben remains control of 30 percent of the Slock. Jerry owns 10 percent the Ben & Jerry s foundation established Wilh  irom inc initial Stock offering has helped fund everything irom cooperative Day care coolers to Job retraining programs As Well As com Mummy celebrations and cultural events last year the Loun Dalion awarded Grants totalling $140.000 and the company gave away s160.000 world of ice Cohen handing in on Oltha fax tit at let erf am Plant in Watert Mary Vlha 0 company Pomata. Pagan the stars and stripes Friday augus