How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I

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Can Rick Cronk <strong>and</strong> Gary Rogers do in the fragmented ice cream
<strong>business</strong> what Anheuser-Busch did in beer? That's their goal .
The Berserk-ley boys
By Seth Luboce
WIr.uA-M (RcK) CaoNt: III aud T .
(for Thomas) Gan . Rogers attended
the IInnersirn of California at Berkelev
during the 1960s-"Berserkley;'
as it was known during those
cears of high radicalism . While many
of their fellow alumni went in for ses,
drugs <strong>and</strong> the Vict Cong, Rogers <strong>and</strong>
Cronk drank beer at their fraternit\
house <strong>and</strong> became top athletes,
Cronk as a varsitv water polo ola~er,
Rogers a near-Oh'tnpic oarsman .
After graduation Cronk became a
stockbroker . Rogers sened in the
Armv as an officer, then went to Harvard's
<strong>business</strong> school <strong>and</strong> thence into
consulting at McFinsey & Co .
Eight years on, the two reunited to
start a restaurant, which failed . Undaunted,
the)decided to buy a local
<strong>business</strong> . Drecer's Gr<strong>and</strong> Ice Cream
Inc . of Oakl<strong>and</strong>, Calif. was for sale .
Neither partner kte«much about ice
cream, but the deal didn't reauire
much cash . The price was S 1 million
for the S6 million (saes) <strong>business</strong>, just
$28,000 in cash, the restin bankloans
<strong>and</strong> tlnancing from a New York investment
firm . A bargain? Not nectssarilv
. The compan}' was stagnant <strong>and</strong>
bareh, making money .
Within a decade Rogers <strong>and</strong> Cronk
were sitting on a national br<strong>and</strong>
(Edy's in the East) with 1994 sales of
S5li-k million . Public since 1981 .
Dre}'er's no%c has a market capitalization
ofS468 million, with Rogers <strong>and</strong>
Cronk owning 20%
. DreNer's is no«neck <strong>and</strong> neck «'ith Unilever Plc .'s
Brcvers in the prentiunt-pricedabout
$4 .50 per half-gallon-ice
cream market, cach with around 12%
(see Gox, opposite) .
The secret of Drever's spectacular
gro«th : distribution . Truck bv truck,
region by region, dtey builr a refrigerated
tleet driven bV sales reps who ~isit
large grocery stores, keeping the
freezers well stocked not only with a
growing line of Dreyer's products but
also with competing superprcmium
br<strong>and</strong>s, including Ben & Jeny's,
Mars' Dove br<strong>and</strong>, ConAgra's
Healthy Choice ice cream <strong>and</strong> Vestle's
line of frozen no~elql treats . A
third of I ast year's re~ enues came fro m
sales of other makers' br<strong>and</strong>s . Why
distribute rival br<strong>and</strong>s? Because the
additional volume helps defrav the
cost of running their $100,000
refrigerated rigs .
Armed Ncitlt h<strong>and</strong>held computers,
the reps track irrventore <strong>and</strong> report to
headquarters about flavors <strong>and</strong> products
favored in local markets . Areas
with lots of older people, for instance,
prefer more sugar-free offerings,
while urban consumers like coffee
fla 'ors .
Now the Berserk-ley boys are embarking
on their boldest undertaking
yet, a five-year campaign to make
Dre}'er's the nation's largest br<strong>and</strong> of
packaged ice cream . The plan calls for
doubling sales by decade's end, to
well over $1 billion .
The plan imohes using Dreyer's
highly effeaioe distribution sti'stem to
knock our manv of the 500 small,
regional ice cream br<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> take
over theirvolume . P.lth(ugh Dreyer's
<strong>and</strong> Unilc~er's Brcvers haNe a similar=
Iv large share of the market, there is
plenn' of room for both to grow .
} ) 2046673299 For .,« . Au gu st1Y,1 9 y5
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/agf97d00/pdf