Friday, March 19, 2010

It began in the State of Kansas in 1933. Bill Braum was in grade school when he began his career by helping his father, Henry H. Braum, with the family business, a small butter and milk processing plant in Emporia, Kansas. Seven years later ice cream processing was added to the operation.Bill Braum worked through high school with his father and after receiving a degree in Business Administration from the University of Kansas in 1949, he came back to Emporia to take a more active role in the family business. Henry Braum sold the wholesale part of the business in 1952 and began specializing in ice cream, developing a chain of retail ice cream stores in Kansas called "Peter Pan." In 1957 he purchased the company from his father. The company had approximately 61 retail stores, when in 1967, a large wholesaler bought the "Peter Pan" chain of retail stores (excluding the Braum dairy herd and processing plant) As a condition of the sale, the Braum's would not be allowed to sell ice cream in the State of Kansas for ten years.In 1968, Bill and his wife Mary, started a new chain of retail stores in Oklahoma called BRAUM'S ICE CREAM AND DAIRY STORES. That first year, twenty-four stores were opened in Oklahoma. Because the Braum dairy herd and processing plant were still located in Emporia, Kansas, the ice cream, dairy products and other supplies had to be transported daily from Emporia, Kansas to Oklahoma. For three years, Braum's stores were serviced from the plant in Emporia until a new processing plant was built in Oklahoma City in 1971.In 1975, the Braum dairy herd was moved from Emporia to its new home located in Tuttle, Oklahoma. Today, Braum's owns seven farms and ranches, totaling over 40,000 acres (62 square miles) of some of the best farm and ranch land in America! Each plays its own unique role in the Braum operation from housing the Braum cows, to growing the alfalfa hay to feed the dairy herd.Braum's bakery was built in Oklahoma City in 1978. This facility now produces the fresh bakery items available in the Braum's stores including cookies, cones, buns, breads and much more.