BLUE BELL ANNOUNCES PHASE TWO TERRITORY EXPANSION RETURN TO MARKET

  

Blue Bell announced Monday morning that the company is expanding their delivery of ice cream to more areas as part of their phase-in return of their beloved product.

The company underwent an extensive cleaning and decontamination process at its plants in Texas and Oklahoma, furloughed about 1,200 workers and laid off about 750 full time and 700 part-time workers back in May  after reports of listeria contamination was blamed for three deaths in Kansas.

The announcement is as follows:

Blue Bell Ice Cream began making deliveries early this morning to stores located in Dallas, Fort Worth and Waco, Texas, and Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Okla., as well as the surrounding areas.

“In preparation for phase two, we have spent the past several weeks building our inventory,” said Ricky Dickson, vice president of sales and marketing for Blue Bell. “But, it will take time to reach every account in these areas. We are working as quickly as we can to get product in stores and will be refilling shelves as needed.”

Blue Bell returned to stores in select markets, which included the Austin, Brenham and Houston, Texas, areas as well as Birmingham and Montgomery, Ala., where the product was produced, on August 31.

Blue Bell is entering each phase similarly to its original expansion over the past 108 years. “The only exception to our rollout is we are now servicing parts of Alabama and Oklahoma where all products are being produced,” Dickson said. “We are extremely grateful for the overwhelming response we have received from our customers. We thank everyone for their patience and know that many areas are still waiting for Blue Bell. We hope to announce a date for phase three in the next few weeks.”

For now Blue Bell is producing five flavors of ice cream in the half gallon and pint sizes: Buttered Pecan, Cookies ’n Cream, Dutch Chocolate, Homemade Vanilla and The Great Divide. More flavors will be added in the future. 12-pak Homemade Vanilla Cups and 12-pak Homemade Vanilla and Dutch Chocolate Cups are also available in stores.

For more information on each phase and to search if ice cream is currently available in your area, visit www.bluebell.com