The first time I ever ate raw fish was with Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield (AKA Ben and Jerry)
Here is the scoop. Sorry, Fanny, I couldn’t resist.
The year was 1980, and my wife and I went to the New York Gourmet Specialty Food Show in Manhattan. We didn’t have a trade show booth, but we thought it would be a good idea to determine whether we should exhibit at this type of event, so we planned to walk the show, observe the activity, and decide whether we wanted to spend the money to promote our business next year.
The prior month, which I believe was May of 1980, I did something that, at the time, seemed perfectly natural. I was fearless out of sheer ignorance. I didn’t realize that you could pick up the phone and call someone with semi-celebrity status and actually speak to them.
Out from the cold
I had an idea that maybe we could get Ben and Jerry to use Rachel’s Brownies in one of their spectacular ice cream creations. I had frozen delusions of grandeur that they would perhaps make a Rachel’s Brownies ice cream, and that the publicity would help build our brand. At age 26, I didn’t know enough about business to realize what an asset it was to be naive.
So I picked up the phone and called Ben Cohen in Vermont. I told the person who answered the phone that my name was Jeff Slater, that I was President of Rachel’s Brownies, and that I wanted to talk to Ben about a wild idea. The receptionist put me through, and on the other end of the phone was Ben Cohen. He sounded like an ordinary Joe without any airs about him; none at all.
When I introduced myself and explained our humble little brownie business in Pennsylvania, he said, “You guys make Rachel’s Brownies.” I love Rachel’s Brownies; I eat Rachel’s Brownies on People Express Airlines all the time. We ought to have ice cream together! I froze in my tracks.
You know that feeling you get when you eat ice cream too quickly… a brain freeze? You can picture my amazement that he knew our humble little brownie, actually wanted to connect, and thought the idea was cool. (Fanny, I couldn’t resist).
Ben said he and Jerry would be in New York for the Specialty Show, and we should get lunch together to talk about this idea. He said he’d call me a day in advance to figure out a meeting place.
We were hanging out at my folks’ house in Springfield, New Jersey, the day before the show, when the phone rang (pre-cellphone days), and it was Ben saying he knew a neat little restaurant near The New York Public Library. He gave me the name (which I don’t remember) and said, “You guys eat sushi, right?”
Of course, I wanted to be as hip as Ben and Jerry, so I said, “Of course, we do”.
I’ll have the raw fish.
Ra El and I love great food and had already eaten things like escargot in Paris, so we weren’t food rookies, but sushi was new to us. In 1980, I am sure we never thought about eating raw fish for lunch, but we figured, why not? Worst case, we would pick at the pike and taste the tuna… so I confirmed our meeting. We were to meet on the steps of the New York Public Library, and the restaurant was around the corner. I remember thinking, since we hadn’t met, how would I know them? So, I went into my Mom’s freezer, took out a pint of coffee Ben and Jerry’s, ate the ice cream, and cut out the photo on the package- just in case.
I am surprised I can’t find any artifacts to share, like a menu or a picture from this event. I’m not clever enough to make up a story like this, so you’ll need to take my word for it that this truly happened.
I do recall that the restaurant was what could be generously referred to as a hole-in-the-wall. It looked like one of those places that would get a D+ for sanitation, because the inspector got paid a little something by the owner so that they wouldn’t fail the inspection.
We met on the library steps, and the restaurant was just around the corner. I immediately recognized Ben with his trademark hat. He was very garrulous and fun to talk with, while Jerry seemed zoned out and not too interested in much of anything. The legend goes that Ben and Jerry were friends from high school and took a correspondence school class on making ice cream, which is how their ice cream empire began.
Something Smelled Fishy
We sat down for lunch in this seedy place, and something really smelled fishy. I remember a platter of strange, rolled-up stuff coming out, and this was the oddest food I think I ever saw in front of me in my life. I felt like we were going fishing and someone served us the fish bait. But Ra El and I kept our cool about us and played along as if we were aficionados. (Fanny, this is the last bad pun, I promise.)
We nibbled on things like a California roll that at least had friendly stuff in it, like rice and cream cheese. I remember with great clarity a powerful awareness that it was so bizarre to be sitting with ice cream icons and sucking down sushi for lunch.
The result from the arrangement was that Ben and Jerry’s sold Rachel’s Brownies Ice Cream in their scoop shops for many years. We provided them with sheets of brownies that they froze, cut into irregular chunks, and mixed with one of their gourmet vanilla ice creams. They tried to make it into pints, but the brownies were too thick or irregular to ever get into production. I guess that this co-branded product existed for about five years, but today it’s just a chocolate blur.
What’s the life lesson?
Being naive can be a blessing because you don’t overanalyze all the risks and rewards. You pick up the phone and try to connect. Ben and Jerry are a couple of buddies from high school, no different than Jeff and Jamie, or Fanny and John, or Sarah and Ellen. Don’t be afraid to go for it and reach out to connect with someone who happens to have some fame, even if you think you are a pint-sized nobody.
The cliche is really true: We all scream for sushi.
Cool, I didn’t know this story!!! I would have definitely bought Rachel’s Brownies ice cream…mmmmmm!
Great post, Jeffrey.
The things we could achieve if we could retain our naivety our childhood fearlessness of being wrong.
I laughed out loud when I read the following line:
So, I went into my Mom’s freezer, took out a pint of coffee Ben and Jerry’s, ate the ice cream and cut out the photo on the package- just in case.
Thank you Jeffrey for a great post. I am just starting my business and am naive so hopefully it will work just as well for me as it did for you.
A truly great story and I love the fact that you used what your Grandfather, I would think, use to call Chutzpah…
I love the lesson here. Being naive can make you bold and try things a seasoned business person may not. Great story, even better lesson!
Love this! Hmm.. I could go for some sushi or maybe some Ben and Jerry’s right about now. What about an ice cream with sushi? Hmm that might not be as appetizing.