Blue Bell Ice Cream broke ground Wednesday on a new facility in Black Creek’s Interstate Center Phase I.
"I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream," Development Authority chairman Jimmy Burnsed said, leading an assembled crowd in a chant.
The Blue Bell facility will store ice cream and allow delivery drivers to stock their trucks for distribution to regional clients.
The ice cream station joins a diverse range of businesses at the Interstate Centre, including manufacturers of firearms, flatware, pharmaceutical technologies, and adhesive film. All were brought to Bryan County by the Bryan County Development Authority, BCDA’s chairman Sean Register said.
"They’re going to produce a product we can all enjoy, in one way or another," he said. "A product that’s very edible."
The Blue Bell facility is expected to be finished in August and will employ approximately 10 people, according to Doug Lipscomb, a ranch manager out of Jacksonville, Fla.He said Blue Bell has been in business more than 100 years, Lipscomb said, and currently has 49 regular business branches and 18 transfer branches like the one being built in Black Creek.
"This one will be the 19th or 20th transfer branch," he said. "Another is being built in Texas. We’ll see which one is finished first."
Lipscomb said business continued to grow, and they were ecstatic about finally being underway on the much-anticipated facility. Blue Bell, he said, has serviced the Bryan County and surrounding area since 2001, and until the local refrigerated building is finished, delivery trucks must travel to Jacksonville, Fla. to restock their supply.
"This (facility) will allow us to grow more, and service more customers, sell more ice cream and employ more people," he said.