Ben and Jerry’s ice cream is expensive because the company directs expenses to multiple causes, like premium ingredients and great marketing strategies. Likewise, the company follows a fair trade philosophy that reflects in the final product’s price. Stay tuned to discover more about the reason why Ben and Jerry’s is so expensive.
Ben And Jerry’s
Ben and Jerry’s is an American company best known for producing ice cream, but it also manufactures sorbet and frozen yogurt. Ben and Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. was founded in 1978 and it is currently owned by the Unilever conglomerate. The name comes from the two friends that created the company, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.
The brand has a worldwide presence, with approximately 615 locations as of 2019. One of the things that make Ben and Jerry’s unique is that it sells several ice cream flavors (46 in total). The Cherry Garcia flavor and Half baked flavor, however, are at the top of the most popular.
Why Is Ben And Jerry’s So Expensive?
The main reasons why Ben and Jerry’s ice cream is more expensive than any other are its recipe, including the ingredients it uses and how the brand manages them; Ben and Jerry’s policies such as fair trade; the brand’s efforts to create new flavors; and its distribution and marketing strategy. Each of these reasons will be explained in brief, so it will be easier to answer if Ben and Jerry’s is worth its price.
Ben And Jerry’s Recipe
Butterfat Amount
Butterfat or milk fat is a key ingredient when making ice cream. It is also among the most expensive ingredients needed because of how hard it is to measure and get in specific quantities from the cow. However, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream contains 15% butterfat, which makes it tastier. The brand sums the expense of processing butterfat to its costs.
Less air
Air gives ice cream that fluffy texture that people love. Ice cream makers that sell their products for cheaper prices take advantage of the fact that air is free to put extra on their ice cream. Nevertheless, Ben and Jerry’s prefers to use butterfat to make the ice cream creamier, not just fluffier, so it reduces the amount of air in its product.
Premium ingredients
Ben and Jerry’s uses not only premium butterfat, but it also uses the best milk, which is expensive to get since it requires taking extra care of the cows. Since the cows are healthier, their milk is just tastier.
Non-GMO
Besides all of the above, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream has declared that it does not use any GMO ingredients. This affects the ingredients sourced by the brand too, and they are more expensive because they were not genetically modified.
Ben And Jerry’s Fair Trade
A lot of people know Ben and Jerry’s fair trade philosophy, which means that the company supports small farms by doing business with them. While other companies rely on corporate farmers, Ben and Jerry’s sources ingredients from those farms that can not lower their prices as much as big farms.
This means buying the same as other companies but for fair prices, which reflects in Ben and Jerry’s equally higher price since the brand needs to cover the extra cost put into supporting local economies.
However, in exchange for buying from them, Ben and Jerry’s asks the farms they work with to use sustainable farming methods.
Brand’s Distribution And Marketing
Ben and Jerry’s employs climate-controlled storage containers when being transported to the distribution centers. This guarantees that the ice cream does not melt, but it is extremely expensive, especially since there are further distribution centers to cover too. Shipping the ice cream overseas is even more costly.
Likewise, the brand directs many expenses to its marketing strategies, like collaborating with celebrities, and hosting film festivals where free ice cream is served, among others. Although these events are likely always successful and generate more consumers for the brand, they also require a great initial investment.
Development Of New Flavors
Not for nothing Ben and Jerry’s is known for having almost every possible flavor: It does. The company spends a lot of money on developing, testing, and releasing new flavors, perhaps even for new audiences (that also require market analysis work).
While most ice cream makers rely on the basic flavors (chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry), Ben and Jerry’s pushes a lot further. Some of the wackiest flavors, according to the brand, are Peanuts popcorn, Boston cream pie, and Schweddy balls.
Brand’s Sustainable Practices
Trying to stay green is definitely costly. That is why every action that Ben and Jerry’s makes to reduce its carbon print or ensure the quality of its products and their sustainable sourcing reflects in the high prices of the ice cream.
Nevertheless, there are more and more customers worried about the same as Ben and Jerry’s, so they are willing to support the brand, even if it means paying more for its products.
Ben And Jerry’s Size
Finally, a definitely good reason why Ben and Jerry’s is so loved is that it comes in several sizes, one for everybody! However, producing and distributing multiple sizes of the same product requires more money. It means adjusting the recipe according to the size, paying for different containers, and storing them, perhaps in different units. So what appears to be an advantage of Ben and Jerry’s is also a huge cost.
Conclusion
Ben and Jerry’s price is very high for ice cream, but it certainly is not like other ice creams. The ingredients used to make it are premium and sourced from farms that only produce with sustainable methods. Besides, the company cares about delivering the best possible products, so it spends a lot on the correct distribution process. What adds to the price of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream is the effort put into researching and developing new flavors. The best part is that all of the extra expenses end up shaping a more valuable product with loyal customers.
Where is Ben and Jerry’s ice cream produced?
Nowadays, Ben and Jerry’s have four factories in the United States, the Netherlands, and Israel.
How can I know the Ben and Jerry’s flavors that exist?
Anyone can consult the flavors of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream at the brand’s website (benjerry.com).
