Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were both born in Brooklyn, New York in 1951. They met one another at junior high school in Merrick, New York, which is located on Long Island and eventually graduated from the same high school, Calhoun High, also in Merrick.

Ben was the first of the two to get a taste of working with ice cream. His first experience came during his senior year in high school, Ben was both an ice cream man and also a worked in the freezer box (Cohen, 1997).

Jerry's first experience in the ice cream industry came while he was enrolled in college at Oberlin University in Ohio (Greenfield, 1997). Jerry was an ice cream scooper in the school's cafeteria. After graduating from Oberlin, Jerry applied to medical school. He did not get accepted, so he got a job in New York City. He eventually reunited and lived with his old friend Ben.

Ben, on the other hand, attended Colgate University but dropped out after his first year and a half. After this happened, he got back into the ice cream business as an ice cream man. He later attempted college again, unsuccessfully. He held several jobs and explored a few things after this experience.

In 1977, Ben and Jerry moved to Vermont together and completed a $5 mail in course in ice cream-making (Timeline, 1997). This was the unofficial start of their ice cream careers together. In 1978, they made their offical start as they opened up their very own Ben & Jerry's Homemade ice cream shop in Burlington, Vermont. This shop was instantly successful. Ben and Jerry were gaining popularity for their ice creams' rich, bizarre flavors. Right now, Ben & Jerry's Homemade was primarily a local establishment, but as their business increased they had other ideas. So, in 1980, they decided to rent space to begin packaging their fantastic flavors in pints for sales (Timeline, 1997). The next year, they expanded their pint packing sales. Eventually, they opened their first franchise in Shelburne, Vermont. As this happened, Time Magazine featured Ben and Jerry on their cover story and named their ice cream "the best in the world."

The popularity of Ben and Jerry's ice cream was snowballing and in 1983 Ben and Jerry's first out of state franchise opened in Maine. This was just the beginning of their huge success to come. With their pint sales increasing, so was their distribution channel. At this time, Ben and Jerry eventually started selling stock in their company in hopes of buying a new manufacturing facility to mass produce their popular ice cream. In 1985, as Ben & Jerry's ice cream was beginning to get national media exposure, this is the same year that their new manufacturing plant and company headquarters opened. Ben and Jerry are now, at this time, starting to realize that they are becoming a big time company. Their ice cream sales grow to over $13 million over the past two years (Timeline, 1997).

Over the next few years, Ben and Jerry accepted new names to flavors of ice cream from their own fans, and are willing to try new combinations of flavors from anybody who offers suggestions. Ben and Jerry want to stay popular with the people that helped build their own company from scratch. To show their appreciation, Ben and Jerry agree to give away a stunning 7.5% of its pretax profits (Kadlec, 1997).

Ben and Jerry keep on developing new ideas of how their company can help the people of their community besides only giving money. They do various things such as, offering voter registration at their shops and by volunteering at times of need. Imagine two multi-millionaires helping flip burgers and selling hot dogs in their shorts and T-shirts to help their community. These men enjoy doing anything; they always seem to seek a way to make it fun and meaningful somehow.

As Ben and Jerry enter the 1990's, they opened up more stores all over the Northeast. They decided to expand their product line from ice cream, to novelties and sorbet, and to frozen yogurt. They eventually transferred their more popular flavors to the yogurt line. In 1992, Ben & Jerry's opened up in Russia. Ben was there in person to participate in the opening ceremony of the scoop shop and manufacturing facility in Petrozavodsk, Karelia (Timeline, 1997). In 1994, the company began distributing pints in the United Kingdom. This was the same year that the company decided that they wanted to find a new CEO. The next year they named a new CEO, Robert Holland.

From aiding the suppliers of their milk to produce hormone free milk to firing a hired top executive for attempting to buy less from the people they donate their time and money to, Ben and Jerry are always looking to for a way to keep providing "ice cream for the people" (Taylor, 1997). They want to keep on doing things for the people while keeping very high standards. These two men took a street side ice cream shop and turned it into a significant way to help the people. They feel that business has a responsibility to give back to the community, but they give far more than the average. Their 7.5% that they contribute is a far cry higher than the average of 2% that companies their size contribute. By the way, Ben and Jerry are always looking for cool new flavors and names for these flavors, so send them any recommendations.

Kadlec, Daniel, (1997). The New World of Giving: Companies Are Doing More Good, and Demanding More Back. Time, 1-4.

Taylor, Alex , (1997). Yo Ben! Yo Jerry! It's Just Ice Cream! Fortune, 1-3.

Vermont's Finest Timeline, "http://www.BENJERRY.COM/library/timeline.htm"

Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's, "http//www.BENJERRY.COM/library/ben-bio.htm"

Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's, "http//www.BENJERRY.COM/library/jerry-bio.htm"

General questions regarding these web page assignment can be directed to Gerard Kickul.