Paul Kruse ’77 says he’d go to work everyday even if they didn’t pay him. This sounds like extreme dedication to his business, but once you hear about what Kruse does for a living, you’ll volunteer for his job, too: he is the CEO and president of Blue Bell Creameries, maker of the iconic Texas brand, Blue Bell Ice Cream. Kruse spoke to students at Mays Business School at Texas A&M University about his unusual path to the head position at Blue Bell and the challenges he faces in running a small business with national appeal.
Blue Bell Creameries CEO and president Paul Kruse ’77 shared stories and advice with Mays students over a bowl of his company’s Homemade Vanilla.
Wearing a business suit and a colorful jellybean necktie, Kruse shared ice cream trivia (did you know that Blue Bell invented the flavor cookies and cream?) as well as scenes from his life. A native of Brenham, Texas, Kruse grew up around the Blue Bell headquarters. Since 1919, his grandfather, father, and uncle have served consecutively as presidents of the company, but Kruse says that it was never his intention to follow in their footsteps. Kruse majored in accounting at A&M and went on to study law at Baylor University. Kruse operated a private law practice in Brenham for several years before he was elected to serve on the board of directors at Blue Bell in 1983.
In 1986, Kruse put his law training to work at the creamery when he took on the role of general counsel of Blue Bell. “My dad always said ‘get your own business.’ So I was practicing law for about five years when he said, ‘we need a lawyer at Blue Bell,’” said Kruse (his father, Ed, is a dairy science major from the class of ’49). “So I told him to go hire one.” Kruse turned down the offer from Blue Bell repeatedly before he finally accepted. “My dad said I was the hardest person he’d ever tried to hire,” he joked.
Though his entry into the business was reluctant, he now says, “there’s nothing else I want to do,” waxing eloquent on the joys of making such a beloved product. “It’s a really fun business,” he says. “Ice cream makes people smile.”
In 1991, Kruse was named vice president, and eventually chief executive officer and president in 2004. He commented that if he can stay on as president for another 10 years, Blue Bell will have been under Kruse leadership for a full century.
Since he joined the company, Blue Bell has expanded outside the state of Texas and has the current distinction of being the third best selling ice cream in the nation, with sales in 17 states. Students nearing graduation and looking at potentially moving out of Texas asked when they’d be able to buy Blue Bell products nationwide. Kruse said that they will have to be content with getting it in the territory Blue Bell occupies now (which extends from Miami to Kansas City), as expansion into new markets is a slow process. However, you can find Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla at most Outback Steakhouse restaurants.
Has the economic recession hurt business? Students asked. Quite the opposite, says Kruse. “We’re in uncharted territory. We’re selling A LOT of ice cream,” he said commenting that in a downturn, people are looking for comfort food and are more likely to indulge in something at home rather than spend more money on going out.
Kruse shared with students the basics of how to make ice cream—“it’s a complicated process,”—as well as his core business strategy: always look for the win-win in business relationships—“it’s got to be good for everyone or else it’s not going to last.” When it comes to finding one’s purpose in life, Kruse told students to follow their dreams, as it’s passion plus tenacity that equals success.
And in case you’re wondering, Kruse says that he eats ice cream everyday and has yet to get tired of it.
