Blue Bell Creameries have been slinging ice cream since 1907. The Brenham, Texas company is known for its superior quality and wide range of flavors—40, as of writing. Some of those are classics that remain in constant rotation, whereas others are, unfortunately, only available for a limited time.
Customers have dedicated entire Subreddits to their favorites, many of which are no longer sold. Popular options that have since moved to the great ice cream beyond include Red Velvet, Butter Crunch, Pink Camo ‘n Cream, Creole Cream Cheese, Krazy Kookie Dough, and Groom’s Cake, but the list could likely go on.
The downside to falling in love with a limited batch of Blue Bell is that you don’t know when, or if, the creamery will bring that flavor back into the fold. The good folks over at Chron decided to get to the bottom of things by going straight to the source: A Blue Bell spokesperson who shed light on the company’s process of reviewing old flavors and coming up with new ones.
“Consumer feedback means the world to us. We keep a careful list of all consumer flavor requests and review them several times a year to decide which classic flavors to bring back,” they said.
The spokesperson added, “Over the last four decades, the company has brought more than 250 unique flavors to market. Annually, production capacity supports about 40 different flavors. Half of these are year-round staples, while the other half consists of featured, seasonal, and new releases.”
Some of these newer options sell so well and become so popular that Blue Bell adopts them into its annual production capacity. Case in point? “A perfect example is Moo-llennium Crunch — its overwhelming popularity transformed it into one of our standard, year-round flavors.”
For the uninitiated, Moo-llennium Crunch is a vanilla ice cream mixed with roasted pecans, dark chocolate flavored chunks, chopped walnut and almond pieces, and caramel chunks. Given how much my mouth watered typing that, I’d say it’s easy to see how that batch became a staple.
If you’re still wistfully wishing for Blue Bell to bring back one of your favorites you haven’t had in awhile, there’s some hope it’ll return eventually. In the meantime though, the creamery is hard at work coming up with new flavors you might like even more.
The company’s spokesperson told Chron, “Our inspiration comes from a wide variety of channels. From employee ideas and consumer feedback to treasured family recipes and industry trends, our outstanding R&D team continuously refines these concepts to bring innovative new products and flavors to market.”
The company recently brought back its much beloved Red, White & Blue Bell flavor
A prime example of Blue Bell’s dedication to customer-provided feedback is the company’s decision to bring back its Red, White & Blue Bell flavor for the summer.
In a press release announcing its return, the vice president of sales & marketing at the creamery, Carl Breed, wrote, “A bowl of Red, White & Blue Bell is a great way to welcome summer and celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. This season is filled with barbecues, Fourth of July parties, and sunny days by the pool. Red, White & Blue Bell Ice Cream is a delicious treat for all those fun occasions.”
The flavor—which features strawberry, vanilla, and blueberry flavored ice cream with blueberries sprinkled throughout—first hit the shelves in 2014 and hasn’t been sold since 2017.
Breed said of the decision to bring it back, “We change our lineup each year to keep it fresh and make room for new offerings. It was a unanimous decision to have Red, White & Blue Bell return this year. The patriotic carton and colorful ice cream are perfect to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.”
It’s available for purchase in half gallon sizes wherever Blue Bell ice cream is sold. If you haven’t tried it yet, now’s the time to scoop it up (pun intended) before it goes back into retirement.
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Related: North Texas micro-bakeries are on the rise and provide you healthier options
