5. Scoop Shops >
  5.1 PartnerShops

The PartnerShop Program

Partnershop LogoPartnerShops are Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops that are owned and operated by youth-serving nonprofit organizations. Ben & Jerry’s waives the traditional franchise and royalty fees for PartnerShops and provides customized training to support the unique needs of these social enterprises. In turn, PartnerShops offer youth facing barriers to employment a unique opportunity for developing job skills. All proceeds from PartnerShops flow back to the parent nonprofit to support social programs. Proud PartnerShop ScooperRead all the most up-to-date information about our PartnerShop operators on our website.

We started 2006 with the following PartnerShop Operators:


Three new organizations joined our PartnerShop Community in 2006:


Due to challenging political and economic conditions, the pilot PartnerShop in Sderot, Israel closed in September 2006.Ben Cohen with a grouping of band kids

At the end of 2006, there were a total of 17 PartnerShops in operation in the U.S., Northern Ireland and Scotland.

We had some notable successes in our PartnerShop Community in 2006:


  • 310 youth were trained in job and life skills in our PartnerShops.
  • 101 of these youth moved on to higher paying jobs, higher education, or vocational training.
  • Average sales per transaction increased on average for our PartnerShop community by $0.83 while the overall average sales per transaction amounted to $6.04, an increase of $1.04 from 2005.
  • The average PartnerShop Evaluation Score was 93/100.
  • Building on ten years of success in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park (now Monster Park) and AT&T Park, Juma Ventures was awarded a new vendor contract at the Oakland Coliseum and kicked off their operation selling Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to fans at the first Athletics home baseball game in April 2006.
  • The New Avenues for Youth PartnerShop in Portland, OR, won the “2006 Heck of a Year” Award at the 2007 Ben & Jerry’s Global Franchise Community Gathering.
  • The Lifeworks PartnerShop in Austin, TX, was recognized as one of the “2006 Top Ten Caterers” in the Ben & Jerry’s Franchise Community.
  • Ben & Jerry’s teamed up with our Northern Ireland PartnerShop Operator, Cresco Trust, and the International Fund for Ireland in order to create the first ever Global PartnerShop Community Meeting and Inaugural Global Social Enterprise Forum. The Meeting took place September 13-15, 2006, in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland. Meeting participants shared experiences and best practices for enhancing overall PartnerShop performance and strengthening the youth employment training mission.
  • The Global Social Enterprise Forum was a transatlantic meeting of “socially spirited minds”, bringing together leading U.S. and UK social entrepreneurs such as Jerry Greenfield, Ben & Jerry’s Co-Founder; Jeff Furman, originator of Ben & Jerry’s PartnerShop model; and Charles Lief from the Hartland Group (former CEO of the Greyston Bakery).

After more than 20 years in the “PartnerShop business” we remain committed to these social enterprises and the notion that business has the power to transform communities and help solve social problems. At the same time, we have seen enough PartnerShops open and close over the years to understand the various risks that accompany these ventures.

In 2006 we slowed down our PartnerShop development program in order to address these risk factors more effectively. Currently we have four designated “open markets” for PartnerShop development: Boston, Atlanta, Miami and L.A. As a result of scaling back our development efforts, we were able to provide more on-going management and training support to our current PartnerShop Operators.

We continue to strive to enhance the PartnerShop business model in order for our PartnerShop operators to be better positioned to meet their financial, operational and job training outcomes. We recognize that the PartnerShop model is challenging given the double bottom line (which seeks profits and social benefits at the same time) that each one balances on a daily basis. In addition, the challenging 2006 market environment for Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops impacted the PartnerShop community as well. Some PartnerShops experienced decreasing customer counts and lower sales in 2006, requiring them to scale back their job training efforts in order to keep costs down.

One important shift in the business model in 2006 was the integration of the “PartnerShop Enterprise Director” role into the PartnerShop management structure. The Enterprise Director serves as the “franchisee” and is ultimately responsible for managing the financial, operational and job training outcomes for the PartnerShop. By year’s end, 75 percent of our nonprofit operators had created the Enterprise Director role within their organization, and these operators did see improved outcomes.

We will continue to work in 2007 with our nonprofit operators in order to find ways to reduce the risks wherever possible and produce more positive social and financial outcomes for our PartnerShops.