Ben and Jerry's Premium Ice Cream ProductsBen and Jerry's Ice Cream is a brand company known throughout the world. Through superior marketing techniques, Ben and Jerry's has positioned itself to become the leader in manufacturing premium ice cream products. They successfully targeted their market and thus built a strong customer base. The mission statement for their product line is to "manufacture, distribute and sell all-natural ice cream of the highest quality while incorporating wholesome, natural ingredients and promoting earth- and environmentally-friendly business practices." ". (1) This business is known to be a monopolistically competitive business because there are still many businesses and consumers, just like in perfect competition, but they still have control over the price they charge in their business , because Ben and Jerry's ice cream is different from other ice cream companies and they offer a lot of non-price competition which will be mentioned later in the document. Ben and Jerry's began in 1963 when Ben Cohn and Jerry Greenfield met in a New York college gym class. While playing together, neither realized what the future held for them and ultimately changed their lives forever. In 1977, Ben and Jerry moved to Burlington, Vermont, and enrolled in an ice cream making class at Penn State, which required tuition of just five dollars. After their stellar performance in the class, the two made an initial investment of $12,000 on May 5, 1978 to open their first ice cream store in Burlington. (1) The small community of Vermont was considered very important to Ben and Jerry and so they ensured that the residents of the area benefited as much as those of their business. As an example, they celebrated the company's first anniversary by offering free ice cream cones to the public. In 1980, Ben and Jerry decided to expand their business and move into an old mill where they packaged their ice creams in pints and distributed them to “Mom & Pop” stores. The company's business continued to grow in 1981 when they opened the first Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shop franchise. (1)Today, Ben and Jerry's has grown into a multi-million dollar business and continues to open franchises around the world. True to their commitment to “sharing the wealth”, these two businessmen have supported numerous charitable organizations including “1% For Peace”, “Support Farm Aid” and “One World, One Hear Festival ».," (1)