Dive Brief:
- A well-known billionaire businessman, Sid Bass out of Texas, is now a partner of Brenham, TX-based Blue Bell Creameries.
- The company believes his investment "will ensure the return of Blue Bell ice cream to the market after listeria contamination prompted a shutdown in manufacturing," the Associated Press reported.
- The exact amount of the investment was not released, but CEO and president Paul Kruse called it a "significant investment."
Dive Insight:
Blue Bell seems to be rolling along its path back to grocery store freezer shelves. The company met with health officials in Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama to sign agreements for submitting to state testing, and last week the company announced it would begin test production at its Alabama creamery.
This investment is good news for a company that hit several rough patches since its full product recall and creamery shutdown earlier this year, which has included layoffs and the discovery that Blue Bell performed a "withdrawal" instead of a recall when the contamination was first discovered in February (the recall occurred in April). In fact, the FDA that revealed that Blue Bell actually knew about the listeria issues two years before pulling products from stores.
The U.S. Dept. of Justice just announced that it would be increasing its criminal charges for companies that produce contaminated foods, something that will likely perk up manufacturers' ears.
While this new partner and investment could help Blue Bell get back on its feet, the company's future is still up in the air. What also can be debated is how well Blue Bell actually handled this recall in the long run.