Ben & Jerry's

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, creator of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, first met in a junior High gym class at Merrick Avenue Middle School in New York. The two were both lagging behind while running, which caused the gym teacher to yell at them.  From there, the two became best friends.

Ben & Jerry originally considered getting into the bagel business, but the equipment was too expensive. Their plan was to deliver bagels, lox, cream cheese, and the New York Times on Sunday mornings.

Ben & Jerry taught themselves how to make ice cream through a $5 correspondence course from Penn State University and with the textbook Ice Cream by Wendall S. Arbuckle.

On May 5, 1978, with a $12,000 investment Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened an ice cream parlor in a renovated gas station in downtown Burlington, Vermont.

In 1983, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream was used to build “the world’s largest ice cream sundae” in St. Albans, Vermont; the sundae weighed 27,102 pounds (12,293 kg).

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream was invented by Ben and Jerry’s in 1984 after a fan anonymously listed it as an idea on their ‘flavor board.’

In 2005 Ben & Jerry's apologized for naming an ice cream flavor "Black & Tan". While intended to evoke the popular beer drink of the same name, the name unfortunately carried a harmful historical baggage in Ireland. The term "Black & Tan" was the nickname for a British paramilitary force deployed in Ireland during the Irish War of Independence from 1919 to 1921. 

Jerry of Ben & Jerry's has never come up with an ice cream flavor.

Ben and Jerry's sends the waste from making ice cream to local pig farmers to use as feed. Pigs love the stuff, except for one flavor: Mint Oreo.

Ben & Jerry's employees get to take home three free pints of ice cream every single day. They also get free gym membership.

Each Ben & Jerry Waffle Cone has an average of 259 little squares.

Ben and Jerry's used to have a policy that no employee could make more than five times what the lowest paid worker was paid.

Jerry Greenfield (left) and Ben Cohen (right) in 2010.

Ben & Jerry's get about 13,000 flavor suggestions a year.

Ben & Jerry's has a "flavor graveyard" where there are tombstones for earlier flavors that are no longer sold. You can actually go and visit it.

Ben Cohen has no sense of smell and gets his "food enjoyment" from texture. This is why the brand puts chunky ingredients in their ice cream.

Ben & Jerry's operates nowadays globally as a subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch Unilever conglomerate. Its headquarters is in South Burlington, Vermont, with its main factory in Waterbury, Vermont.