Ben & Jerry's: The Inside Scoop : How Two Real Guys Built a Business with a Social Conscience and a Sense of Humor
- Book Review,
by FRED LAGER
From Booklist
While Ben & Jerry's is one of the leading innovative and socially responsible businesses, this tale is as much an example to young entrepreneurs of what not to do as it is a model of exactly what to do. Lager, former CEO of Ben & Jerry's, was one of the company's early players, leaving in the 1990s, and he writes a captivating story about the $200 million, publicly traded enterprise, which originated in a rehabbed gas station where its founding fathers once ate saltines and sardines and slept on freezer chests all winter to be able to open by spring. Ben Cohen's dedication, marketing brilliance, and creativity and Jerry Greenfield's burnout, resignation from the company, and return are all faithfully documented, along with the dedication of the production workers to the ideal that has characterized Ben & Jerry's. Lager captures the sense of humor that kept the company going through rough times, but that humor dissipates into whining when the author reaches the years when he and Ben were at ideological odds. Those few chapters aside, this business history will be an inspiration to those struggling with their own young businesses as well as a great read for those who just love ice cream. Caroline Andrew
From Kirkus Reviews
An insider's engagingly informal history of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., a Vermont-based enterprise known for its scrumptious ice cream, profitable growth, and idiosyncratic brand of socioeconomic responsibility. Lager starts with a once-over-lightly version of how two childhood pals, Ben Cohen (a Colgate dropout) and Jerry Greenfield (an Oberlin grad who couldn't gain admission to med school), joined forces to open an ice cream parlor in an abandoned gas station in Burlington, Vt., in the spring of 1978. Against the odds, their venture prospered, and in 1982 the countercultural founders persuaded the author (an MBA who then owned a local nightclub) to give them a hand. He stayed until 1990, retiring as CEO in his 30s while remaining on call as a consultant and member of the publicly held company's board of directors. Despite its lucrative niche in the super-premium sector of the ice-cream market, enviable income statements, and attention-grabbing promotional campaigns that have helped make the corporate name recognizable on Wall Street as well as in New Age circles, Ben & Jerry's was by no means an overnight success. Initially, Lager makes clear, expansion capital was hard to come by; in addition, the fledgling firm had to compete with the formidable likes of Pillsbury (H„agen-Dazs) and Kraft (Frusen Gl„dj‚). While the entrepreneurial principals earned a well- deserved reputation for hang-loose management, they worked long and hard to gain acceptance in mainstream retail outlets. Nor, by the author's authoritative account, was the company's high-profile commitment to a two-part bottom line (which measures not only financial results but also the degree to which concern for the community figures in business decisions) reached without often acrimonious debate. A diverting take on a flourishing concern that, if not precisely a commercial paradigm, does its own thing with considerable style and gusto. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Book Description
The former CEO of Ben & Jerry's tells how two '60s holdovers built a single ice cream store into one of America's hottest companies. "Deftly and compassionately captures [Ben's] genius in all its entrepreneurial splendor...This tale will keep you entertained."--New York Times Book Review.
From the Inside Flap
The former CEO of Ben & Jerry's tells how two '60s holdovers built a single ice cream store into one of America's hottest companies. "Deftly and compassionately captures [Ben's] genius in all its entrepreneurial splendor...This tale will keep you entertained."--New York Times Book Review.
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