Ben and Jerry's

In 1978, two gentlemen from Vermont desired to produce a premium ice cream that they
decided to name after themselves - Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield - or Ben and Jerry's
Homemade. Sales have skyrocketed in the last twenty years, and Ben and Jerry now own
four company-owned stores and eighty-six franchise stores. They currently have a franchise
fee of $25,000, royalty fee of 4 percent, and a monthly fee used for advertising. Their total
investment runs between $175,000 and $200,000.
Since opening their shop in Burlington, Vermont, sales have climbed to over $200 million
with over 600 employees. What has been their marketing success? Ben and Jerry are both
creative in developing innovative flavors such as Cherry Garcia, Chocolate Chip Cookie
Dough, and Bain Forest Crunch. Their customers also know that 7.5 percent of Ben and
Jerrys pretax profits are donated to environmental and social causes. They had a company
policy in which the highest paid employee may not make more than seven times the lowest
paid worker.
In 1993, they faced stiff competition in the super premium ice cream category and following
their first loss since going public in 1984, they started to search for a new CEO to lead the
company to success. Ben and Jerry conducted their own CEO search in their own
formidable style. They developed an essay contest entitled, "Yo, I Am Your CEO." This
contest drew over 20,000 CEO hopefuls, but these energetic owners finally made a
conventional choice - they hired corporate turn-around consultant Robert Holland, Jr.

Case Questions
1. Develop a list of methods that you would use as a franchisee of Ben and Jerrys
Homemade for your local market.
2. Who is the target market for Ben and Jerry's Homemade?
3. Develop a marketing strategy which you would use as the local franchisee to market
Ben and Jerry's Homemade.
4. What are some of the best methods of advertising that Ben and Jerry's could use to
recruit additional end consumers?

Extracted from Judd RJ, Justis RT (2008), Franchising An Entrepreneurs Guide, 4e, Thomson, p.451

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