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Blue Bell blames pecan shortage for shortage of Buttered Pecan

A Blue Bell spokesman told the Houston Business Journal via email that the company expects to have pints of the Buttered Pecan flavor in all markets this year. The pecan shortage might be due to hurricanes, according to reports.

(HOUSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL) -- Brenham, Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries announced this week that it has returned to several cities in Indiana, Kentucky and New Mexico.

But some customers looking for the company's Buttered Pecan Ice Cream — in either the new or existing markets — might be out of luck temporarily.

“Due to a shortage in the supply, increased demand and the high cost of pecans, our production of Buttered Pecan Ice Cream is limited at this time,” Blue Bell’s Twitter account tweeted March 14. “We'll make more as soon as we can!”

A Blue Bell spokesman told the Houston Business Journal via email that the company expects to have pints of the Buttered Pecan flavor in all markets this year, but "some of the factors listed in the tweet, high consumer demand, etc. may cause some markets to experience a limited supply temporarily."

The pecan shortage might be due to hurricanes, according to reports. The Dallas Morning News reported back in October that Hurricane Harvey likely would impact Texas’ pecan harvest, but the full effect wouldn’t be known until after the harvest season, which runs from September to January. Georgia also is having a rough pecan year, per the report, so people who buy from that state might also be relying on Texas’ crop this year. Such factors had the potential to increase prices, though the exact impact wasn't known at the time.

Meanwhile, the company’s ice cream products will now be available in several cities in three areas: greater Indianapolis; Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky, including southern Indiana; and Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. (See a full list at the end of this story.)

The company reopened three distribution facilities, employing 25 people in the Indianapolis facility, 13 in Albuquerque and 20 in LaGrange, Kentucky, according to press releases. Blue Bell’s branch manager in LaGrange told the Louisville Business Journal that the local facility was one of the company’s last to reopen after the months-long listeria ordeal in 2015.

Read more about Blue Bell ice cream here.

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