Change The World, One Scoop At A Time.
The Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Franchise Opportunity - Peace of mind & love for what you do.
Since 1978, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream has been creating euphoria for people from all walks of life.
With a $5 correspondence course in ice cream-making from Penn State and a $12,000 investment ($4,000 of it borrowed), Ben and Jerry opened their first ice cream scoop shop in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont. As Ben had no sense of taste whatsoever, he relied on what he called ‘mouth feel’. As a result, big delicious chunks of chocolate, brownie, fruit and nuts, and swirls of caramel and fudge have become the signature of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
Nearly 4 decades after the original Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop opened, our euphoric brand is known globally for rich, delicious ice cream flavours crammed with chunks and swirls of different flavours. Our brand is fresh, fun and exciting, and is actively involved in activism and local community projects around the world.
In Australia, the scoop shop concept was developed in 2010. We then crossed the ditch opening our first New Zealand scoop shop in 2015, we now have over 30 stores across ANZ. We are granting exciting Ben & Jerry’s franchise opportunities to passionate, reliable franchisees across the nation, to help us in our growth. Several exclusive scoop shop opportunities are available for hard-working owner operators in some of the most premium, high traffic locations in New Zealand.
Our mission is to make the best possible ice cream in the nicest possible way.
Ben & Jerry’s operates on a three-part mission that aims to create linked prosperity for everyone that’s connected to our business: suppliers, employees, farmers, franchisees, customers and neighbours alike. Central to the mission is the belief that all 3 parts must thrive equally in a manner that commands deep respect for individuals in and outside the Company and supports the communities of which they are part.
Learn more about our Mission and Values at www.benjerry.co.nz/values.
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Our Social Mission compels us to use our Company in innovative ways to make the world a better place.
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Our Economic Mission asks us to manage our Company for sustainable financial growth.
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Our Product Mission drives us to make fantastic ice cream – for its own sake.
Ben & Jerry’s has over 500 scoop shops globally, and has been operating for nearly four decades. Over this time, we have refined and optimised our business model to ensure our franchisees have the very best opportunity at success. We encourage our franchisees to follow our successful business plan and leverage our popular brand and our socially responsible business practices to create profitable scoop shop franchises that give back to the local community. Our brand stands for the best ice cream, made in the nicest possible way and Ben & Jerry’s is truly loved by loyal fans! Our exciting brand develops a following of people who are passionate about our values and our amazing products.
Our scoop shops are a complete 360 degree brand experience. When customers walk through the door, they are immersed in the Ben & Jerry’s world, surrounded by delicious ice cream concoctions, shakes, sundaes, ice cream cakes, desserts and treats. Our stores are our billboards - they ensure that each customer’s experience is memorable. Customers come to our scoop shops because they are familiar with our worldwide brand, and love to try the exclusive new flavours launched in scoop stores. It is not hard to build a loyal customer following in an exciting place that is a hub of activity filled with enthusiastic staff, delicious flavour trials, friendliness and passion for local community events!
If you are granted a Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop franchise, you will be backed not only by our global brand, but also by one of the world’s biggest fast-moving-consumer-goods companies, Unilever. With the support and financial backing of this company, we invest considerably into marketing your franchise opportunity and building brand awareness worldwide. This super premium franchise opportunity has been tried and tested around the globe, and in the 30+ locations we currently have operating across ANZ. By following our proven business model, you have the opportunity to build yourself a sought-after and profitable scoop shop franchise business. You will also have the pleasure of being immersed in our exciting brand and culture, and will have the opportunity to become actively involved in your local community at the same time.
Ben & Jerry’s is not just another ice cream store. We create difference in our offering by creating a space that envelops customers in flavour euphoria and a rich brand experience which gives back to the community. Our scoop shops are light, bright happy places and our staff are bubbly, enthusiastic and always welcoming to customers. This creates a memorable experience that will keep them coming back for more. The difference in our product offering is the exciting and unique flavour combinations, packed with chunks and swirls of chocolate, nuts and brownie. We are known world-wide for this style of ice-cream developed by our founders Ben and Jerry.
We are a super premium ice cream brand with a mission to make the best possible ice cream in the nicest possible way. Our delicious products are made using Fair Trade and sustainably sourced ingredients, helping local farmers and their communities prosper. Our franchisees are also supported in their efforts to build a successful business, with the Ben & Jerry’s franchise team providing strong operational and marketing support to drive growth. This is an amazing opportunity to take part in making a difference in the local community, establishing your scoop shop as a hub of activity, excitement, and of course - euphoria!
Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops are designed to deliver the ultimate, immersive Ben & Jerry’s experience to fans and first-timers alike. They’re whimsical, welcoming places where families and friends can enjoy their favourite treats and fans can deepen their connections with our brand. If you are granted a franchise you are able to be a part of this exciting brand, and have the opportunity to fully support a cause and make a difference to your community.
Our mission is to make the best possible ice cream in the nicest possible way, and this underlies all of Ben & Jerry’s actions. Our ice cream is what sets us apart. We continue to search for ingredient suppliers who are aligned with our company’s mission and core values. These are suppliers who, through their business practices or through their products, are expanding economic opportunities for the disadvantaged, leading the way to more sustainable environmental or agricultural practices, or serving the cause of peace and justice.
Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is made of dairy cream and milk, so we care about where it comes from. Our Caring Dairy programme helps the dairy farmers we source from to move towards more sustainable farming practices. We use cage-free eggs and Fair Trade vanilla and cocoa, ensuring a fair price for farmers, benefitting their families, communities and the environment. We believe that no one should be exploited, so we help everyone involved with our ice cream to prosper - including the cows.
It also helps that our products are amazingly delicious! Our ice cream is rich and dense in flavour, and we are famous for the addition of chunks and swirls, creating flavours never before experienced. The fun, quirky names that we assign to our ice cream also set it apart from other brands, and creates a topic of discussion for our customers. We also offer hand packed Ben & Jerry’s pints, sundaes, shakes, cakes and other euphoric desserts and sweet treats that are only available at Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops.
As a Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop franchisee you have exclusive access to our popular and creative flavours, which are not available to be scooped through any other channel. Each year we are releasing new exciting flavours and developing new menu items to surprise and delight our customers. Our customers know and understand that we have a range of exclusive flavours available only at our scoop shops, and this helps keep them coming back. You will benefit from the exclusivity of our brand and product offering, as this will help you attract and retain loyal customers who are excited about our brand.
Ben & Jerry’s takes every necessary action to ensure you are feeling comfortable, confident and ready to run your own scoop shop when you open. The great thing about running your own Ben & Jerry’s business is that it is simple to operate. You don’t need to be an expert at all areas of running a business - in fact you don’t even need to have retail experience. We will teach you all you need to know. We will train you initially, and we will also provide ongoing support, regular updates, and periodic training on new products, flavours and campaigns we are running.
We spend 2-3 weeks ensuring you are trained in managing and running your own store. We also then provide comprehensive training for all of your employees. Once your store is opened, we provide an additional 2 weeks full-time coaching instore, giving you both theoretical and practical hands-on sessions. Ben & Jerry’s has an advanced online training system, which allows you to learn all about business management, setting goals for yourself as a business owner, and managing finances. You are able to go through the different training modules yourself, and glean useful advice and tips from this interactive and engaging online portal.
Your initial training programme will include a full brand induction, learning about our history and company and how we operate our stores. This training also covers store operations, staff management, financial management and reporting, initial and ongoing staff training, and ongoing product and operations training. We will assist you in training all your initial staff, providing for them a brand induction and training around product knowledge, business history, operations, food safety, handling complaints, dress code and handling cash. If you are granted the opportunity to join our franchise system, you will be prepared and guided through the process of building a successful and profitable business through this comprehensive training programme.
While our rich, delicious ice cream filled with chunks and swirls tends to sell itself, we invest heavily in the marketing and promotion of our brand. Over the years, Ben & Jerry’s has grown into a world-renowned brand loved by fans from all over the globe. Our customers love our amazing ice cream flavours, and are familiar with our brand image and name. Our marketing works hard to ensure that the Ben & Jerry’s brand name stands for decadence, fun and social awareness. We create authentic relationships with our customers, which results in such loyalty that they will go to extreme lengths to get their Ben & Jerry’s fix, so will travel from afar just to visit a scoop shop in a premium location.
If you are granted one of our exclusive franchise opportunities, you will be provided with branded marketing materials and plenty of inspiration and ideas on how to carry out the local area marketing of your scoop shop. All our franchisees contribute to a marketing fund, which is used exclusively to promote our scoop shop franchise stores. On top of this, Ben & Jerry’s also invests in the additional marketing of scoop shops, helping to drive sales and customers to your door. Our marketing team is always working to think of innovative new approaches to reach our customers, and we also work together with you to plan and promote your business effectively with many different media and marketing tools. We also always invest heavily in broadly building the Ben & Jerry’s brand, as we also sell a limited range of packaged goods through various other retailers.
We find that once people try our product, many of them are hooked instantly! Through sampling campaigns, and our annual Free Cone Day event, we introduce new customers to our products, who will then go on to regularly visit your scoop shop. We also sponsor events to help create a fun and personable association with the brand. As a franchisee, you benefit from our financial and operational support with a scoop shop launch campaign, ongoing marketing campaigns, POS promotions, new flavour campaigns, low season specials and many other marketing and customer engagement strategies.
Since the very beginning in Vermont in 1978, Ben & Jerry’s has been actively involved in helping shape and change the world and its local communities. During the 1980s a 3-part mission statement was developed and documented, and to this day we still live it. As a franchisee, we expect you to share our values, and particularly our social mission, as this is activated within your local community. We are looking for people with a determination to create change and become involved. The Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop franchise opportunity is not just about owning a shop and selling ice creams, but also being willing to be involved in a community cause.
Our mission is to make the best possible ice cream in the nicest possible way. Our product mission is to make, distribute and sell the finest quality all natural ice cream and euphoric concoctions with a continued commitment to incorporating wholesome, natural ingredients and promoting business practices that respect the earth and the environment. Our economic mission is to operate the company on a sustainable financial basis of profitable growth, increasing value for our stakeholders and expanding opportunities for development and career growth for our employees. Our social mission is to operate the company in a way that actively recognises the central role that business plays in society by initiating innovative ways to improve the quality of life locally, nationally and internationally.
Ben & Jerry’s is involved in a number of global causes that align with our mission. We are currently supporting global marriage equality, as well as calling on leaders of the developed nations and the United Nations to tackle climate change and work towards 100% clean energy by 2050. To become a Ben & Jerry’s franchisee, you must have a passion towards a cause, the ability to engage with your community to support this cause, and the involvement and drive to make a difference. This aspect of Ben & Jerry’s is a huge part of our brand and the vision behind what we do.
We provide our franchisees with a huge amount of ongoing support. You don’t need to be an expert at running a business to build a successful Ben & Jerry’s franchise, but you will require some business acumen and a commitment to operating your own store. Our extremely high level of support provides you with financial training, technical training, the assistance of an operations manager for the first two weeks of your store’s opening and an RTO accredited online training and learning management system.
If you are granted the opportunity to become a Ben & Jerry’s franchisee, you will benefit from access to all our proprietary information, including training manuals, recipes, operating standards and tools to help you give back to the communities in which you do business. You will also be provided with assistance in marketing your scoop shop and carrying out regular campaigns to drive awareness and interest. We will help you with everything from site selection, lease negotiation and setup, to product knowledge, ongoing training and running events.
We are constantly making your scoop shop more appealing to customers by adjusting our offering and running promotions. Our research and development team are always looking for new, exciting flavours and products to offer which will boost your exposure. We provide you with training and in store promotion for the various campaigns that we run, plus significant national marketing to support the promotion. We will also help you get set up with technologies and a POS system that will make the running of your business easy and efficient. There is always someone on call if you have questions or require operational assistance, so as a franchisee, you know you are supported by our system. We hold local meetings as well as annual conferences to discuss operations, business and performance, so you have the chance to talk with other franchisees and learn from each other’s techniques and processes.
Initial establishment costs for a Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop franchise are $350,000 - $500,000. This will include assistance in your site selection and lease negotiation process, fit out and design, training of you and your initial staff members, initial marketing and promotion of your store opening, and ongoing support. The initial franchise fee of $50,000 gives you access to our brand name and products, and there is an ongoing royalty fee of 6% and a 2% ongoing contribution to the marketing fund.