Ben & Jerry’s is renaming ice cream flavor Chubby Hubby to Hubby Hubby in support of gay marriage.

I want to thank Ben & Jerry for their promosexual* decision to rename Chubby Hubby to Hubby Hubby in support of gay marriage (or is it same-sex union?).  It’s a great pun and a great name.  It’s a powerful endorsement of a worthy cause. And it’s so much better than other more graphic approaches they could have taken, such as Ben sitting on Jerry’s lap in that famous circle picture.
Here’s the scoop, as told by BJ’s own press release:
Ben & Jerry’s Renames Legendary …read more

Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day is a tradition that goes all the way back to the legendary days when Ben & Jerry were a couple of happy hippies selling ice cream out of a converted gas station.  Despite the fact that Ben & Jerry’s is now an international brand owned by Unilever, B&J still hands out free cones one day per year.  Today’s the day.
According to my Ben & Jerry’s Chunkmail:
As a way to thank our customers for their support and to celebrate 31 years of scooping the chunkiest, funkiest ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet, Ben …read more

Last week we posted the snarky email message from Ben & Jerry’s making fun of rival Häagen-Dazs’ supposed redefining the pint as 14 oz. rather than 16 oz.
Read:  Who’s Phonier? Haagen-Dazs? Ben & Jerry’s?
Being openly criticized on the immeasurably powerful FranchisePick.com blog obviously sent shockwaves through the factories to the boardrooms of Häagen-Dazs.
And rightfully so.
Today, we received this response to Ben & Jerry’s email from an obviously shaken Häagen-Dazs:
You may have seen a recent message from Ben & Jerry’s calling out our decision to downsize our Häagen-Dazs cartons.
While the reality is that size sometimes matters, we continue to believe that …read more

Ever daydream about owning a Ben & Jerry’s franchise Scoop Shop?
Or wonder what it would cost?
Well, here are the estimated start-up costs for a typical Ben & Jerry’s franchise (supplied by the company).  Contrary to what many believe, the bulk of your investment as a new franchise owner is paid to vendors, suppliers, contractors, landlords, etc. and not to the franchisor company.
The chart below breaks out not only the items and costs, but also who is paid for each:
ESTIMATED EXPENDITURES FOR SCOOP SHOPS
TYPE A AND B (APPROXIMATELY 750-1500 SQ.FT)

ITEM:
Estimated Cost
Paid to:

Preliminary Agreement Deposit
$16,000
Ben & Jerry’s

Initial Franchise Fee
$32,000 ($16,000 will be …read more

Check out this post on Ben & Jerry’s at Franchisor Marketing.  It’s pretty funny.
Seems that Ben & Jerry’s has built it’s brand, in no small part, by slamming rival Haagen-Dazs for being a phony corporate brand with a made-up pseudo-Scandinavian that means… nothing.

A current Ben & Jerry’s email campaign (subject line: A pint is still a pint!) blasts Haagen-Dazs for dropping the size of its “pint” container from 16 oz. to 14 oz.
But, really, which brand is being more devious here?
Ben & Jerry’s gives the impression that Haagen-Dazs is trying to pull a fast one.  In reality, Haagen-Dazs isn’t calling …read more

(FranchisePick.Com)  It’s voting day in the home of the brave and the land of the free… The free donut, coffee, taco and ice cream cone.
The franchise industry is providing patriotic voters with their own economic bailout program… making sure they get their fix of sugar, caffeine and butterfat.  If only the oil companies would be so generous.
Krispy Kreme Get a free star-shaped donut from any Krispy Kreme just for saying you voted… or not.  Since it’s illegal to reward people for voting in many states, all ya gotta do is ask for your donut.
Ben & Jerry’s   Ben & Jerry’s is …read more

(FranchisePick.Com)  I don’t know how many Ben & Jerry’s flavors joined the ill-fated “Economic Crunch” in the Flavor Graveyard last year, but I do know how many scoop shops went to the Ben & Jerry’s franchise graveyard:  38.
In her recent Newsweek article (Ben & Jerry’s Bitter Crunch), Suzanne Smalley reports that last year 38 of Ben & Jerry’s 456 North American ice-cream shops, or 8%, closed their doors.  Cold Stone Creamery closed an even greater number of shops (71),  which represented a slightly lower 5% of their total units.
Ben & Jerry’s Chief Executive Walt Freese blames the fact that while ice cream …read more