Blue Bell coming back to DFW on Nov. 2

North Texas ice cream connoisseurs, get your spoons ready.

Blue Bell Ice Cream — the iconic frozen treat adored by area residents for decades but missing from stores since April, after an investigation found that 10 people had contracted listeria — will return to Dallas-Fort Worth stores Nov. 2, company officials announced Thursday.

The Brenham-based company’s ice cream began returning to supermarkets Aug. 31, a first-phase rollout that included only the Brenham, Houston and Austin areas, as well as parts of Alabama.

The Metroplex will be part of a second phase that will also include Waco and central and southern Oklahoma.

For now, five flavors will be available in half-gallons and pints — Buttered Pecan, Cookies ’n Cream, Dutch Chocolate, Homemade Vanilla and The Great Divide. Twelve-pack cups of Homemade Vanilla and Dutch Chocolate are also available.

Company officials say they will add more flavors as production allows, but it may take time.

“We are working as hard as we can to keep stores in phase one stocked without jeopardizing the new quality and safety procedures we have implemented to ensure our products are safe and of the highest quality,” Ricky Dickson, vice president of sales and marketing, said in an email.

Blue Bell shut down its production system after 10 people in four states were sickened with listeria.

In May, 1,450 workers were laid off and 1,400 were furloughed — a first in the company’s 108-year history.

Filling the gap

For customers, the loss of Blue Bell created quite a gap in their summer.

At Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas Rangers baseball fans accustomed to eating Blue Bell from concession stands had to make do with snow cones and other frozen treats. Restaurants that advertised Blue Bell milkshakes and sundaes reluctantly switched to other brands.

“We are using another type of ice cream. We are looking forward to having Blue Bell back, though,” said Taylor Pollock, manager of Airways Hamburgers in Arlington.

At Kroger supermarkets, store managers have temporarily dedicated that space to other products.

“For the most part, we’ve expanded Private Selection and our Kroger Deluxe brands, and sales have been good of those two brands. But now with Blue Bell coming back, it certainly is a powerful brand and a great vendor partner,” Kroger spokesman Gary Huddleston said.

Huddleston said ice cream sales were steady all summer despite the lack of Blue Bell.

“The customers tried new flavors, new brands,” he said. “But the customers continued to ask about Blue Bell throughout the summer, and we know there’s going to be high demand for it.”

The long-term plan is to resume distribution of Blue Bell products in all 15 states served by the company before the listeria outbreak. However, company officials haven’t publicized a timetable for further rollouts.

This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 11:55 AM with the headline "Blue Bell coming back to DFW on Nov. 2."