Америкалық мұзқаймақ компаниясы: Blue Bell тарихы

American ice cream company

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. as of 2015, Blue Bell was the #2 selling ice cream manufacturer in the United States.

The company has its roots in the Brenham Creamery Company, which opened in 1907 to purchase excess cream from local dairy farmers and sell butter to people in Brenham, Texas, a town situated approximately 70 mile (113 km) northwest of Houston. In 1911, the creamery began to produce small quantities of ice cream. By 1919, the Creamery was in financial trouble and considered closing its doors. The board of directors hired E. F. Kruse, a 23 year old former schoolteacher, to take over the company on April 1, 1919. Kruse refused to accept a salary for his first few months in the position so that the company would not be placed in further debt. Under his leadership, the company expanded its production of ice cream to the surrounding Brenham area and soon became profitable. At his suggestion, the company was renamed Blue Bell Creameries in 1930 after Kruse's favorite wildflower the Texas bluebell, which, like ice cream, thrives during the summer. In 1989, Blue Bell began selling its ice cream in Oklahoma, and throughout the 1990s expansion pushed throughout the South Central and Southern United States, eventually expanding out to New Orleans and Jackson, Mississippi. In 1992, Blue Bell built a new manufacturing facility in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. These expansions are accompanied with the purchase and/or construction of distribution centers in new markets that serve areas within a 75 mile (121 km) radius. In 2015, Blue Bell issued a series of recalls (see below for more on this) that eventually shut down production and led to all of its products being recalled on April 20, culminating in job cuts and furloughs (as well as the reduction of its 23 state sales territory) resulting from the shutdown the following May. In conjunction with factory cleanup procedures and agreements with state and federal authorities, the company returned to production three months later on a limited basis, returning its products to the market on August 31 in portions of Texas and Alabama as part of a five phase plan to return to much of its pre recall distribution territory, which has been reduced to 21 states based on Blue Bell's limited distribution capabilities in the near term. In 2018, children of an interracial family posted an open letter on Facebook addressed to Blue Bell asking that the flavor "The Great Divide" (equal halves of chocolate and vanilla ice cream) be changed to "Better Together". While Blue Bell spokespersons reacted positively to the name change proposal, the post became controversial among some Facebook users who dismissed the original name as inoffensive. In July 2019, The Blue Bell Creameries faced an issue that went viral after a teenage female licked one of their ice cream tubs at a Walmart in Lufkin, Texas, then placed it back in the freezer. She was later arrested. After the incident, multiple copycats were committed, and some were jailed. These incidents resulted with severe negative reactions that violating food in such a manner is dangerous to the public health, along with criticisms that no action is taken to punish any offenders and Blue Bell for not protecting their ice cream with a plastic seal. Mid March 2024 saw expansion to St. Louis, MO & East St. Louis, IL.

As of 2015, the company operated three manufacturing facilities, with the largest facility in Brenham, and auxiliary facilities in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and Sylacauga, Alabama. Before the 2015 recalls, there were 50 sales and distribution centers, known as branches, spread throughout its 23 state market. These facilities employed a combined 2,800 employees, with 850 of the employees working out of Brenham. In 2006, annual sales exceeded $400 million. Blue Bell retains control over all aspects of its business, primarily to ensure quality control and the use of the freshest ingredients available. Drivers of delivery vehicles personally stock store shelves so they can ensure it is handled properly. According to figures gathered by Statista, a market data and statistics portal, while combined private labels sold more, in 2014 Blue Bell was the best selling ice cream brand in the United States. The sales area is primarily concentrated in the Southern United States, and has been sold as far west as Las Vegas, as far north as Indianapolis and Denver, and as far east as Richmond, Virginia. Overall, this area comprises only 20% of the United States. By comparison, each of Blue Bell's top four competitors sells its products in 100% of the United States. To become one of the three biggest ice cream manufacturers, Blue Bell has consistently been the top seller in the majority of the markets the company has entered. For example, in its home state of Texas, the company has a 52% market share. Within five months of its entry into Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the company had garnered 35% of the ice cream market. People living outside the sales area can have the ice cream shipped to them (although this has temporarily been halted while the company is ramping up production after the recalls), and former President George W. Bush (a former Governor of Texas) often had the ice cream shipped to Camp David during his administration. In 2006 and 2012, astronauts aboard the International Space Station were also treated to Blue Bell ice cream "to help out (the crew's) happiness quotient."

Blue Bell produces over 250 different frozen products. Of these, 66 are flavors of ice cream. Twenty of the flavors are offered year round, while an additional two to three dozen are offered seasonally. In addition to ice cream, the company produces frozen yogurt, sherbet, and an array of frozen treats on a stick. The company introduced its flagship flavor, Homemade Vanilla, in 1969 Although the company at one time made cookies 'n cream from Nabisco's Oreo cookies, buying ordinary retail packages, today it bakes its own cookies. R. W. Apple Jr., of The New York Times claimed in 2006 that "[w]ith clean, vibrant flavors and a rich, luxuriant consistency achieved despite a butterfat content a little lower than some competitors, it hooks you from the first spoonful. Entirely and blessedly absent are the cloying sweetness, chalky texture, and oily, gummy aftertaste that afflict many mass manufactured ice creams." Occasionally, when Blue Bell enters a market the company marks the occasion with the introduction of a regional flavor within that market. For example, when it entered Colorado on March 14, 2011, Blue Bell introduced a new flavor exclusive to Colorado, Rocky Mountain Road, made with more premium ingredients (including chocolate covered nuts and a marshmallow swirl) compared to its year round Rocky Road. While the test market was in the Denver metropolitan area, there was speculation that the rest of the state would soon see Blue Bell on store shelves. Eventually, this flavor would be distributed to Blue Bell's entire sales territory.

In December 2015, CBS Evening News reported that the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) had launched a federal criminal investigation into Blue Bell Creameries, to determine "what exactly Blue Bell executives knew about the contaminations and unsanitary conditions, when they knew, and what they did in response". The investigation, by the DOJ's Consumer Protection Branch, is reportedly led by trial attorney Patrick Hearn, who successfully prosecuted executives of the Peanut Corporation of America in 2015. The company plead guilty in 2020 to charges it distributed contaminated products and paid a $19.35 million fine. On October 22, 2020, Paul Kruse, Blue Bell's Chief Executive Officer during the outbreak, and formerly, its general counsel, was indicted on seven felony counts of conspiracy and wire fraud for his part in the alleged cover up. In August 2022 the DOJ tried Kruse on five counts of fraud and one count of conspiracy. The trial ended in a mistrial after jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict. The DOJ scheduled a retrial for April 2023, but reached a plea deal with Kruse in March. Under the plea deal, Kruse will plead guilty to one misdemeanor charge of having caused adulterated ice cream products to be distributed and pay a $100,000 fine. He will serve no prison time.