Ben & Jerry’s

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets

By Darra Goldstein

Published 2015

  • About

Ben & Jerry’s is now an internationally recognized ice cream business, but that was not part of Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield’s career plan when they were growing up on Long Island, New York. In fact, they had no career plan. After college, each considered different options before deciding to go into business together. Starting a bagel company was their first choice. They planned to deliver fresh bagels, lox, cream cheese, and the New York Times to customers every Sunday morning. However, after they learned how steep the start-up costs would be, they opted for ice cream.