Braum's
1726151
217459911
2008-06-06T03:08:52Z
69.112.54.98
'''Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Stores''' is a family-owned and operated chain of [[fast food|fast-food]] restaurants based in [[Oklahoma City, Oklahoma]]. It currently has locations in [[Oklahoma]] and in parts of [[Texas]], [[Kansas]], [[Arkansas]], and [[Missouri]]. As of [[2007]], there were approximately 280 stores in operation.<ref>[http://www.braums.com/StoreLocator.asp Store Locator], Braum's. Accessed on line [[December 21]], [[2007]].</ref>
The restaurants serve [[ice cream]], hamburgers, sandwiches, salads and breakfast items. Stores also include a grocery section featuring [[dairy]] products, baked goods, beverages, frozen entrees, meats and produce.<ref>[http://www.braums.com/Products.asp Products], Braum's. Accessed on line [[December 21]], [[2007]].</ref><ref name=faq>[http://www.braums.com/FAQ.asp FAQ], Braum's. Accessed on line [[December 21]], [[2007]].</ref><ref name=df2>[http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-5539577_ITM Braum's Ice Cream Co.: a different kind of dairy company], ''Dairy Foods'', [[January 1]], [[1997]]. Accessed on line [[December 21]], [[2007]].</ref><ref>[http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6935773_ITM Produce Sales Take Root at Oklahoma City-Area Braum's Dairy Stores], Chad Kile, ''Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News'', [[June 10]], [[2003]].</ref>
Braum's is noteworthy for its level of [[vertical integration]]. Almost all the food products sold at Braum's are processed or manufactured directly by the company; Braum's owns its own feed mill, dairy herd, dairy processing plant, bakery, stores and delivery trucks. It also owns eight farms and ranches with a total area of 40,000 [[acres]] (160 [[km²]]), as well as its flagship [[family farm|family]] [[dairy farm]] in [[Tuttle, Oklahoma|Tuttle]], [[Oklahoma]].<ref name=df>[http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-5533472_ITM Doing fine in Oklahoma. (W.H. Braum Inc.)], ''Dairy Foods'', Jeff Reiter, [[December 1]], [[1994]]. Accessed on line [[December 21]], [[2007]].</ref><ref name=df2 /><ref name=faq /> Braum's describes itself as the only major ice cream maker to still milk its own cows. They also produce the packaging used for their dairy products.<ref name=df /><ref name=faq />
In order to maintain the freshness of its products, the company does not open stores outside of a 300-mile radius of the home farm in Tuttle.<ref name=faq />
==History==
In [[1957]], Bill Braum purchased his family's ice cream processing business based in [[Emporia, Kansas|Emporia]], [[Kansas]], as well as its "Peter Pan" retail ice cream chain; ten years later, the Peter Pan stores were sold, under the condition that the Braum family not sell ice cream in Kansas for ten years.<ref name="braums-history">{{cite web|author=Braum's Online, LLC|url=http://www.braums.com/OurHistory.asp|title=Braum's Ice Cream!|accessdate=2007-12-10}}</ref>
Having kept the family dairy herd and ice cream processing business, Braum and his wife Mary started the Braum's chain in [[1968]], opening 24 stores in [[Oklahoma]] during the first year. Braum's brought products from its Emporia headquarters to Oklahoma for the first few years, later opening facilities in Oklahoma and moving the herd there in [[1975]].<ref name="braums-history"/>
Braum's also had some financhial help from the popular series of Ernest comercials in the 1980's.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.braums.com/ Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Stores], official site.
{{Oklahoma City companies}}
[[Category:Fast-food chains of the United States]]
[[Category:Ice cream parlors]]
[[Category:Companies based in Oklahoma City]]
[[Category:Restaurants in Oklahoma|Braums]]
[[Category:Regional restaurant chains]]