Red Bank-area ice cream center to close, cutting 30-50 jobs, Blue Bell says

A Lexington County Blue Bell ice cream distribution center is to be closed as part of a companywide hit list announced Friday in the aftermath of the ice cream maker’s listeria contamination troubles.

Blue Bell Creameries spokeswoman Kelli Remmert said she does not know how many people work at the center along I-20 near Red Bank that opened in 2006. But each center usually has roughly 30 to 50 employees, she said.

Companywide, about 1,400 employees will be furloughed, and some 750 full-time and 700 part-time workers will be laid off, CEO and President Paul Kruse said. Salaries also will be cut, he said in a news release.

Overall, the cutbacks amount to 37 percent of Blue Bell’s 3,900-employee workforce.

Blue Bell made what Kruse called an “agonizing decision” that includes suspending operations and laying off employees at other distribution centers, in Charlotte, Raleigh, Richmond, Va., Louisville, Ky., Indianapolis, Ind., Kansas City and Wichita in Kansas, Phoenix and Tucson in Arizona, Denver, Albuquerque, N.M., and Las Vegas.

Those choices were based on the ability to service those locations given the limited production capacity Blue Bell expects when it resumes operations, the company said. Distribution centers typically service a 75-mile radius.

In April, Blue Bell issued a full product recall after more of its products tested positive for listeria. The company’s ice cream has been linked to 10 illnesses in four states, including three deaths in Kansas. Listeriosis is a life-threatening infection caused by eating food contaminated with the bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Because of the time it will take to ensure the quality and safety of Blue Bell’s products when the company resumes production, and because supply and distribution will be limited for some time to come, Kruse said, Blue Bell turned to the cost-cutting measures.

“We did everything we could to keep people on our payroll for as long as possible,” the CEO said. “At the same time, we have an obligation to do what is necessary to bring Blue Bell back and ensure its viability in the future. This is a sad day for all of us at Blue Bell, and for me personally.”

Cleaning and improving Blue Bell’s four production plants is going to take longer than anticipated, especially at the headquarters plant in Brenham, Texas, where major repairs and equipment replacements are expected, the company said. There is no firm timeline for when Blue Bell will begin producing ice cream again.

When production resumes, it will be limited and phased in over time, the company said.