Free Cone Day – Ben and Jerry’s Chatswood

That one day of the year the the world goes nuts at Ben and Jerry’s ice cream stores. Tuesday April8, 2014 marked the official day of lining up for as many scoops as we all could- how many did you have?

“What is Free Cone Day? Well it’s our way to celebrate and say thanks for another year of support, and we’ve kept it up every year since, spreading the peace, love & ice cream around the globe!”

1978 – With a $5 correspondence course in ice cream-making from Penn State and  a $12,000 investment ($4,000 of it borrowed), Ben and Jerry open their first  ice cream scoop shop in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont.

  1979 – Ben and Jerry celebrate the shop’s one-year anniversary – and the customers who made it possible – by holding the first-ever Free Cone Day: free scoops for all, all day long. The annual ice cream give-away continues today in scoop shops around the world.

This really shows how marketing can make a massive different to a successful product/service.

The free cones started at 12 noon and ends at 9pm. Luckily for me, I just got to Chatswood at around 8:45 and walked along the music-pumpin store.

There was a massive line with people from all ages- but mostly school kids. Don’t you guys have homework to do?? I guess its better going outside than staying at home on the computers #genZlyf

The line twirled up towards the Concourse but it wasn’t as long as the maze at Broadway last year. I remember it was going out into the car park area outside!! #dedication oh, and we waited probably 30-40 minutes? This time round I only wanted for just over 15 minutes.

It was nice getting handed over the flavours but there were too many to choose from. I must admit, when the Chatswood Ben and Jerry’s store opened and they were offering free ice cream (again), I went and tried 5 flavours. My favourites include Cherry Garcia and Strawberry Cheesecake.

Even the truck made a handy appearance.

It’s for the free scoop tour to raise awareness to save the Great Barrier Reef #scooptour

This time I had the boysenberry one and that didn’t disappoint! less calories than the nutty chocolatey ones but also quite a refreshing taste. I wished they had whole berries in it too.

Sad that I missed out on getting another one by 2 minutes but we got some vouchers to entice us to come again- why not!

Review Rating: =D  =)  =|  =(

Product (Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry’s): =D

Ambience: =D

Service: =)

Value: =D

Would I go to Free Cone Day next year? Heck yes! It’s the one day of the year everyone knows about! It’s all over social media and you get a delicious scoop of ice cream. Is it worth the wait? haha yes! Normally a scoop would be $5? I don’t remember but I normally wouldn’t buy it because its so expensive. Even if you go Connoisseur its $7 for a 1L at the supermarkets I think.

Would I donate the money I saved to the organisers for another event? This is a tricky question and I would have to say no. I think $2 investment in next year and get 2 scoops when I queue up would be an incentive.

Highlight: Just eating ice cream. Their ice cream is packed full of chocolate, nuts, caramel, phish, and other goodie treats. Cherish the precious moments, taste buds.

Suggestion of Improvement: I really want the American flavours to hit the stores in Sydney! Half baked, or S’mores, or Chocolate Nougat Crunch.. I remember we got very similar flavours to when the store first opened. People love trying new things and Messina does a brilliant job of bringing out new flavours every week.

Ends: April 8, 2014 BUT there is a free cone truck happening #fightforthereef #scooptour

Link: http://www.benjerry.com

Angela Bee