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The Strange Business of Ice Cream

Ice cream is a multi-billion dollar market dominated by legacy brands like Ben & Jerry’s, Blue Bell, and Breyers. Ice cream on paper should be a worthwhile business. It’s a frozen perishable product with decades of proven unit economics, business plans, and can be scaled into massive quantities. The global appeal has made the industry a target for private equity who have invested millions into Van Leeuwen, Salt & Straw, and Jeni’s under the bet they can one day become the Haagen-Dazs for the next generation. Yet ice cream is a strange business. It’s so low margin that the owners of Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s not only engage in shrinkflation to squeeze out profit from each pint, but have been actively offloading their ventures. These conglomerates also own other brands from Klondike, Breyer’s, and Talenti to Good Humor, Magnum, Drumstick, and Dreyer’s. Despite having the leading brands and economies of scale, Nestle, Unilever, and Kroger have each concluded..

English
  • Originally Aired October 27, 2024
  • Runtime 28 minutes
  • Created October 27, 2024 by
    blue_gandalf
  • Modified October 27, 2024 by
    blue_gandalf