Ben & Jerry's Eco-Business

Founding and Early Days

• Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream was founded by two ex-hippies, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who took a $5 correspondence course before opening their first ice-cream shop in an abandoned garage.
• The company was founded on the principles of promoting social causes and respecting the environment.

Business Vision and Practices

• The company's vision included exotic ice-cream flavors, community involvement, unique advertising schemes, social activism, and green business practices.
• They served high-quality, all-natural ice cream with whimsical names like "Chocolate Therapy" and "Peace of Cake."
• They entertained customers with free movies, music, and craft festivals, and developed new flavors for special purposes.

Social and Environmental Initiatives

• The company donated 7.5% of their annual pre-tax revenues to community-based non-profit organizations.
• They started the One Percent for Peace Foundation, which aimed to re-direct 1% of the national defense budget to peace-oriented programs.
• They fought against the exploitation of workers both nationally and internationally.
• They supported initiatives like sustainable agriculture, solar power, and recyclable packaging.

Environmental Commitment

• The company reduced waste in their offices, and minimized toxic emissions in their production plants.
• They launched campaigns against environmental issues, such as bovine-growth-hormone supplementation in cows and nuclear weapons.
• They promoted green community initiatives, including sustainable agriculture and solar power.

Business Success

• The company's net sales reached $2.37 billion just before the acquisition by Unilever.
• The business expanded from a refurbished gas station to a multinational corporation with global reach.
• Ben & Jerry's struck a chord with a global market that was increasingly supportive of companies that gave back to the community and cared about the environment.