Got ice cream?

Actually, we don't. Not BlueBell, at any rate. By now, the entire country has heard what happened with the bacteria explosion in the BlueBell Ice Cream factory. What was supposed to have been an easy fix has turned into a monumental overhaul of their ice cream plant in the Hill Country. Considering that BlueBell employs so many people who are now without jobs, whenever one goes into town, the ice cream factory is the number one topic of conversation.

There isn't one person I've talked to in town who does not have either a friend, family member, or neighbor who has been laid off from the ice cream factory. Those workers are desperately looking for work, any work, until the factory is up and running again. Rumors are flying all around town.... they were supposed to be churning out ice cream for Memorial Day... then they were saying the plant would possibly be operating before July 4th.... and I heard today that they're hoping to be operational before the end of August.

The local supermarkets, all of which had dedicated maximum freezer-space to BlueBell ice cream, has long since filled up those freezers with other brands of frozen foods. There was always other choices of ice cream up here in the Hill Country, but it was always BlueBell that got the most promotion and was the ice-cream-of-choice wherever you went.  When they first began pulling BlueBell out of the store freezers, the company had signs up on the freezer doors, apologizing for the inconvenience and promising to be back shortly. Well, shortly never came... but still, people were standing in front of those empty freezers, reading and re-reading the letters from the BlueBell Company, and just shaking their heads. Most of the customers walked away without purchasing another brand of ice cream. (Texans are very loyal to their state brands.)  Now that those freezers have been filled up with other frozen foods, I can hear the "tsk-tsking" of long-time BlueBell lovers who are insulted that the store chose to use BlueBell's freezer space for other types of food.

We don't know when BlueBell will be back, but when those ice cream cartons are finally delivered back into the local stores, the freezers will probably be emptied out within a day's time.  It doesn't surprise me, either, that the nationwide ice cream brands weren't selling out during the absence of BlueBell.  Customers here are just waiting for their favorite BlueBell flavors to reappear on those freezer shelves, and my guess is that if they can't have BlueBell, then they'll just be going without ice cream until their Texas brand comes back.