When processing our reduced fat milks we have a huge mechanical vapor re-compressor evaporator (known as an MVR) capable of removing 40,000 pounds of water directly from the milk. This is almost unheard of in a fluid milk plant where normally fat free milk is fortified with powder, or condensed milk, or often not fortified at all. At Braum’s we take the fresh fat free milk and run it through our evaporator which removes a large amount of the natural water in the milk. The resulting product is greatly improved with up to fifty percent more calcium and protein, better body and a much better taste. We are also allowed to label our fat free milk an “excellent” source of calcium.

Our Fat Free, Low Fat, and Reduced Fat Milks are more expensive products to produce since a large amount of the natural water is removed. Customers who try our Fat Free, Low Fat, and Reduced Fat Milks can tell the difference and greatly prefer them. The extra calcium helps build strong bones in our children and helps prevent osteoporosis in adults. We also use our milk to produce cottage cheese, yogurt, sour cream, dips, and of course, ice cream.

Braum’s is known for it’s wonderful ice cream. The first step in making ice cream is to make an ice cream mix. This is the basic liquid containing the milk, cream and sweetener. Instead of reconstituting powder or condensed milk with water when making ice cream mix, like most plants do, Braum’s uses only fresh milk and concentrates it in our MVR evaporator.

After the mix is pasteurized, homogenized and processed through our MVR evaporator it is cooled and held in large stainless steel tanks ready for freezing. The ice cream mix is continuously pumped through ice cream freezers that extrude the ice cream in a semi-frozen state. The ice cream then passes through a fruit feeder where various fruits, candies or nuts are added. It is then packaged and put in a minus 20 degree room for hardening and storage.

Braum’s also makes the half-gallon cartons for the ice cream. This machine forms cartons at a rate of 110 per minute. The 3 ½ gallon cartons that hold the bulk ice cream for dipping that you see in the stores are also formed here and filled on this 2,000 gallon per hour freezer. Three other freezers fill the half-gallons.

Our Glacier machine makes the frozen snacks like ice cream sandwiches, ice cream bars, nutty cones and even the ice cream pies. This machine is unlike the ones used by most of our competitors. Braum’s Glacier machine extrudes real ice cream and then “knife cuts” it with a very hot wire as opposed to just putting liquid in a mold and freezing it. That’s why Braum’s frozen snacks are creamier and taste better.

Each Braum’s store gets a delivery of products every other day. Every night, seven days a week, our crews start loading the trucks for each morning’s deliveries. The loading continues all night at the rate of about one semi-trailer loaded every 12 minutes. Each truck has three compartments, minus 20 degrees for ice cream, +35 degrees for milk and ambient temperature for supplies and bakery items.

Yes, Braum’s operates a bakery in Oklahoma City that makes fresh breads, cookies, brownies, hamburger buns, cinnamon rolls, muffins and more. The bakery also roasts hundreds of thousands of pounds of almonds and pecans that are used in our ice cream and our sundae topping. Even the sugar, waffle and cake cones used in our stores are baked fresh in our bakery. These unique ovens can bake more than 12,000 cones in an hour.

All products made by Braum’s are sold exclusively through our Braum’s stores. Our company is too small to enter the national mass markets. Our products are so fresh and perishable that we limit our distribution to about a 300-mile radius of our Tuttle farm. It keeps the products fresh and our truck drivers can be home with their families every night.

The stores are all company owned and operated. They have three departments. The Fountain, where we dip ice cream cones, sundaes, banana splits, and real ice cream malts and shakes; the Grill where we make breakfast, chicken and steak sandwiches, salads, and our great third pound hamburgers; and our Fresh Market, where we have dairy products, bakery products, fresh choice meats and produce.

The produce and fresh meat are newly added items and we intend to do more with these in the future. We are now building a beef herd that, in the future, will provide the foundation for completely controlled, naturally produced and processed beef products comparable to what we have in our dairy herd now. The beef cow-calf operation is being built at our ranches in Emporia, Kansas, Rosedale, Wanette and Ada, Oklahoma. These four ranches now hold over 10,000 beef mother cows and their calves. These beef calves, when weaned, are moved to the Shattuck-Follett farm where they are grown and sold as feeders. These will be used in the future when we begin processing our own natural beef.

Farming, processing and selling direct to the consumer is a lot of work and limits the marketing area that can be supplied. The Braum family and associates enjoy the direct “farm to market” relationship that we have with our customers. It’s not a large market but an exclusive and loyal group of customers that we truly appreciate.