American ice cream brand picks Cebu as pilot market

CEBU, Philippines - Sweet-toothed Cebuanos will now have new additions to their list of favorites after Cebu has become the pilot market in the Asia Pacific region for American ice cream brand Blue Bell.

An almost a year of negotiation with officials from Blue Bell Creameries based in Brenham, Texas led to Visfood Corporation obtaining rights to exclusively distribute the ice cream products in the Visayas.

Blue Bell is the third best-selling ice cream brand in the United States after Breyers and Dreyer's, although according to officials, it is the top choice of consumers in the 22 states where it is operating.

Visfood Corp. President Jeff Puno in an interview said that given Cebuanos' keen eye on quality products that have value for money, it won't be challenging for the brand to pick up in the local market here.

Puno said because of Blue Bell's conservative selection of business partners, it took this long for the 1907-founded ice cream firm to finally explore the Asia Pacific market.

Blue Bell's conservatism in terms of expanding to other areas is largely driven by their efforts to prevent quality from being compromised, Puno pointed out.

In the Philippines, the only tropical country in the world where Blue Bell has foothold, several measures are being set in place to ascertain the ice cream quality remains unaffected by temperature fluctuations during shipment.

It will take 45 to 60 days for the goods to arrive in the Philippines through a direct shipment from their manufacturing site in Texas.

Blue Bell has been made available to the Cebuano market since last month, and Puno said the reception has been positively "surprising" so far.

Puno attributed this impressive pilot sales to the value for money proposition of their products, as well as to their uncompromising quality and variety.

In Cebu, while more flavors are expected to come in, about 14 varieties of the global ice cream brand are already available in pints, half-pints and single serve snacks at Rustan's Supermarket Ayala, One Pavilion Mall Banawa, Gaisano Country Mall, David's Kitchen, Shangri-La's Mactan, BE Resorts, Mooon Cafe Ayala and IT Park.

According to Puno, aside from the regular flavors, rotational flavors will be also introduced every now and then so customers will always have "a new Blue Bell experience."

Officials said plans to put up scooping stations across the city are also seriously being considered.

In the Visayas, expansions to key cities like Bacolod, Iloilo and Dumaguete are currently on the drawing board.

Blue Bell, however, is sure to be launched in Manila by the end of this month. Circle City Sales, Visfood Corp.'s sister company, will handle Blue Bell's distribution in the national capital.

Blue Bell traces its roots to Brenham Creamery Company, which named itself Blue Bell Creameries in 1930 after the native Texas bluebell wildflower.

"Blue Bell ice cream is proudly made the old-fashioned, traditional way, so it tastes just like it was not hand-cranked. It makes use of the finest milk, cream, sugar and other ingredients," said Visfood Corp. in a press statement.

Astronauts have carried Blue Bell ice cream into space twice, while both Presidents Bush had Blue Bell shipped from Texas to the White House and Kennebunkport, Maine.

President George Bush was said to frequently serve Blue Bell homemade vanilla to foreign dignitaries visiting his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Blue Bell has also produced many innovative products over the years, including the original "cookies 'n cream," although the most popular flavor of Blue Bell is the plain and simple homemade vanilla, created in 1969.  (FREEMAN)