Ice
Cream -> Blue Bell Creameries Ice Cream
Blue Bell Creameries Ice Cream
Blue Bell Creameries ice cream
is the manufacturer of Blue Bell brand ice cream, made ever
since 1911. Its corporate headquarters are in Brenham, Texas.
History
The Brenham Creamery Company
had opened for the business in August, 1907. Their first product
was butter. Small production of ice cream
began in the year1911, no more then one to two gallons a day.
Praise of the ice cream spread by a word-of-mouth, and the
creamery ramped up production to meet the demand. By 1930,
the company name had changed to Blue Bell Creameries.
After many years of selling
blue bell ice cream only in Brenham, 
the
company began selling it in Houston, then in the Dallas and
throughout most of Texas. In year1989, sales began in the
Oklahoma, and throughout the 1990s, aggressive expansion pushed
throughout the South Central and the Southern United States.
In year1992, Blue Bell built a new manufacturing facility
in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and in 1996, purchased an existing
ice cream factory in Sylacauga, Alabama. Blue Bell holds impressive
sales figures, being the 3rd best-selling ice cream in United
States as of 2004, behind Brayers and Eddy’s/Dreyer's,
despite being sold in the only 16 states.
Blue Bell introduced its flagship
flavor, "Homemade
Vanilla," in 1969 and was the first to mass-produce
"Cookies 'n Cream" in the year 1980. Their
ice cream product line includes over
twenty flavors produced by year-round and more than twenty
other flavors produced seasonally. In addition to ice cream,
the company produced frozen yogurt, sherbet, and an array
of frozen
ice cream treats on stick.
Culture
Blue Bell ice cream is considered
somewhat of the institution in Texas, with visits to its Brenham
plant being a very popular family activity, especially from
the nearby Houston area. For a nominal admission price, the
customer gets the tour of the factory and ice cream
samples at the end of tours.
Blue Bell is mentioned in the song "Ohio
(Come Back to Texas)" by Bowling for Soup from their
album A Hangover You Don't Deserve (2004).
