Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive

Exhibit 9).

Continued Growth at Ben & Jerry’s

Until 1990, much of Ben & Jerry’s rapid sales growth had been a function of the company’s expansion into new geographic markets. In the future, industry analysts believed that the company would be increasingly dependent on further penetrating existing markets, given that it had developed a strong distribution network. Ben & Jerry’s had identified 12 core markets, representing roughly two-thirds of total U.S. super premium sales, and had achieved distribution in every major chain in those markets by late 1990.



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Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive 392-025

Flavor differentiation also played an essential role in the growth of Ben & Jerry’s product line. The company steadily added new flavors to the line and eliminated slower moving flavors in order to have a constantly improving flavor selection available. Ben & Jerry’s aggressively introduced new flavors in 1990, including Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Rainforest Crunch, Wild Maine Blueberry, and Fresh Georgia Peach Light, which contributed to the company’s 24% volume increase by late 1990. Ben & Jerry’s product mix in 1990 was heavily weighted toward lower-margin products. Looking ahead, industry observers saw opportunity to promote some of the higher margin products and/or introduce new products that incorporated lower mix-in costs, such as Ben & Jerry’s Frozen Yogurt being introduced in 1991. Clearly, these developments in the marketplace posed some new challenges for Ben & Jerry’s management, including the need to develop innovative marketing strategies and programs, and fast-response management information systems.