As we inch closer to opening Ebenezers, our coffeehouse on Capitol Hill, I’m reading books that help frame the way I think about it. Right now I’m reading Ben & Jerry’s Double-Dip. The book tells the story of how Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield started their ice cream empire.

Ben and Jerry decided to pursue their passion: eating! I love it. They actually met in a seventh grade gym class. They said, “We were the two slowest, fattest kids in our class.” Throughout junior high and high school they ate lunch together. How funny is that? They’re still eating together. They basically decided to do what they love to do. They narrowed it down to bagels and ice cream. To be honest, I’d like to know what kind of crazy bagels they would have invented But the bagel equipment cost $40,000 so they enrolled in a $5 correspondence course on ice-cream making offered by Penn State University.

In 1977 they retrofitted an old gas station in Burlington, Vermont. “We were eating saltine crackers and sardines from Woolworth’s–three boxes for a dollar, three cans for a dollar, respectively.”

I think it is their ingenuity that has led to Ben & Jerry’s market share. They have so many ice cream ideas that they even have a “flavor graveyard” for the flavors that never see the light of day. Their packaging and marketing are unbelievably creative. They’re also generous. It’s not a word that is often associated with business! “We were always thinking up new excuses to give away ice cream.” My favorite idea, which I think is pure genius, was “the penny off per Celsius Degree below Zero Winter Extravaganza.” They did their first Free Cone Day on May 5, 1979 and the ritual continues to today! In fact, we almost always head to Ben and Jerry’s at Eastern Market on free cone day!

One of the interesting footnotes to the story is that they almost sold the company in 1982. But a friend told Ben that “selling the business would be the worst mistake of my life.” They decided not to sell out.

Here’s the cool thing. I don’t know their spiritual orientation, but both Ben and Jerry point to “biblical values” as the foundation of their business! They became more than a business. They became a business with a cause! They say that one mistake most businesses make is hiding their values instead of making them public. Ben and Jerry argue that altruism is good for business! I couldn’t agree more. A Cone and Roper study found that 78% of adults were more likely to buy a product associated with a cause they care about.

Our goal for Ebenezers is sell coffee for a cause. We want to serve great coffee. But we want people to know that it goes to a great cause. Here’s the key. The values that drive a business or a church or a person can’t be “add-ons.” They have to be built-in. They have to be part of the DNA. They have to be the engine that drives everything we do. That is why NCC is so intentional about our core values. That’s why Ebenezers will be a value-driven business.

Ben and Jerry say, “Most companies try to conduct their business in a spiritual vacuum. But it’s absurd to think that just because spiritual connection isn’t tangible or quantitatively measurable, it doesn’t exist. When people are aware that there’s a company that’s trying to help support their community, they want to support that company.” I just think that Capitol Hill is even more cause-oriented than most places. I think the community is going to be jazzed when they know that Ebenezers supports local initiatives like the annual Easter Eggstravaganza and Live Nativity @ Lincoln Park. Here was the nail in the coffin for me: “The reality is, we’ll never actualize our spiritual concerns until we integrate them into business.”

Two footnotes:

Ben drove an ice cream truck during his Senior year of High School. It’s amazing the way an odd job can change the trajectory of someone’s life!

My all-time favorite Ben and Jerry’s ice cream name is From Russia with Buzz. The label says, “White Russian meets coffee, Coffee, Coffee, BuzzBuzzBuzz! A caffeinated cross of coffee ice cream with coffee liquer & dark coffee ice cream mixed with expresso fudge chips.”

That’s enough caffeine to resurrect the dead.