Just in time for the summer…the Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream entrepreneurs from Vermont will open a new factory in the Beer Tuvia area in the south, near Kiryat Malachi, in a facility that until recently was a soup factory and logistics center for the food manufacturer Vita Pri Hagalil.

Some NIS 8 million – or about $2 million will be invested in the new factory, which will employ dozens of workers, and comply with standards set by the global Ben & Jerry’s corporation as well as the European markets and the US food authorities.

The company’s previous factory in Yavne was closed after it failed to meet the exporting standards set by the ice-cream mogul.

The new plant will produce Ben & Jerry’s ice-creams in addition to baked frozen items that are marketed in Israel under the brand name “Rosie’s” and include pancakes, blintzes, bagels. Yummy! In addition to all of this, the company will open a new retail store in Modiin.

According to Ben & Jerry’s General-Manger Avi Zinger, another retail store is slated to be opened next month at the new Cinema City which is in Rishon Lezion – and that’s in addition to the one already operating in Glilot.

The company is currently conducting negotiations for opening another store in Jerusalem as well. Ben & Jerry’s annual turnover in Israel is estimated at some NIS 30 million – or about $8 million.

Along with the expansion of production facilities, Ben & Jerry’s will also be planning on expanding their parlors to 16, as well as selling kiosks.
Zinger says:

“Ice-cream parlors have regained momentum in recent years, and we have also returned to full activity…Ben & Jerry’s opened its first store in Israel in 1988 and operated 16 branches at its peak. In 2001 it began to close down its stores dew to losses suffered with the break of the intifada and the era of increased terror attacks.”