Blue Bell Trucks Ready To Begin Delivery In Tulsa-OKC Markets

Blue Bell ice cream will be back in stores across Oklahoma on Monday. The trucks are lined up in Broken Arrow and ready to go. Crews will be leaving to deliver ice cream to the Tulsa and Oklahoma City markets by morning.

It's part of the second phase of Blue Bell's re-entry into the market. The creamery shut down months ago after a Listeria outbreak.

After the plant closed while the company addressed the contamination, about 40 percent of the staff at the Broken Arrow plant was laid off. Blue Bell since has called those workers back.

Production  has been back up and running for about six weeks.

The Broken Arrow plant produced about half of the ice cream that was sent out during the first phase of Blue Bell's re-entry. 

Oklahomans will start to see the ice cream treats back on shelves during this phase, and phase 6 and 5.

Right now, only five flavors will be available while distribution kicks off again, but that is expected to increase with time. The company produced 250 frozen products and 66 flavors of ice cream before the plant closed.

Broken Arrow city leaders say they are happy to see things moving along and finally seeing people back at work.

"Our community leadership has been behind the leadership at their plant since this happened,” BA Chamber of Commerce’s Wes Smithwick said. “These are people we go to church with, people we go to work with, every day the people that are active in our community. We know them, and we knew they were all about doing the right thing and getting the company put back together and getting the product back in the hands of consumers."

There is no timeline on when the next phase will begin. Blue Bell said it'll be whenever it knows for sure it can service customers with an adequate supply.