Warning: A personal rant is about to begin here so please bear with me if you find these types of things tedious.
I always hear about studies of how American students are given maps of the world and told to locate countries. The study usually concludes with the ignorant students showing how thick they are by not even being able to locate America on the map. I’ve always thought these studies to be untrue or rather I hoped they were. This last week I began to wonder.
For those of you who know me, you’ll also know that I am something of a serial entrepreneur, someone who is always looking for that next big idea. One of my latest ideas was to look into bringing Ben & Jerry’s to South Africa. I mean we already have Hagendaz and other franchises like Cinnabon (which are popping up faster than retail space can be created) so why not a Ben & Jerry’s?
So I trundled off to their corporate website and filled in a form which then sent off an email to I assumed a wise person in their franchise division. I patiently waited for about 3 days (they promised a 48 hour response but it was the weekend so I’ll give it to them) and this is the response I got:
Hi Saul,
Thank you for your inquiry regarding Ben & Jerry’s and our franchise opportunity. Unfortunately, your area of interest is not currently an open market for new franchise development. We will keep your information on file and will notify you if and when a franchise development opportunity becomes available in your country. For more information about Ben & Jerry’s, please visit our website at www.benjerry.com.
Thank you again for your consideration.
Best regards,
Calen King
Wow Calen, thanks for the brush off!
I’m sorry but someone, somewhere in an office in the good old US of A is to lazy to find an atlas and look where South Africa is. It’s either this or the fact that they believe we all ride around on Elephants and live in huts. Last time I checked there was enough money and demand to support a big name ice-cream shop in South Africa. It’s warm in our country most days of the year, we need/crave/want more ice-cream places to compete with Hagendaz and other no-name ice cream places.
Thanks Calen, you’ll be getting a phone call from me fairly soon to understand why Africa is not in your list of new franchise areas.
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I was on Yahoo and found your blog. Read a few of your other posts. Good work. I am looking forward to reading more from you in the future.
Tom Stanley
Thanks for stopping past Tom. Hope you continue to enjoy!
Blind American’s *what*? Dog? Cat?
Did you mean “Blind Americans”?
B&J mailed you a pretty standard “no thanks” email; nothing in there indicates that they don’t know where South Africa is. You would probably get the same email if you suggested a new B&Js in a part of America that they are not interested in.
“Last time I checked there was enough money and demand to support a big name ice-cream shop in South Africa.”
Based on what? Where did you check? Putting *that* research into your blog would make it a worthwhile read. At this point, you are just another asshole on the internet with an opinion.
Expanding into new countries is very expensive; I don’t think B&Js would get a very good rate of return in South Africa, given the huge cost of doing business there, and the iffy infrastructure. (Ice cream melts if the electricity goes out, doesn’t it?)
Joe, firstly thanks for the opinion. Does this not make you an asshole with an opinion now?
Secondly: the email is simply a brush off with no explanation given. Maybe I did not express myself properly but I feel that a reason would be due as then I could possibly explain/change the reasons for them not wanting to franchise in SA.
My logic for it being successful: Hagendaz is doing a pretty decent job with only one store and other ice-cream vendors such as Maestro’s are quite successful as well.
Make sense now?
Joe, I would like to know what on earth your problem is? Are you one of those South Africans who spends their time whining about how much the country sucks, while you jerk off to the mere idea of America? The truth is that if you had ever really MET anyone from the states, maybe you would know that they are generally geographically challenged…
My point is that Saul is allowed to have his own opinion, hence why you’re at saulk.co.za! Regardless, the brush off comes across very much as though the guy has NO idea where on earth South Africa is. But I suppose you have done the research you preach (I can tell from your academic style and referncing), you know it all, there has been NO available ice cream since load shedding!! It would seem Joe that based on what you say, everything in our freezers should have melted… I think, Joe, that you have just solved the world’s problem as to the cause of global warming.
Hi Guys – I didn’t quite mean to come across quite that caustic; I was trying to say that it is pretty easy to beat up Americans on geographic knowledge, but the ‘dumbass American’ label is pretty undeserved. (How much do *you* know about countries on the other side of the planet? Can you explain the recent history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example (I can’t either. Without a lot of Googling*))
I agree that Americans should be a bit more world-aware; this B&J email response, however, doesn’t indicate that they lack any awareness of *where* you are on the planet.
(Just the fact that somebody wrote back to you is pretty good, actually. Also, businesses generally don’t give a reason for turning down a franchise – They won’t say: “Well, actually, we’re planning to expand into South Africa (Cape Town and Joburg first) in the second half of 2010″ – they could be handing over valuable info to competitors)
*Google was invented by some dumb-ass Americans, by the way.
Joe, you did come across as rather scathing, as did I in response, so I apologise. But the truth is you’re here reading someone’s blog, and since it’s their’s, they’re entitled to their own opinions – surely?
The brush off, while polite, gives no more information about why they are not interested in South Africa, or even any indication about acknowledging where SA is. I’m not saying they should give up the company’s secrets, but c’mon, he could’ve said more, been a bit more constructive?
Just as a matter of interest, how do you think a crisis in the Balkans is equated to knowing a bit about SA’s economy and whether B&Js would do well here? (I don’t mean that sarcastically, but I’m not entirely sure where it fits in…)
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I find this blog very interesting, i will be here everyday till now. Greetings
First: They know where SA is, there are a few South Africans living in the area. There’s a lot of “do you know mr. xyz?, he’s from south africa too” up there. & no, in fact i don’t know every expat in the states.
Second: I despise form letters. For me, doesn’t imply they don’t know. It implies they don’t care about the region in question.
Third: Don’t comment on a power grid if you can’t even understand your own. Vermont doesn’t have a history of the most stable grid so clearly is not a factor in their decision. SA is far more stable than that area of Vermont.
Fourth: For the most part, American news agencies are horrendous. Relying on American news sources breeds ignorance. They are so focused on local news that brief touches on international news are severely biased. I don’t think americans are stupid, just uninformed. And i think you’re right, the testing that americans don’t know geography is probably false. I know some americans who can name every country/state on earth AND their capitals. I also know some americans who cannot name every state in the US. Education is not equal and media certainly has a degree of culpability.