How Ben & Jerry's Changed American Ice Cream

Forty years ago, when Ben & Jerry's opened for their first day on May 5, 1978, the ice cream scene in the United States didn't look quite like it does today.

In fact, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who had grown up together on Long Island, N.Y., were at the forefront of a superpremium ice cream trend that was still small but gaining steam. And, though they seemed to have stumbled onto ice cream by accident, their timing was remarkable.