FORT WORTH — When Blue Bell ice cream makes its triumphant return to Fort Worth on Monday morning, signature flavors like Cookies 'n Cream, Homemade Vanilla and Dutch Chocolate will taste extra-sweet and satisfying.
Not just because Blue Bell's many fans, some of whom are expected to line up at 5:30 a.m. at area grocery stores, have been deprived of the beloved Texas treat for nearly seven months.
It's also because one of Fort Worth's own, reclusive billionaire Sid Bass, rescued the 108-year-old company from the brink of meltdown.
In April, the Brenham-based creamery was in the throes of the worst scandal in its history: Desserts made at Blue Bell's Brenham and Oklahoma plants had been linked to a listeria outbreak that caused 10 illnesses and three deaths, in Arizona, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. The severity of the health scare eventually forced Blue Bell – the country's third-largest ice cream seller — to stop all production and recall its products.
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As the weeks passed, Blue Bell would lay off 1,450 workers and furlough 1,400 others (from a total workforce of 3,900). According to both the Houston Press and The Wall Street Journal, the crisis sent Blue Bell's annual revenue plummeting from $680 million in 2014 to a projected $500 million this year – or a loss of $180 million.
Beset by negative publicity and delays in isolating the source of the bacteria, a cash-strapped Blue Bell struggled to jump-start its operations. The brand was teetering on the edge of extinction.
And then Bass opened his wallet.
In mid-July, the eldest Bass brother, who Forbes estimates is worth $1.66 billion, shelled out up to $125 million in what many financial observers label a straightforward loan. The infusion of money helped Blue Bell get back in the game, and by early September it began selling its first half-gallons in the Houston and Austin areas, as well as parts of Alabama. Now comes the second wave: Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Tulsa and Oklahoma City get their first Blue Bell deliveries as early as 3:30 a.m. Monday.
