Ben & Jerry’s is an American ice-cream brand best known for its chunky, highly indulgent flavors, distinctive packaging, playful brand personality, and unusually prominent social-justice activism. Founded in 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in Burlington, Vermont, the company grew from a small scoop shop into a global premium ice-cream brand sold in more than 45 countries. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Unilever in 2000, while retaining a special governance structure intended to protect its social mission and brand integrity.1

The current CEO is Jochanan Senf, who assumed the role in July 2025 after holding several leadership positions within Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s.

Basic Information

Founding: 1978

Ben & Jerry’s began with Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, two childhood friends who decided to start an ice-cream business after considering various career paths.

Neither initially had extensive experience in the ice-cream industry. They completed a $5 correspondence course in ice-cream making from Penn State and invested $12,000—$4,000 of which was borrowed—to open their first shop.

Their first store opened in 1978 in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont.

From the beginning, the company attempted to differentiate itself through unusually rich ice cream containing large amounts of chunks, pieces, and swirls. This eventually became one of the defining characteristics of the brand.

Free Cone Day

In 1979, Ben & Jerry’s celebrated its first anniversary by giving customers free ice cream. This became the beginning of Free Cone Day, which developed into one of the company’s best-known traditions. The event helped reinforce the brand’s image as informal, community-oriented, and fun.

Expansion during the 1980s

During the 1980s, Ben & Jerry’s expanded beyond its original Vermont shop and developed a national reputation. The company experimented with unusual marketing and business practices. In 1984, it even used a Vermont-only public stock offering to raise money for a new manufacturing facility.

The brand also became increasingly associated with social causes. In 1985, the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation was established, with funding tied to the company’s profits and intended to support community-oriented projects.

One of Ben & Jerry’s biggest competitive advantages has always been its approach to flavor development. Instead of positioning ice cream primarily around simplicity or traditional flavors, the company emphasized extreme indulgence: large cookie pieces, brownies, chocolate chunks, caramel, fudge, nuts, fruit pieces, and elaborate swirls.

This produced the distinctive Ben & Jerry’s formula:

Ice cream + chunks + swirls + unusual names + pop culture

Some of its most recognizable flavors include:

• Cherry Garcia — cherry ice cream with cherries and fudge flakes.
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough — vanilla ice cream with chocolate-chip cookie dough pieces.
• Phish Food — chocolate ice cream with marshmallow and caramel swirls and fudge pieces.
• Chunky Monkey — banana ice cream with chocolate chunks and walnuts.
• Half Baked — a combination involving chocolate and vanilla ice creams, cookie dough and brownie pieces.
• The Tonight Dough — a flavor associated with The Tonight Show and host Jimmy Fallon.

The company says Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough was first created in its Burlington scoop shop in 1984 after an anonymous suggestion was left on the shop’s suggestion board; it was eventually released in pint form in 1991.

Cherry Garcia

Cherry Garcia is arguably one of the most iconic examples of Ben & Jerry’s brand strategy. Introduced in 1987, it was named after Jerry Garcia, the guitarist and singer of the Grateful Dead. The idea originated with two Grateful Dead fans who suggested the name. It became the first ice-cream flavor named after a rock musician.

The flavor demonstrated something that would become central to Ben & Jerry’s marketing: using culture, celebrities, humor, and personality to make an ordinary supermarket product feel culturally relevant.

Perhaps the most important thing distinguishing Ben & Jerry’s from conventional ice-cream brands is its three-part mission. The company describes its philosophy as “linked prosperity”—the idea that the company’s success should benefit multiple groups connected to the business rather than shareholders alone.

Product mission

The first component is to make excellent ice cream. Ben & Jerry’s describes this as making and selling high-quality ice cream and “euphoric concoctions,” while attempting to use ingredients and business practices consistent with its environmental values.

Economic mission

The company also needs to be financially successful. Its economic mission is based on sustainable and profitable growth, creating value for stakeholders and providing opportunities for employees.

Social mission

The third component is the most unusual. Ben & Jerry’s explicitly says its business should be used to improve people’s quality of life and address social problems. Its stated values include:

• Human rights and dignity
• Social and economic justice
• Environmental protection and restoration
• Racial justice
• Climate justice
• LGBTQ+ rights
• Fairness and equity

The company describes itself as a progressive, nonpartisan social-mission business.3

Activism and politics

Ben & Jerry’s has become one of the most politically outspoken major consumer brands in the world. Rather than treating corporate social responsibility primarily as philanthropy, the company frequently uses its products, advertising, packaging, website, social-media presence, and corporate voice to advocate for causes. Its stated areas of concern include LGBTQ+ rights, Fairtrade, climate change, climate justice, racial justice, and economic justice.24

This has resulted in a brand identity that is substantially different from traditional food companies. For Ben & Jerry’s, activism is not presented as a separate charitable program. It is intended to be part of the company’s identity and business model. The company’s own description summarizes this philosophy as using business as a force for social change.2

Purpose-driven flavors

Ben & Jerry’s has repeatedly used flavors as vehicles for social messages. Examples include:

• Pecan Resist — associated with resistance to inequality and injustice.
• Justice ReMix’d — connected to criminal-justice reform.
• Change Is Brewing — associated with racial justice.
• Save Our Swirled — used to raise awareness around climate change.

This strategy is unusual because the product itself becomes part of the company’s activism. Instead of simply saying “we support this cause,” Ben & Jerry’s can create a product, name it around the issue, promote it publicly, and connect sales and awareness to an advocacy campaign.

A major turning point occurred in 2000, when Ben & Jerry’s became a wholly owned subsidiary of Unilever.

At first glance, the acquisition created a potential contradiction. Ben & Jerry’s had built its identity around progressive activism and an unconventional corporate philosophy, while Unilever was a huge multinational corporation. However, the acquisition agreement included a distinctive governance arrangement. Ben & Jerry’s says an independent Board of Directors was established to focus specifically on preserving and expanding the company’s:

• Social mission
• Brand integrity
• Product quality

This arrangement was designed to protect the elements that made Ben & Jerry’s different from an ordinary corporate brand.

According to Unilever’s filings, the Ben & Jerry’s board includes independently appointed directors and retains primary responsibility for the brand’s social mission and brand integrity. This gives the Ben & Jerry’s brand a degree of institutional independence over matters related to its mission.

Although Ben & Jerry’s is primarily associated with ice cream pints, the brand has developed a much broader portfolio. Its products include:

• Pint-sized ice cream
• Non-dairy frozen desserts
• Scoop-shop ice cream
• Ice-cream cakes and desserts
• Single-serving products
• Ice-cream novelties
• Large food-service tubs
• Other frozen dessert formats

The brand now offers products in dairy and non-dairy formats, as well as gluten-free options. Unilever reported that Ben & Jerry’s had more than 98 flavors across its range in FY2024.

Non-dairy ice cream

Ben & Jerry’s has also expanded significantly into plant-based frozen desserts. Its non-dairy products are designed to reproduce the company’s signature formula of rich bases, chunks, swirls, and elaborate flavors without conventional dairy ingredients. This allows the brand to reach consumers who avoid dairy while maintaining the indulgent identity that distinguishes Ben & Jerry’s.

Ingredient philosophy and sourcing

Ingredients are an important part of Ben & Jerry’s social-mission model. The company says purchasing decisions can be used to create social and environmental benefits. Its sourcing initiatives include working with suppliers and social enterprises that align with its values. The company has also highlighted:

• Fairtrade sourcing
• Sustainable agriculture
• Supplier diversity
• Family farming
• Animal welfare
• Environmental sustainability
• Reduced environmental impact

Ben & Jerry’s says it aims to use purchasing power to support positive change throughout its supply chain.

Environmental commitments

Environmental issues are another major part of the brand’s mission. Ben & Jerry’s identifies environmental protection, restoration, and regeneration as one of its three major progressive values. Its environmental initiatives have included work around:

• Climate change
• Sustainable agriculture
• Soil health
• Packaging
• Energy efficiency
• Waste reduction
• Sustainable dairy farming

The company also says that environmental issues are closely connected to social and economic justice because climate impacts are not distributed equally among communities.

Ben & Jerry’s marketing is highly distinctive. The brand generally avoids the image of a traditional luxury food company. Instead, it combines humor + colorful artwork + unusual names + pop culture + activism + indulgence.

Its packaging is particularly recognizable. Ben & Jerry’s pints traditionally feature colorful illustrations, playful typography, and imagery related to the flavor. The packaging helps make the product recognizable even before consumers read the logo. The names are also deliberately memorable, creating a personality around the product.

Global expansion

Ben & Jerry’s gradually expanded from Vermont to the wider United States and then internationally. Today, the brand is sold in more than 45 countries, according to Unilever’s reporting. It has developed particularly strong recognition in markets such as:

• United States
• United Kingdom
• Europe
• Australia
• Canada
• Various Asian markets, including Singapore4

International expansion required the company to adapt flavors, packaging, distribution and marketing to different markets while maintaining the recognizable Ben & Jerry’s identity.

Business scale

Despite its unconventional image, Ben & Jerry’s is a substantial global business. Unilever reported that Ben & Jerry’s generated approximately €1.1 billion in revenue in FY2024. The filing also described it as the second-largest ice-cream brand by sales in the United States and the third-largest in the United Kingdom.

Relationship with Unilever’s ice-cream business

Unilever has been separating its ice-cream business from the rest of the company. In 2025–2026 corporate filings, the ice-cream business has been described as a distinct global group containing major brands including Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum, Cornetto, Breyers, Klondike, and Popsicle.

When discussing Ben & Jerry’s today, it is useful to distinguish Ben & Jerry’s (the brand) from the larger corporate ice-cream group (its parent/corporate structure). The precise corporate ownership structure has been changing as part of Unilever’s ice-cream separation.

• 1978 — Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield open their first ice-cream shop in Burlington, Vermont.
• 1979 — First Free Cone Day.
• 1984 — Vermont public stock offering helps fund expansion.
• 1985 — Ben & Jerry’s Foundation established.
• 1987 — Cherry Garcia introduced.
• 1991 — Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough released in pint form.
• 1997 — Phish Food introduced.
• 2000 — Ben & Jerry’s becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Unilever, with a special independent-board structure.
• 2018 — Pecan Resist launched.
• 2019 — Justice ReMix’d launched.
• 2021 — Change Is Brewing launched as part of the company’s racial-justice work.
• 2025 — Jochanan Senf becomes CEO.
• 2026 — Ben & Jerry’s remains a major global premium ice-cream brand within the evolving Unilever ice-cream corporate structure.

Ben & Jerry’s started as two friends selling ice cream from a renovated gas station in Vermont in 1978 and developed into one of the world’s most recognizable premium ice-cream brands. Its success isn’t based only on taste. The company deliberately built a distinctive combination of indulgent products, memorable flavor names, colorful packaging, humor, pop culture, activism, and social purpose.

Its three-part mission—product, economic, and social—is central to how the company describes itself. Today, Ben & Jerry’s is a global brand with sales exceeding €1 billion annually, a portfolio of dozens of flavors, distribution across more than 45 countries, and a corporate structure that gives its social mission and brand integrity unusual protection.

In that sense, Ben & Jerry’s is not simply an ice-cream company. It is a prominent example of a purpose-driven consumer brand that has attempted to make social activism part of its core business identity.

1. About Us
2. Activism
3. Ben & Jerry’s — Values & Activism
4. Ben & Jerry’s Singapore