A KosherEye Chat with Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream

Some excerpts from our correspondence with the office of Liz Stewart, PR Extraordinaire, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.

When and why did the label become kosher certified?
Jerry himself replied to KosherEye:
"We wanted to meet the needs of our customers. So Ben & Jerry's ice cream became Kosher at the time when we entered the NY City market in the mid 80s primarily because people asked for it. Plus, growing up on Long Island, Ben and I knew from Kosher." - Jerry

What are the 5 top selling ice cream flavors?
Our top 5 selling flavors are Cherry Garcia, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Half Baked, and Chunky Monkey (in no particular order).

How  often does the company introduce a new flavor and what are the criteria behind the naming and creating of the new flavor?
The company generally releases new flavors between February and April. There are also seasonal or limited time batches that come out at different points in the year.

Anything new in the pipeline?
In regard to new flavors, we really like our new flavors to be a surprise!

KosherEye would  like to share some interesting Ben & Jerry "factoids":
•  Ben & Jerry's was the first brand-name ice cream to be taken into space aboard the Space Shuttle.

•  Ben & Jerry's protests New Hampshire's Seabrook nuclear power plant with a Boston billboard declaring, "Stop Seabrook. Keep our customers alive and licking."

•  1992 – Take a Stand for children: Ben & Jerry's joins in a cooperative campaign with the national non-profit Children's Defense Fund; the campaign goal is to bring children's basic needs to the top of the national agenda. Over 70,000 postcards are sent to Congress concerning kids and other national issues.

•  1994 –  Ben & Jerry's begins a two-pronged national search for a new CEO, by hiring a search firm and by holding a "YO! I'm Your CEO!" contest inviting 100 word applications from anyone interested in the job (First Prize) or in a lifetime supply of ice cream (Second Prize). Over 22,000 applications (many of them bizarre) flood the company's headquarters in Waterbury, Vermont.

•  2004 – In an effort to drive voter turnout among young people, Ben & Jerry's partners with Rock the Vote. RTV street teams leveraged the long lines of customers on Free Cone Day to register voters. Over 11,000 voters were registered on Free Cone Day. The biggest one day grassroots registration in Rock the Vote's history!

July 17, 2011