Failed professionals started handmade icecream craze
Failure Found to Be an “Essential Prerequisite” for Success
Ben & Jerry founded billion dollar ice cream brand Ben & Jerry Ice Cream. They started it after both failed as professionals. Making ice cream was also a Bencompromise against making bagels.
Ben and Jerry studied in the same school. They were classmates. After the school Ben tried to become a potter, while Jerry wanted to become a doctor. Both failed. They decided to start a handmade icecream business. They did a correspondence course of ice cream making. They learnt doing business from Small Business Association. Ben & Jerry became the top selling brand in the USA. They also take pride in sharing their prosperity with the stakeholders.
Founder Jerry shared in an interview: What Ben didn’t mention was that we were both fat, dumpy kids growing up, and we liked to eat. So we knew we wanted to do something with food. We thought about a whole bunch of different types of foods — bagels, fondue, some others.
Ben & Jerry pioneered corporate social responsibility. They inspire similar second acts such as Halo Top, another ice cream brand. Today Halo Top is USA’s number one ice cream brand.
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