Blue Bell Creameries
Blue Bell Creameries is an American food company that manufactures ice cream. It was founded in 1907 in Brenham, Texas. For much of its early history, the company manufactured both ice cream and butter locally.
In the mid-20th century, it abandoned butter production and expanded to the entire state of Texas and soon much of the Southern United States. The company’s corporate headquarters are located at the “Little Creamery” in Brenham, Texas. Since 1919, it has been in the hands of the Kruse family. Despite being sold in a limited number of states, as of 2015 Blue Bell is the fourth highest-selling ice cream brand in the United States as a whole.
About Blue Bell Creameries
Despite its bucolic trademark image of a barefoot country girl leading a milk cow, ice cream maker Blue Bell Creameries means business. It offers some 20 ice cream flavors year-round and about 35 rotating flavors. While Blue Bell is considered to be a regional brand (with distribution in certain regions of only 23 US states), it is one of the nation’s most popular ice cream brands.
In addition to ice cream, it makes yogurt, frozen treats (ice cream sandwiches, fruit pops), sherbet, and low-fat and sugar-free ice creams. Blue Bell works to expand from its base in Texas and surrounding areas, but it doesn’t have plans for explosive growth, as it retains control over production and distribution of its products.
Creamy Facts About Blue Bell Creameries
The Company didn’t originally make Ice Cream – It wasn’t called Blue Bell, either. When the company we now know as Blue Bell Creameries opened its doors in Brenham, Texas in 1907, it was the Brenham Creamery Company, a cooperative that didn’t have any intention of making ice cream. Instead, the company set out to conquer the Texas butter market.
The Ice Cream was an instant Hit – Production may have been limited, but Denham’s residents loved the creamery’s ice cream. When it became clear there was demand for the frosty treat, the company invested in equipment that would enable it to jack up annual production to 6,000 gallons.
Making Cookies ‘n Cream was a bit of a pain – Vanilla ice cream laced with bits of chocolate sandwich cookies is a classic combo, and Blue Bell claims to have created the flavor in 1978. (It’s worth noting that other pioneers have made their case for recognition as the inventors of the flavor, too.) In the earliest days of Blue Bell’s Cookies ‘n Cream, making each batch required quite a bit of legwork. As Blue Bell had to buy individual packages of Oreos from Nabisco and manually open each bag that went into the ice cream. This process grew tiresome, and today the company bakes its own cookies for the treat.
Blue bell took its time Expanding – Even once Blue Bell established itself as the premium ice cream of choice for local Texans, the company wasn’t in a huge hurry to expand. Even though Brenham is only 70 miles northwest of Houston, the company didn’t expand into that market until 1960. Once it established a foothold in Houston, Blue Bell kept spreading across Texas. By 1989, the company was ready to branch into other states as it stepped into Louisiana and Oklahoma.
The Company Is Committed to the half gallon – In an era of shrinking package sizes, Blue Bell has stubbornly stuck to the classic half-gallon tub as its default serving size. The company website has its own “Still a Half Gallon” page that touts how it offers customers 33 percent more ice cream than most of its competitors.
