1999 CERES Report - Company Profile

The information in this report contains data from 1999 (and previous years for comparison), primarily covering only the manufacturing, central and distribution facilities in Vermont.

The main contact within Ben & Jerry’s concerning environmental issues is the Manager of Natural Resources Use, Andrea Asch (address provided at the end of this report). Additionally there are Environmental Coordinators at each manufacturing and distribution site who work under the guidance of the Manager of Natural Resources Use and their plant managers. Environmental concerns are also attended to by the Director of Social Mission Development, who is a member of the Office of the Chief Executive Officer (the OCEO).

Manufacturing
Currently Ben & Jerry’s products are produced in five manufacturing plants worldwide. Three of these are wholly-owned and located in Vermont. The other two are licensed facilities in Israel and Canada.

Our Waterbury plant was built in 1985 and employed approximately 146 workers in 1999, including seasonal employees. This facility produces all pint flavors, but specializes in flavors with variegates and swirls. This facility is also one of Vermont’s largest tourist attractions, with factory tours and retail shop operations staffed by 61 full- and part-time employees.

Our Springfield plant was built in 1988 and employed approximately 80 full-time and 30 part-time people in 1999. This is our most flexible facility, capable of producing all of our products which include novelties, bulk tubs, pints and quarts.

Our St. Albans plant was built in 1995 and employed

approximately 172 people in 1999. This facility is focused on producing pints of the types of traditional flavors which lend themselves to the highest line speeds. St. Albans is also home to the St. Albans Cooperative Creamery, a cooperative of about 600 family farms from whom we purchase all of our milk and cream.

We have a manufacturing plant under license in Yavne, Israel. They began making our product in 1988 and, as with all Ben & Jerry’s plants, use local, rBGH-free dairy products in their manufacturing. They have the capability to produce ice cream in 10-liter bulks, 100 and 500 ml containers and ice cream cones.

Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada is the location of a plant that began operating under our license in 1998. All dairy products used in their manufacturing are rBGH-free and come from local sources, except for some special recipe items which are purchased from Ben & Jerry’s in Vermont. This facility can produce ice cream in 500 ml containers.

Distribution
Ben & Jerry’s has two distribution operations in Vermont. The first, Vermont’s Finest� in Waterbury, is our own fleet of 10 trucks that distributes throughout Vermont and employed 17 people in 1999. We do not own the trucks that distribute outside the state.

The second is our main Distribution Center (DC) in Bellows Falls, Vermont. It was built in 1991 and employed approximately 22 full-time people in 1999. The DC receives product from each of the Vermont plants for wholesale distribution locally, nationally and internationally. The DC is also in charge of 7 Ben & Jerry’s 18-wheelers which shuttle back and forth to the other Vermont sites, carrying products, ingredients, equipment and other supplies. Ben & Jerry’s also leases warehouse space at Pioneer Valley in Chicopee, MA and at Vermont Commercial in Williston, VT.

International
Ben & Jerry’s ice cream products sold in Europe are sent from Vermont via freightliner to a wholly-owned distributor in the UK. From there the products are distributed to stores in Ireland, France and the Benelux countries. This is facilitated by smaller distributors and marketers in France (wholly-owned) and Benelux (licensee).

Since 1997 Ben & Jerry’s has been marketing ice cream in Japan. Ice cream products are trucked to Canada from Vermont, transported to the Pacific via train, then shipped to markets in Japan on freightliners. Shipments of product to Peru and Lebanon are shipped by freightliner from ports in Montreal, Canada and New York.

Central Support Offices
Our Central Support offices were relocated to S. Burlington, VT in 1996 from Waterbury, VT. In 1999 this site employed 208 people in the following corporate-support departments: