Blue Bell cranks out $14 million scoop

BRENHAM - Whatever it might say for the economy, Blue Bell Ice Cream is hot. A $14 million expansion of cold storage and production capacity will add about 100,000 sf to the existing plant at 1101 S. Blue Bell Rd.

For its construction project, Blue Bell received a tax "phase-in" that will save the company about $442,000 over eight years, said Julie Fulgham, the City of Brenham’s director of development service.

The privately held company that calls itself "the little creamery in Brenham" will add 50 employees over the phase-in period, Fulgham said. The plant currently has 875 employees.

Blue Bell was one of three Brenham manufacturers granted tax phase-in agreements in 2012.

Now available in 20 states, the product is selling so well that Blue Bell Creameries has begun a project that will expand its Brenham plant by 25 percent.

It’s the first major expansion since the early 1990s at the Brenham facility, about 70 miles northwest of Houston.

Read more at the Houston Chronicle and NewsTalk Texas.