Dewey's Bakery acquires Blue Ridge Ice Creams

Dewey’s Bakery, an institution in Winston-Salem since 1930, announced today that it has acquired the brand and business of Blue Ridge Ice Creams, another local company.

Mayor Allen Joines tied ribbons held by Dewey’s Bakery owners Scott and Michelle Livengood tied ribbons with Debbie Lee and Scott Rieckmann, the former owners of Blue Ridge Ice Creams, representing the couples’ respective companies.

“It’s a sweet day to be mayor here in Winston-Salem,” Joines said. “I think this is a case where 1 plus 1 equals 3, or 4, or 5.”

After the ribbon tying, Lee handed out plates of cake and the new pink lemonade-flavor ice cream to local luminaries gathered to celebrate the merger.  

Scott Livengood said that Lee and Rieckmann will continue to operate the ice-cream business, and Dewey’s Bakery is absorbing Blue Ridge Ice Creams’ three other employees. The ice-cream making machinery was moved from the old location on Stratford Road to the back of Dewey’s Thruway Shopping Center store on Sunday. Today marked the first time the ice cream-making operation was in production and service. 

In addition to the five new employees from Blue Ridge Ice Creams, Scott Livengood said Dewey’s Baker Inc. employs about 60 people. Roughly 120 people work at Salem Baking Co., another brand owned by the company. And about 125 people work in 20 to 30 seasonal stores across North Carolina in November and December. 

Scott Livengood said his company has been in talks with Blue Ridge Ice Creams about joining forces for two or three years. The acquisition coincides with the remodeling and expansion of Dewey’s Thruway store, including the addition of a refrigerated bakery case and in-store seating. 

“We’ve been making ice cream for 25 years,” Lee said during the ceremony. “It’s going to be double your pleasure because we’ll have ice cream and cake. Isn’t that great?” 

The store is also serving coffee, and has an arrangement with Fortuna Roasters in Greensboro to replenish fair-traded beans at least every seven days, and more frequently if needed. Known for its Moravian sugar cakes, Dewey’s is also adding the kind of homemade sodas, malts and phosphates that could be found in drug stores when the company launched in 1930.