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develop relationships with the owners and managers of several
supermarket chains when he conceived an innovative packaging and
sales campaign that used bright colors and catchy slogans to
market ice cream products to supermarkets for resale to
consumers. Ice cream had hitherto been sold by supermarkets to
consumers as an undifferentiated product in large containers and
multiserving packages with plain brown wrappers. Arnold
subsequently developed other packaging ideas for ice cream
products that helped supermarkets sell ice cream products under
their private labels. Even with different kinds of packaging,
supermarkets marketed ice cream to consumers mainly on the basis
of price. In the late 1960's, Arnold had a falling-out with his
major supplier, Eastern Ice Cream, which forced Arnold’s Ice
Cream into bankruptcy.
In 1971, Martin and Arnold organized MIC as a part-time
business, with one delivery truck, distributing ice cream to
small grocery stores and food service accounts (restaurants,
hotels, and clubs) in northern New Jersey. Martin joined the
business after having completed virtually all requirements for a
Ph.D. in statistics and after spending several years doing
operations research and statistical analysis as an employee of
large corporations. In 1975, Martin began working in the ice
cream distribution business full time. During most of the
1970's, Arnold owned no stock in MIC because he wished to avoid
the claims of creditors of Arnold’s Ice Cream. In 1979, Arnold
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