Ben And Jerry's Appreciation Thread! :D

Oh my God, Ben And Jerry's ice cream is one of the best Ice Cream Brands in the whole world! :D :D And their ice creams are punny too and I love puns! Most ice cream brands just say stuff like "Chocolate ice cream," and that's basically it but Ben And Jerry's add cute puns to their ice cream labels such as a Chunky Monkey(Named because of the stereotype that Apes like bananas) is a banana based ice cream Half Baked is so good! Vanilla and chocolate ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate brownies in one pint? Yes please! :D

don't know what metaphors are involved here.
ice cream quality is determined by the ingredients, not puns.
ice cream was invented in Persia and had no emulsifiers or gums in it.

Quote: Fleastiff

don't know what metaphors are involved here.
ice cream quality is determined by the ingredients, not puns.
ice cream was invented in Persia and had no emulsifiers or gums in it.

If there is an agricultural college near you, they may have a creamery. And that creamery might have some damn good ice cream. Here in the Northeast, both Cornell Dairy and Penn State Creamery are renowned for their absolutely fantastic ice cream.

Coldstone creamery in Point Reyes had an excellent reputation but something happened.

Everyone raves about Blue bell but it is pure chemicals.

Quote: Fleastiff

Coldstone creamery in Point Reyes had an excellent reputation but something happened.

Everyone raves about Blue bell but it is pure chemicals.

About Blue Bell I stopped eating them for a LONG time after I read that Carrageenan(Spelling?) an ingredient in their ice cream can give severe stomach problems. Then there was the few people who died after getting Listeria after eating Blue Bell and the Blue Bell factory was shut down and then later reopened. I was still very wary about eating Blue Bell ice cream even after my Boss told ne the entire Blue Bell Factory had been redone from scratch. I FINALLY bought a pint of some Cookie Mashup ice cream Blue Bell ice cream, YEARS later after not eating it anymore after reading about the Carrageenan(Spelling) thing and then the Listeria thing.... It really didn't taste all that great...And then came the viral video of the idiot who licked Blue Bell ice cream in a Walmart and let her hair go in it too and then put it back.... It was reported she had the FLU when she did that.... Yeah, I went back to my "Anti Blue Bell" ice cream after all this!

Quote: Fleastiff

Coldstone creamery in Point Reyes had an excellent reputation but something happened.

Everyone raves about Blue bell but it is pure chemicals.

We were in Chile earlier this year, and happened to go grocery shopping. Passing the freezer case, I looked in and stared in amazement. Turkey Hill is a convenience store chain here in NE PA, and they have their own ice cream brand.

3.999 Chilean pesos is about 6 bucks.

Quote: Mosca

We were in Chile earlier this year, and happened to go grocery shopping. Passing the freezer case, I looked in and stared in amazement. Turkey Hill is a convenience store chain here in NE PA, and they have their own ice cream brand.

3.999 Chilean pesos is about 6 bucks.

Yeah, it's pretty interesting, what international trade deals can be negotiated, huh?

When I was young, there was a regional dairy called Well's Blue Bunny, out of LeMars, IA, that made the best ice cream in the land. Their peppermint might have been the single best flavor I've ever tasted, and I don't particularly like peppermint. It was creamy, saucy, fresh-bursting flavor in a beautiful swirled pink.

Then along came WalMart. They took over distribution of Blue Bunny and made it a national brand, grew it into a monster. Still pretty good ice cream. But I've never seen that peppermint flavor again. I wonder if they still offer it locally.

It just seems like you can have quantity, or quality, but not both. I think the way it works with WalMart (and others) is that they find what they consider an ideal price point by diluting but not extinguishing something of quality for as little as they can possibly spend to make it in quantity AND afford the transportation expense to distribute it. I don't think anything really great survives the process.

Quote: beachbumbabs

It just seems like you can have quantity, or quality, but not both. I think the way it works with WalMart (and others) is that they find what they consider an ideal price point by diluting but not extinguishing something of quality for as little as they can possibly spend to make it in quantity AND afford the transportation expense to distribute it. I don't think anything really great survives the process.

Pretty much. Though not right at first. It happens this way. I will use the generic market "Mega Mart" since WMT Is hardly alone as a large buyer. I will stick with ice cream as an example, but it can be any product, food or not.

A small ice cream brand builds a nice regional concession over many years. It started as a small thing, but over time it got the reputation that if you were in Houston, MO, you had to get some. People moved away and brought it back home when they were in town to visit family. Because of this, it went from being very local to regional, available all over southwest Missouri. The growth happened not by accident, it was a bit planned. But it was a case of a local retailer here or there asked to carry it.

Meanwhile, the MMT regional manager is talking with a store manager about ice cream sales. Store manager says how it would be great if they could get this regional brand. One thing leads to another and they take on a few SKUs to see the results. The sales are awesome as the locals know the product and shop MMT. The store and regional manager get bonuses. The ice cream maker's owner buys himself a Cadillac.

The regional manager and the district manager talk and decide if it did so good at the Houston store, it needs to be al over the midwest and plains areas. But it has to be sold at a price point of $3.99. The owner sees the super growth and agrees, but to do so he has to borrow $10MM to vastly expand. The price point works the first year. Bonuses at MMT, owner buys a Cadillac for his wife.

A year down the road, time to renew the PO. Price point has to stay the same. Owner says the packaging cost went up a little bit. MMT says that is his problem, use cheaper packaging. Owner does. The quality feel of the old tubs is gone and it is now in a square box.

Two years down and owner is sweating the new PO. MMT sticks to the price point. Tells the owner they will send and efficiency expert to help control costs. Guy suggests buying more milk at a time. Owner says bad idea, fresher milk is what makes the product great. Owner eats the new PO, accepts a lower margin at MMT. Owner raises prices for smaller customers. Many leave as they cannot make money at the old retail and MMT is selling the same product for less.

Three years down the owner has to buy the milk in bulk. Switches to more corn syrup to sweeten and has a generic product. ALong with 2 Cadillacs going on 4 years old.

AZ, that is close to spot on. The market influences might be different, but the pattern matches. I was a Good Humor vendor in the ‘80s. Good Humor was DAMN GOOD. The novelty bars were made from premium ingredients. You paid, but it tasted better. Unilever bought the company in ‘61, but by the ‘70s it was unprofitable. Their first solution was to sell the trucks to the street vendors and concentrate on the grocery stores. By the mid ‘80s, the company was profitable again. But market pressures came to bear once more, and Good Humor got folded into Gold Bond, and the formulas changed. And now you can blindfold yourself and taste any “chocolate eclair” bar from Good Humor, Hershey, Blue Bunny, Nestle, or whoever, and they all taste the same. But there was a time when one of them was truly premium.

Quote: Mosca

AZ, that is close to spot on. The market influences might be different, but the pattern matches. I was a Good Humor vendor in the ‘80s. Good Humor was DAMN GOOD. The novelty bars were made from premium ingredients. You paid, but it tasted better. Unilever bought the company in ‘61, but by the ‘70s it was unprofitable. Their first solution was to sell the trucks to the street vendors and concentrate on the grocery stores. By the mid ‘80s, the company was profitable again. But market pressures came to bear once more, and Good Humor got folded into Gold Bond, and the formulas changed. And now you can blindfold yourself and taste any “chocolate eclair” bar from Good Humor, Hershey, Blue Bunny, Nestle, or whoever, and they all taste the same. But there was a time when one of them was truly premium.

It seems to be about people expect to keep paying the same price year after year. Price goes up a quarter, people notice. So they take it out of the size and quality. Look at how many fewer Thin Mints you seem to get per package these days.

Some stuff does not matter. I live those Pepperidge Farms vanilla cakes. But I only buy when they are half off as I know the sale is coming. Once I bought and saw they no longer wrapped cellophane around the box. Now, I swear this next part is true. My sister worked there and at Christmas said she was involved in the decision to get rid of the cellophane. She said she made the argument nobody would notice or care. I told her I noticed right away, thought I did not care.

Thing is you can be specialty, regional, or mainstream. You cannot be mainstream and selling the highest quality since they are mutually exclusive. The jump from one to the other is next to impossible, and the "ditch" you fall into should you try ends in bankruptcy.