Franchise: Ben & Jerry's

Ben & Jerry's is named for its founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who grew up together in Merrick, Long Island. In 1978, they took a $5 correspondence course on ice-cream-making, then leased an old gas station building in Burlington, Vermont to open their first ice cream shop. They began selling pints of ice cream to local restaurants and grocery stores out of Cohen's VW campervan. As Cohen had no sense of taste, he relied on "mouth feel" when eating, so large chunks of chocolate, fruit and nuts became a signature of their ice cream flavors. Cohen and Greenfield opened their first franchise in 1981. In 2000, they sold Ben & Jerry's to Unilever, but the company remains headquartered in Burlington, Vermont.