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Ice cream cools campus
By Jay Corn
Published:
Monday, March 29, 2004
Media Credit: Matthew Kaster
First-year student Andy Nere muted his "scream for ice cream" in a bowl of Cherry Garcia Thursday night in Halenbeck Hall, when Ben and Jerry of "Ben & Jerry´s Ice Cream" spoke.
Before ice cream icons Ben & Jerry took the stage 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Halenbeck Hall, the duo treated their audience to a pre-performance: an all-you-can-eat ice cream extravaganza. As giddy ticket holders moved along the 20-foot-long buffet-style ice cream station, cries of "I can't decide which ones to pick" and "There are way too many to chose from" could be heard from sweet-toothed fans.
After deciding on final selections, the audience settled into their seats to enjoy their hefty helpings of Cherry Garcia, Chunky Monkey, One Sweet Whirled (new) and Phish Food, showing no apprehension in combining two, three or even four flavors.
When the guests of honor entered the main gym, they were welcomed with a full-bellied, hearty round of applause. Jerry Greenfield took to the podium first, and launched into the chronology of how two seemingly average kids from Vermont were able to build one of the most successful private enterprises in United States history.
"We were basically sitting around one day thinking of good money-making ideas, and we decided that we'd make ice cream," Greenfield said. "We really were just a couple of hippies from Vermont, but Ben and I grew up together, and when we got this idea in our head, we just ran with it. We took a correspondence course on how to make ice cream from Penn State University, and we were so poor at the time we shared the course materials and did all the tests and stuff together. It was really easy, but it gave us the knowledge we needed to get things started."
The opening of their inaugural parlor, in what was at the time an abandoned gas station in the small city of Burlington, Vt., proved to be an immediate hit with the community and the University of Vermont student body. But they were only getting started on the road to fame and wealth.
"We discovered really quick that people in Vermont weren't buying much ice cream in the winter ... so we decided to start shipping our ice cream to grocery stores and convenience stores all over the state ... that was how we got our distribution started and things just took off from there," Greenfield said. "Ben had the idea to package and ship in pint sized containers, which was probably one of our best ideas, and stores were really impressed with our promise to buy our product back if it didn't sell. That was a really fun and productive time, and it really taught us a lot about how to run a successful business. I remember we ran one promotion that was based on temperature. The lower the temperature went, the lower the cost of our ice cream. That was one of our best ones ever, and ideas like that really carried us through times when we weren't so sure we'd make it."
Greenfield said that there have been many obstacles the duo has had to overcome, including competition against corporations such as Haagen Dazs and Pillsbury.
However, Greenfield insisted that from the outset, he and his partner have tried not to make profit their only focus and have made concentrated efforts to actively work for the promotion of social justice and political honesty.
"Ben and I are hippies from the '60s, and we really wanted to avoid becoming just another cog in the economic machine. We've always wanted Ben & Jerry's to be a company we can both be proud of, and I think we've done that."
With that, Ben Cohen took the stage to pick up where his other half had left off. Ben & Jerry are currently engaged in fighting for two causes they "whole-heartedly believe in." Cohen addressed both extensively.
The first is the pair's newly founded partnership with the Dave Matthews Band aimed at curbing the effects of global warming. In celebration of this partnership, the duo has introduced a new flavor appropriately named One Sweet Whirled. The audience was treated to the new flavor during the pre-performance activities, but Cohen had a topic on his mind he deemed just as pressing and important.
That subject was the upcoming presidential election and the impact that Cohen says this particular election will have on all Americans as well as the global community.
"This is the most important election in my lifetime," Cohen said. "Jerry and I are currently working to expose the lies of the Bush administration, including the recent signing of the Clean Water Act, which will in fact clear the way for chemical companies to dump an additional 20 tons of mercury into U.S. waters annually. For the first time in a long time, this election is putting us, the public, in a position to really do something important for both the country and the world."
Those sentiments prompted Ben & Jerry to sponsor a statue. Not just any statue, this particular stone statue depicts President Bush with his pants on fire (as in, "liar, liar, pants on fire"), and the duo has positioned the 50-foot statue on the back of a flatbed truck that is currently touring the country. The exact story behind the statue, and other political rhetoric can be found at Cohen's partnership Web site www.Themajority.org.
"We just want the government to stop letting money ruin their morals and values. Jerry and I have met some very prominent politicians and some powerful corporate CEOs, and for the most part we've found them to be genuinely good people," Cohen said. "The financial element just seems to poison the inherent goodness in them though, and that's what we're trying to stop. If government and big business could take a page out of our book and 'double dip' if you will, managing to keep their values, but making a profit at the same time, the country and the world would be much better off."
With that, the audience erupted into a chorus of applause, although a boo or two was heard, and the pair took questions from the audience. When asked if they enjoy eating their own ice cream, and if so what was their favorite, the pair chuckled, as did the audience, and after some thought came up with answers.
"I definitely do eat it, and I'd probably have to say Chunky Monkey would have to be one of my favorites. I like Phish Food too though," Cohen said.
"I'd have to say Cherry Garcia is mine," Greenfield said to a round of applause. "It was one of our earlier inventions, and it's stuck around. For good reason, too, I think."
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