Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were just happy to still be in business one year after opening a local ice cream shop in Burlington, Vt. In an effort to express their gratitude toward those who helped Ben and Jerry's stay in business, they started a "Free Cone Day" tradition that has been celebrated every year since their first anniversary in 1979.
That's right: free ice cream! On Tuesday, April 8 from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., Ben and Jerry's locations across the country serve a free cone to each customer that walks through their doors! Here, we get a company spokesperson to break it down by the numbers:
1,000,000: the number of scoops served worldwide in 2013
3: the number of top flavors, which include Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Vanilla and Cherry Garcia
36: the number of total flavors available worldwide
11: the number of cones eaten by the co-worker of our B&J spokesperson: "I’d say I can eat about 2, but I do have co-workers that compete to see how many they can eat in a day. I think the record is 11!"
300: Ben and Jerry's franchises across the U.S.
3: new flavors unique to 2014 that are available today for fans to taste test (Hazed & Confused, Cotton Candy and Salted Caramel Blondie)
35: years that the tradition has been in existence
Unlimited: supply of ice cream and the amount of times you can swing by for a scoop