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thatguystevene t1_jdyoxw9 wrote

Ben & Jerry's is owned by Unilever which has a factory in the Netherlands and its food and beverage divisions headquarters is there.

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braqass t1_jdyp7o2 wrote

It’s made in several places. Vermont being one of them. The Netherlands being another. I’m guessing different flavors are made in different regions. They’re owned by Unilever so even though they still make some in Vermont they have factories in The Netherlands and Israel.

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lildirtfoot t1_jdytxeo wrote

Because they’re off to Nether Netherlandddddd (hopefully sung like Metallica)

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GreenMtCat t1_jdyu511 wrote

What I would like to also know is why Ben and Jerry's is half the price in Montana when Vermont has a factory right here.

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sauteedmushroomz t1_jdyxnsx wrote

this might be a dumb question, but how and why would they ship it all the way the Netherlands? was the carton itself the thing made in the Netherlands? I’m not thinking straight I’m high lol

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Intelligent-Hunt7557 t1_jdyynim wrote

Isn’t this no different than soda bottles which have corporate HQ info and also which bottling plant it was produced at? If the packaging changed recently it was probably in response to a law right? Definitely serves customers in general to know which country the parent company resides in.

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Squee1396 t1_jdzk6be wrote

Replying to ButtBlock (#2,412,410)

There is a place in NH that sells homegrown ice cream and it drives me crazy, what are they growing? I wonder what are the requirements for something to be called homemade or homegrown?

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Commercial_Case_7475 t1_jdzn9oz wrote

You should try Wilcox instead. That's made right in Arlington at their own factory.

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FrequentMedicine5225 t1_jdzo1mp wrote

Don’t believe the grift the only thing that’s made in Vermont is poor people.

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papercranium t1_jdzoipv wrote

Replying to Shadedavid (#2,413,037)

Oh gosh, they are SO GOOD. They had a truck at a work event I attended last summer, and I still daydream about the super chocolate flavor, whatever that was called.

And they're entirely nut-free, so my coworker with allergies who never gets to eat at company shindigs got to have some!

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walterbernardjr t1_jdzs2p5 wrote

Replying to thisoneisnotasbad (#2,413,078)

Good point, I knew it had some Dutch origins so I had to look it up:

Unilever was founded on 2 September 1929, by the merger of the British soapmaker Lever Brothers and the Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie

I think the OTC stock is the one traded on the Dutch exchange which is why I thought it was Dutch.

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Squee1396 t1_jdzshni wrote

Replying to akmjolnir (#2,414,013)

Homemade yes definitely, and it is good stuff i am not trying to diss them, they are the best around. Nothing is growing though so it wouldn't be homegrown right?

Edit: i looked up the definition.

home·grown

/ˌhōmˈɡrōn/

adjective

grown or produced in one's own garden or country.

"a basket of homegrown fruit"

belonging to one's own particular locality or country

So technically the second one would be accurate but i still think the sign should say homemade not homegrown

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Squee1396 t1_jdzu7c6 wrote

Replying to akmjolnir (#2,414,192)

Lmao its just a conversation on reddit that came up about it, its not like i think of this sign all day everyday, it haunts my dreams and ive made it my lifelong mission to get rid of it

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Jerrysmiddlefinger99 t1_jdzulp7 wrote

Funny thing my favorite flavor Cherry Garcia isn’t available in the Netherlands

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GimmieJohnson t1_jdzvyx0 wrote

There's two types of people I don't like. Those that are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch!

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shaaruken t1_jdzxlqz wrote

I know cookie dough ice cream when I see it!!!

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partial_birth t1_je01wgh wrote

I can assure you that the cookie dough at the very least is made in South Burlington. Rhino Foods is right across the street from Burton, and it's where all of the cookie dough is made.

I worked there for three days as a temp, and it was miserable.

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kinkyguyCT t1_je0293a wrote

We have to make America great again

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PlasticineRobot t1_je057mk wrote

Hard saying. Maybe because they're owned (when I last checked) by Unilever?

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DaddyBobMN t1_je05l3e wrote

Multinational corporation and all that.

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Presdipshitz t1_je07ytf wrote

There's a great way to make our displeasure with degenerate capitalism known: Don't buy their products.

We produce what food and other things that we can, buy local as much as possible and look for responsible producers of the things we want beyond that. It ain't easy and it's never 100% possible, but it makes a difference.

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Vtguy802812 t1_je0c5eu wrote

What you are seeing is in fact first hand evidence that in 2021 VT secretly seceded from the US and joined the Netherlands. I’m wondering how long until everyone else notices…

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CharZero t1_je0d7e4 wrote

Replying to sauteedmushroomz (#2,410,169)

I am not at all high and I had the same question. Since no one actually answered I looked it up. It can make financial sense because it is shipped in such volume. The actual shipping is in cargo containers that have freezer or refrigeration equipment, and can keep products frozen or cold on ships, trains, and trucks. The single carton of ice cream from Europe bought near the US factory could possibly be explained by supply chain stuff or how they have decided to split flavors for more efficient manufacturing. It might be more efficient in the long run to manufacture 10 flavors in this plant and 5 flavors in that plant and ship them where they need to go rather than all 15 flavors in each plant.

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businessboyz t1_je0hf3k wrote

Replying to Intelligent-Hunt7557 (#2,410,318)

Most consumer packaged foods and beverages operate this way. The level of concentration of manufacturing and packaging is depending on the product ingredients and market demand.

Soda is easier to ship at the syrup stage. Make a big concentrated sticky goo and send it to bottlers located in a strong market who dilute it down into consumer products and package for final distribution which tends to be local. So you end up with a few HQ syrup makers and a bunch of bottlers

Ice cream typically doesn’t work this way because dairy isn’t stable over long times and requires refrigeration at a certain point. So a company like B&Js works to convert that milk quickly into dairy products that are more stable, like ice cream. But that requires a closer manufacturer and packaging network.

So you don’t typically see “local” ice cream brands with non-local packaging but B&Js is a global product hence the additional locations. The product just ended back up in VT because global trade is super complex and it genuinely may have been cheaper to produce that pint in the Netherlands and ship it to the US than to produce it in the US.

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rmattoon t1_je0huti wrote

Hatchland farms in Haverhill NH is so good!

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carsenmeckhardt t1_je0lcbh wrote

Unilever owns Ben and Jerry's now and it is based in the netherlands. I've done security at the ben and jerrys factories in VT before and can confirm that the ice cream is made in vermont

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Room07 t1_je0rpnv wrote

Replying to thisoneisnotasbad (#2,419,608)

I guess it can be considered a UK company now but it's both a dutch and British company in terms of roots and origin. It's still considered both globally even though it's based on London. If I move to Europe in 2020 I'm not European. 😉

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JodaUSA t1_je0ub2j wrote

Replying to Babalugats (#2,417,951)

Oh God the Israel plant. I remember the first fucking day I worked at Ben and jerries (St. A location) at the daily meeting they announced that the company would no longer be selling to Palestine because Israel didn't like it. So fucking happy I left. Fuck Ben and Jerry's.

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jimbobbrainiac t1_je1eqdn wrote

Replying to JodaUSA (#2,420,693)

Say nothing about the fact that they ripped off the recipe from the UVM Dairy Bar and then sold out to a major corporation - but then they will sit here and preach to you about how corporations are evil. Guess theyre not so evil when their money is going into your pockets, eh Jerry? Eh, Ben? Hypocrites.

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GreenMtCat t1_je1wbfb wrote

Replying to ColLeslieHapHapablap (#2,413,743)

I'll admit I exaggerated with "half the price", but I have Berlin Price Chopper receipt dated today for Ben and Jerry's at $5.49.

I also have two receipts from (coincidentally) Bozeman, Montana from last week (visiting family): Walmart - $4.48; WinCo Foods - $4.48.

Less than double, but more than $.10 difference. Wanna see the receipts? :-)

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SirAidandRinglocks t1_je21bn8 wrote

Because it's Unilever Ice Cream.

Real Vermonters don't eat sellout ice cream

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Overthemoonmist t1_je2ie7h wrote

If you want good VT ice cream… Strafford Creamery… expensive, but the best ever. I never buy B and J

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CharZero t1_je39btm wrote

Replying to The_Barbelo (#2,426,885)

I don’t remember that part of the tour. I do remember that I was there when they were testing out the brand new equipment for the ice creams with a flavor core or whatever they call it. That was pretty cool.

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CharZero t1_je39yqi wrote

Replying to FyuckerFjord (#2,433,361)

I sincerely enjoyed your answer. Factoring in conversion loss was a nice touch! But it is not, technically, correct. I do wonder if any of the components of the ice cream were shipped from Vermont to the Netherlands first, though.

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_je4em2u wrote

Replying to smokeythemechanic (#2,442,965)

Like I said, I don’t drink it because it tastes like shit.

We are really at the stage, and unless you are secretly a billionaire, where every cent we spend eventually ends up in the hands of a corporation that does shitty things and sucks.

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_je4mckv wrote

Replying to smokeythemechanic (#2,443,898)

You are on the internet so your device has a battery made from elements mined by child slave labor in a third world country. Your biodiesel had a precursor which was either sourced from a large conglomerate and harvested using petroleum products or do you only use fat from your own harvest to make it? Your self righteousness is refreshing but completely naive.

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smokeythemechanic t1_je4rod8 wrote

Replying to thisoneisnotasbad (#2,445,061)

Lol lies I have to tell myself to sleep at night. Because I'm an informed consumer that makes decisions based upon who I'm actually doing business with instead of just blindly being complicit, that's why you said that. Nice retort, would you also say you were just doing your job working at a concentration camp?

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The_Barbelo t1_je4ykhx wrote

Replying to CharZero (#2,436,473)

It may have changed or been different since we both went but there was a period where they stood us in front of a big map that showed all the factory locations and distribution centers. Those machines were pretty cool, the best part was the free ice cream. Hahaha.

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