Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Ben Cohen’s Net Worth: $150 Million.
| Net Worth: | $150 Million |
| Date of Birth: | Mar 18, 1951 (71 years old) |
| Place of Birth: | Brooklyn |
| Gender: | Male |
| Profession: | Entrepreneur, Business person |
| Nationality: | United States of America |
How much does Ben Cohen make, and what is his net worth?
Ben Cohen is a businessman, activist, and entrepreneur from the United States. He is worth $150 million. Cohen is best known for starting the Vermont-based ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s with Jerry Greenfield. Ben & Jerry’s was started with $8,000 in savings and a $4,000 bank loan.
Ben & Jerry’s has grown to have more than 600 shops since they opened their first one in the late 1970s. Ben & Jerry’s makes about $700 million a year now. In 2000, the food company Unilever paid $326 million to buy the company. At that time, the company made $237 million a year.
Cohen quit his job as CEO of the company in 1996, and he hasn’t been involved with Ben & Jerry’s since Unilever bought it for $326 million in 2000. He works with the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, which is a social justice group that was set up to “fund organizations here in Vermont and around the country that are working for progressive social change.”
In 1988, the U.S. Small Business Administration named Ben and Jerry’s U.S. Small Business Persons of the Year. In 2000, the New York Open Center gave Cohen an award for his “leadership in paving the way for socially responsible business.” Ben and Jerry have written the books “Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book” (1987) and “Ben & Jerry’s Double Dip: How to Run a Values-Led Business and Make Money Too” (1997).
Early Years
Ben Cohen was born Bennett Cohen in New York City on March 18, 1951. He grew up in a Jewish family in Merrick, New York, with his mother Frances, and his accountant father Irving. During the summers, he went to a camp in Connecticut called Buck’s Rock Performing and Creative Arts Camp. Ben met Jerry Greenfield when they were both in the seventh grade. They went to the same high school, Sanford H. Calhoun. Cohen sold ice cream when he was a senior in high school.
Ben went to Colgate University in Hamilton, New York after he graduated from high school. He dropped out in 1972, and Greenfield later moved in with him. Cohen worked as a taxi driver, a cashier at McDonald’s, an ER worker, and a Pinkerton guard before becoming a craft teacher at the Highland Community School.
Around this time, he started learning how to make ice cream. In 1978, Ben and Jerry went to Pennsylvania State University to take a class on how to make ice cream.
Career
Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream Parlor was opened by Cohen and Greenfield in May 1978. Their first store was in Burlington, Vermont, which was a college town without an ice cream shop. They wanted to open a bagel shop together at first, but when they saw how expensive the equipment was, they decided to focus on ice cream instead. Cohen and Greenfield each put $4,000 into the business to get it started, and they also got a $4,000 loan from the bank.
Ben & Jerry’s started selling their ice cream in pints in grocery stores in 1980. By 1987, the company was worth $30 million. In 1981, the first Ben & Jerry’s shop with a franchise opened in Shelburne, Vermont. As of 2019, there were 615 Ben & Jerry’s shops.
The company is known for flavors like Cherry Garcia, Half Baked, Chunky Monkey, Stephen Colbert’s American Dream, and Phish Food. Its ingredients are non-GMO, fair-trade certified, and come from certified humane, cage-free farms.
Cohen talked to them in 2021’s “Delish” about Ben & Jerry’s commitment to activism; they said, “The traditional business model is to ignore the customer and spend a lot of money on advertising and public relations to make yourself look good.” Ben & Jerry’s is just saying, “Let’s just be good instead of spending a lot of money trying to look good.” We’ve made it so that people who agree with the values of the people who make ice cream are more likely to buy and enjoy it. “There isn’t a better relationship.”
Personal Life
Ben is very interested in philanthropy and social causes, and the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation has helped organizations like Denver Homeless Out Loud, the Anti-Displacement Project, and the Street Vendor Project. Cohen ran the non-profit group Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities and the progressive advocacy group True Majority. He also supported Democratic presidential candidates Dennis Kucinich, John Edwards, and Barack Obama.
Ben helped start the Stamp Stampede campaign in 2012 to get money out of politics. In 2016, he and Jerry were arrested at a Democracy Awakening protest in Washington, D.C. Ben & Jerry’s put out the following statement after the arrest: “Jerry, Ben, and a lot of other people felt like they had to do more after the marches and speeches were over.”
Ben said that direct action has a strong history in this country. Sometimes, when something is important, you have to put your life at risk. “You must stand up for yourself.”
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