Ben & Jerry's: avant la célébrité

Qui n'a pas été tenté par une crème glacée Ben & Jerry's pendant un séjour aux États-Unis? J'ai succombé plusieurs fois... Dans une série d'articles relatant l'histoire des débuts de plusieurs compagnies, le Washington Post s'attarde aujourd'hui à l'aventure de deux amis qui démarraient leur entreprise au Vermont en 1978.

 "In the decades that followed, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield built Ben & Jerry’s into a legendary ice crea m company, with more than 600 scoop shops in 35 countries around the world and annual sales now topping $500 million.

 And to think, it all happened because one of them couldn’t get into medical school, and the other couldn’t sell enough pottery.

During a joint interview, Cohen and Greenfield took us back to the early years at the company, including their $5 investment in an ice cream-making course, the invention of their most inspiring flavor, and their epic marketing battle with the Pillsbury Doughboy. What follows is a transcript of our interview, lightly edited for clarity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/when-we-were-small-ben-and-jerrys/2014/05/14/069b6cae-dac4-11e3-8009-71de85b9c527_story.html?hpid=z1