5. Scoop Shops
Bringing Ice Cream to the People
Ben & Jerry’s began as a single ice cream Scoop Shop in 1978, and though our business has taken plenty of twists, turns, and swirls along the way, we’re in the Scoop Shop business more than ever before. In fact, we had over 439 shops scattered across the U.S. and Canada by the end of 2005. Most are 
owned and operated by independent franchisees, although Ben & Jerry’s also manages 10 company-owned stores in Vermont, New York City, and Las Vegas; and 15 of our stores (including Northern Ireland and Israel) are PartnerShops, owned and operated by nonprofit organizations. Visit Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops page on our company website for more information.
In addition to being gathering places for great ice cream, Scoop Shops are most often centers for Social Mission and activism. So when we take stock every year of how well we in Vermont delivered on our Company values, we also extend our thanks to the dedicated Scoop Shop owners across the country who’ve brought a commitment to social and environmental change into the way they manage business in their communities.
Growing Pains
In the world of Scoop Shops, most of 2005 was positive — but not all of it. We saw strong growth, measured by the number of shops opened (96) and the amount of ice cream we sold (29% increase over 2004). But with the growing came the pains. Supply chain difficulties led to bulk shortages and, in some cases, compromised product quality. Implementation of our new computerized cash register system (MICROS) was flawed and costly. And we fell short of our goal to reduce costs and simplify the design-and-build process for our Scoop Shops. In several key areas, we couldn’t keep up with our growth rate, same store sales remained flat and franchisees felt shortchanged.
In the fall of 2005, Retail Operations announced a comprehensive plan to address the challenges. Over the following months we took steps to reimburse franchisees more than $80,000 for ice cream shortages. Next we renegotiated our contract with MICROS to offer franchisees better service and value. Finally, a design-and-build manager was hired in our Retail Operations group to revamp and manage this important process in-house. In the last quarter, we worked to improve our channels of communication with the franchise community, and dug our heels in to make good on our promises.
In the midst of these challenges we took some time to clarify our Social Mission priorities. Here’s what we came up with:
Help youth build better futures
- Our Scoop Shops are great venues to provide youth who may face barriers to employment a place and a chance to gain critical job and life skills. That’s why we invented the PartnerShop model years ago, in which a Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop is owned and operated by a youth-focused nonprofit organization. We’re more committed than ever to seeing these mission-focused Scoop Shops succeed.
- We also unveiled a fully-fledged Cones to Careers in 2005, a program that provides youth who face barriers to employment with job skills and hands-on work experience through internships in our company operated stores. We plan to expand this program in 2006.
Build sustainable business practices
- Activating the Company’s core values throughout the franchise community is a key to our success. We know we’ve got to get better at setting targets and measuring our progress in this area. For example, our franchise ownership diversity program has languished in recent years.
- With regard to new Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops, we continue to look for opportunities to source and specify materials and items that meet national standards for building green — while also meeting our build-out cost targets and the demands of the food service industry. Current materials successfully accomplishing this goal include “green” flooring, solid-surface counters, lighting, refrigerants, and paint.
Encourage business to give back to the community
- Our franchisees, their scoopers, and folks in our company-owned stores around the country made a difference by fostering positive social change through their local community action efforts in 2005.
- We want to inspire the folks in all of our Scoop Shops to even greater activism, and we’re committed to supporting them however we can. Here’s one way: we made plans in 2005 for a new program called Scoopers Making Change that will provide start-up grants for innovative social change ventures undertaken by the young people who wear the apron in our Scoop Shops.
- As ever, we celebrated the anniversary of Ben & Jerry’s 1978 debut with Free Cone Day. This year’s worldwide event was our biggest yet, and we helped raise money for hundreds of partner nonprofits around the globe at the same time.