Pitched Unfairly

Ben & Jerry'sHomemade Ice Cream Parlor

Homemade ice cream, in an old gas station.

Business plan · Burlington, Vermont · 1978

Ice Cream OPEN

01 · Customer and problem

Burlington is a college town with nowhere to get a cone.

Our customers are students, downtown workers, and every family that walks past College and St. Paul.

Where to open: the scorecard

  • A college townThe University of Vermont, up the hill Yes
  • An ice cream shopThat is the whole opportunity None
  • A building we can affordAn empty gas station, downtown Yes

02 · Product

Dense, homemade ice cream with chunks you can find.

Ben has almost no sense of smell, so he tastes in texture. Every chunk has to be big enough to notice.

03 · Market and location

One downtown corner, between the campus and the lake.

Corner of College and St. Paul. An empty gas station, renovated by the two of us.

1 2 3 4 5

04 · Competition

Our toughest competitor isn't another shop. It's January.

1979January

Walk-ins: brrr

  • Supermarket half-gallonsCheap, everywhere, and nothing to chew on.
  • Other desserts downtownFine, until you want something cold.
  • Doing nothingThe corner stays an empty gas station.

05 · How we'll sell

Our ad budget is a bedsheet and a brick wall.

  1. 1Free movies on the wallSummer nights, on the side of the building
  2. 2The line out the doorA line is the best sign we can paint
  3. 3Free cones on our birthdayMay 5, 1979. Everyone, all day

By correspondence

Ice Cream Making

Pennsylvania State University, Creamery

Students
Ben & Jerry
Tuition
$5.00
Completed

06 · Operations

Every batch is made in-house, by a $5 education.

  1. MixCream, sugar, eggs
  2. FreezeIn the back room
  3. ChunkBig ones, by hand
  4. ScoopOut the front window

07 · Team

One former ice cream man, one lab tech, friends since seventh grade.

Co-founder

Ben Cohen

Ice cream experience
Ice cream man, senior year of high school
Education
Four colleges, mostly pottery

Co-founder

Jerry Greenfield

Education
Oberlin College, 1973, pre-med
Since then
Lab technician. Medical school said no, twice

1963Seventh-grade gym class, Merrick, Long Island

08 · Financial plan: startup costs

We need $12,000 to open, and two-thirds is ours.

Your $4,000 is the last third. It turns a plan into a lease.

Sources of fundsAmount

Ben Cohen, savings$4,000.00

Jerry Greenfield, savings$4,000.00

Bank loan (this request)$4,000.00

Total$12,000.00

Uses of funds

Ice cream making course, Penn State, by mail$5.00

Renovating the gas station, a freezer, cream, sugar, cones, and everything else$11,995.00

Total$12,000.00

09 · Financial plan: break-even

Summer pays for winter, as long as summer sells enough cones.

Break-even115cones a day

Year one+$3,9966 months below the line

Illustrative assumptions, not the company's books: $0.15 of ingredients a cone, 30-day months, winter sells a fraction of July.

10 · Risks

Three things could sink us. We have a plan for each.

RiskLikelihoodWhat we'll do
The Vermont winter Certain When walk-ins slow, sell tubs to restaurants and stores, and deliver them ourselves.
A one-year lease Certain Keep the build-out cheap. Anything expensive has to be able to leave in a truck.
No business experience Also certain Learn one batch at a time. The course cost $5; the lessons are free.

11 · The ask

Lend us $4,000, and we open May 5.

  1. TodayA $4,000 loan, repaid from summer sales
  2. May 5, 1978Opening day at College and St. Paul
  3. May 5, 1979Our first birthday: free cones, all day