Hardware Podcasts

Ben & Jerry's: Ben Cohen And Jerry Greenfield (2017)

How I Built This · 23 Mar 2020 · 56m

What this episode covers

Founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield explain how they turned a $4,000 investment into the Ben & Jerry's ice cream empire, starting with a correspondence course and a quirky shop in Burlington, Vermont. They detail the strategic decision to package ice cream in pints to control portions, the 'What's the Doughboy Afraid of?' campaign against Pillsbury's distribution monopoly, and their eventual sale to Unilever while striving to maintain their social mission.

Most relevant to

founders before launch, companies scaling up and large enterprises

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Pillsbury, Unilever, Zipper Rescue
Products
Häagen-Dazs, Cherry Garcia
Also
Time magazine, SBA

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 50m

    #92 Behind the Dream [Pie] Collaboration of Ben & Jerry’s and Partake Foods with Marlo Giudice

    Marlo Giudice, VP of Strategic Channel Sales at Partake Foods, details how a cold email from 2020 led to a collaboration with Ben & Jerry’s, resulting in the 'Oatmeal Dream Pie' flavor. She explains the rigorous R&D process, the transition of Partake into an ingredient supplier, and the strategic value of partnering with a major enterprise like Unilever. Giudice also shares tips on outreach persistence and discusses Partake’s growth from a 3-person team to nearly 20 employees, with products in over 13,000 stores.

    Direct-to-consumer & e-commerceRetail, wholesale & distribution
    8 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 30m

    Founder Feature: Hannah Pollack of Nightingale Ice Cream

    Hannah Pollack, founder and CEO of Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwiches, discusses the brand's 10-year journey from a restaurant dessert to a nationally distributed frozen novelty. She explains the technical and logistical challenges of maintaining product integrity for ice cream during distribution, specifically contrasting their real ice cream with 'frozen dairy desserts' that use stabilizers to prevent melting. Pollack details their scaling strategy, including site visits to vet distribution partners and a new expansion into 175 Whole Foods center store locations, while emphasizing their commitment to sustainable sourcing and non-GMO ingredients.

    Manufacturing partners & offshoringMaterials & manufacturing processes
    8 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 29m

    Founder Feature: Sam Lejfer of Lucky Day

    Sam Lejfer, founder of Lucky Day, explains his decision to manufacture organic, allergen-free ice cream in-house rather than using contract manufacturers, citing the inability of co-packers to handle whole-food ingredients like hulled seeds without gums or seed oils. He details the choice of home-compostable, plastic-free packaging to avoid landfill waste and the strategic decision to remain small-scale in Boston to avoid the capital burn and reformulation compromises required by venture capital. Lejfer discusses how his personal health journey and severe food allergies drove the brand's clean-label philosophy, while outlining a slow-growth retail strategy focused on local Boston stores and farmers markets rather than national expansion or DTC shipping.

    Materials & manufacturing processesManufacturing partners & offshoring
    6 chapters

  • People of Packaging · 37m

    244 - Jody Polishchuk from Sundays on how they made the first zero sugar creme cookie

    Jody Polishchuk, founder of Sundays, discusses his journey from previous CPG ventures like The Juice Box and Yuga to creating the first zero-sugar creme cookie. He details the extensive R&D process, which involved three co-packers and three R&D teams over three years and $100,000, to replicate the taste of an Oreo without sugar. Polishchuk also explains his strategic decision to launch with a strong, affordable brand identity designed by Christine Brown and Django Jim, rather than spending heavily on a traditional agency.

    Starting a product companyMaterials & manufacturing processes
    7 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 31m

    Founder Feature: Elan Halpern & Kiki Couchman of Sourmilk

    Elan Halpern and Kiki Couchman, co-founders of Sourmilk, explain how they combined Stanford education and tech/PE backgrounds to create a Greek yogurt cultured with targeted probiotics for gut health. They detail their unconventional 'drug deal' pickup model in New York City, delivering over 5,000 units in brown paper bags to build a loyal community before retail. The founders also recount their rapid rebranding from a cease-and-desist letter to the name 'Sourmilk' in 14 days, and their strategy for scaling production and launching into NYC grocery stores in early 2026.

    Validation & product-market fitDirect-to-consumer & e-commerce
    7 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by How I Built This. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.