TWST: Do you believe you can attain a 15% increase in earnings each year over the next five years?
COHEN: I got no idea.
TWST: Umm-hmm. What do you believe your capital spending will be each year over the next five years?
COHEN: I don’t have any ideas as to that either.
TWST: I see. How do you react to the way the stock market has been treating you in general and vis-à-vis other companies in your line?
COHEN: I think the stock market goes up and down, unrelated to how a company is doing. I never expected it to be otherwise. I anticipate that it will continue to go up and down, based solely on rumor and whatever sort of manipulation those people who like to manipulate the market can accomplish.
TWST: What do you have for hobbies?
COHEN: Hobbies. Let me think. Eating, mostly. Ping-pong.
TWST: Huh?
COHEN: Ping-pong.
Solutions to corporate operating decisions were also dictated by Ben & Jerry’s interest in community welfare. The disposal of factory wastewater provided an example.
In 1985, when we moved into our new plant in Waterbury, we were limited in the amount of wastewater that we could discharge into the municipal treatment plant. As sales and production skyrocketed, so did our liquid waste, most of which was milky water.[We]made a deal with Earl, a local pig farmer, to feed our milky water to his pigs.(They loved every flavor except Mint with Oreo Cookies, but Cherry Garcia was their favorite.)Earl’s pigs alone couldn’t handle our volume, so eventually we loaned Earl $10,000 to buy 200 piglets. As far as we could tell, this was a win-win solution to a tricky environmenta