If you ever wondered how Braum’s makes all those delicious goodies stocked in its stores, you can find out firsthand.
Braum’s Farms in Tuttle offers tours that are sure to tickle your fancy as well as your taste buds. Visitors can experience how the operation works, the company’s public relations director, Amanda Beuchaw, says.
After viewing an introductory video, guests are taken on the “cow bus” to the bakery, where they’re greeted with the fresh smell of breads, cookies and cones.
“Once they are inside, they have to climb stairs to get to the bakery viewing area,” Beuchaw says. “There, they can see the entire bakery from above. They learn about all the goods that we bake fresh daily and send to the stores. We even make our own cones and roast our own nuts for the ice cream inclusions.”
After the bakery, visitors go to the plant, where they’re shown how Braum’s makes ice cream and cottage cheese, and how milk is processed.
“We also make our own milk jugs, which is quite the sight to see,” Beuchaw says.
After the tour, visitors get a sweet treat for the road. The free tours run weekdays with start times at 9 and 10 a.m. The limit is 30 people per tour, so reservations are required.
Bill and Mary Braum opened their first store in 1968 in Oklahoma City. The company is still family owned and operated, with more than 280 shops throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Missouri and Arkansas. All stores are located within a 300-mile radius of the company’s plant in Tuttle, and trucks are on the road daily to deliver fresh products every other day to each location.
Braum’s also contributes to the economies of Oklahoma and surrounding states by employing 11,279 people total, with 5,810 employees in Oklahoma alone, Beuchaw says.
“We are vertically integrated,” she continues. “We do almost everything ourselves, from the ground up. This translates into more jobs, and in turn, has a positive impact on the state’s economy.
“We employ thousands of people between the workers at the farm, plant and bakery in Tuttle, and the workers at the stores. We partner with Oklahoma companies to sell their products in our Fresh Market, like Schwab’s. And when we need to supplement our feed supply for the cows, we turn to other farmers in the state to buy grains, which generates revenue for them.”
In addition, Braum’s works with cities throughout the state to help develop areas where the chain has, or plans to develop, stores.
“We are members of the chambers [of commerce] in most of the cities and towns where we have stores,” Beuchaw says.
