Ben & Jerry's co-founders to discuss business philosophy on LI

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the namesake co-founders of ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc., will speak at Adelphi University on April 10.

The founders of the company that produces flavors such as Cherry Garcia, Americone Dream and Chocolate Therapy, will be sharing their business philosophy and the opportunities and obstacles of running a socially conscious enterprise.

The event coincides with the company’s Free Cone Day, at which customers can get a free single-scoop ice cream cone at Ben & Jerry’s locations.

Cohen and Greenfield, who both attended Sanford H. Calhoun High School in Merrick, started their ice cream business out of a single parlor in Burlington, Vermont, in 1978. They created Free Cone Day in 1979 as a way to thank patrons for getting them through their first year in business.

In 2000, the company was sold to conglomerate Unilever. Cohen and Greenfield are employed by the company as co-founders but are not involved in the day-to-day management of the ice cream business.

Tickets for the event — which runs from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the concert hall of Adelphi’s performing arts center, 1 South Ave. in Garden City — are $5. It is open to nonstudents. A complimentary ice cream social will be held afterward.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit events.Adelphi.edu.