Mmmmmm, ice cream. It’s my happy food. You know, the food that you turn to at the end of a bad day that makes everything O.K.? Some use chocolate as their happy food but, I’ll take ice cream over chocolate any day and I don’t think I’m the only one. But, I am a little snooty about the ice cream I choose and Ben and Jerry’s is at the top of the list. So, I couldn’t very well drive by Waterbury Vermont (just outside of Burlington) without stopping at the Ben and Jerry’s factory. The rest of the family didn’t want to pass it by either.
left: The beautiful Vermont countryside on the drive from Burlington to Waterbury.
In 1977, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield paid $5.00 for a correspondence course in ice cream making from the University of Pennsylvania’s Creamery. Then, in 1978, opened their first ice cream parlor in a converted gas station in Burlington. Since then, the ice cream giant has been bought by Unilever Conglomerate and is now distributed worldwide.
right: In the early days, Ben and Jerry drove cross country offering scoops from their ice cream mobile. (The original one burned up on one of their cross country trips)
The tour of the factory included a video about the fascinating history of the business including their mission of socially responsibility, a guided tour of the facility and free samples of one of their new flavors, yum. And, of course, pints for purchase at the end.
Their marketing has always been as fun and innovative as their flavors and the factory tour was the same although photos were not allowed in the processing part of the plant. The guide gave an introduction before the tour which included the words “free sample” which caught the Lil’ Dudes ears. After that, he had a hard time focusing on the tour whispering in my ear every few minutes “when do we get the free sample?” I have to admit, I was a little distracted by that part too.
The free sample of the day was the new flavor Chocolate Nougat Crunch and it got the thumbs up from all of us, even the Big Dude (Mr. Picky). The top ten selling flavors were listed in the “Hall of Flavors” with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough coming in at #1, the Big Dudes favorite.
above: Our free sample of chocolate nougat crunch.
For the flavors that don’t “make it”, they get retired to the “flavor graveyard” on top of a grassy hill behind the factory. Unfortunately, one of my favorites, White Russian, turned up dead. But, even the dead ones go out with a flourish of fun with epitaphs describing their demise.
Our stop at the Ben and Jerry’s factory was interesting, fun and a hit with the whole family. And, as you can imagine, we all left HAPPY!
You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream!