Bruster’s Ice Cream

In the 1950’s, just outside Pittsburg, PA,  the small town of Bridgewater had a diner called Jerry’s Curb Service where Bruce Reed worked. He probably wasn’t given a choice considering his parents owned it. It was through those childhood memories and learning the ways of the restaurant industry by his dad that inspired his restaurant, chain and ice cream that so many of us love. Bruce didn’t stray far from his roots when he decided to open his first restaurant as the first location was next door to Jerry’s. His very first restaurant was a franchise under Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream and Yogurt. Over a year later he would take everything he learned and go out on his own creating the first Bruster’s Ice Cream.

General Restaurant Information

Food type: Desserts & More

Restaurant type: Fast Food

U.S. locations: 190

States: 17 states, Bruster’s Locations

Slogan: A Scoop Above The Rest

 

Contact Information

Website: brusters.com

Questions: Bruster’s Contact Information

Phone number: 724-774-4250

Email: Contact Form Only

Blog: No

FAQ Page: Bruster’s Ice Cream Frequently Asked Questions

 

Ownership

Who Owns Bruster’s? Bruster’s Ice Cream

Headquartered: Pittsburg, Pennsylvania

Contact Information: 

Website: brusters.com

Email/contact page: Contact Form Only

Phone: 724-774-4250

Address:730 Mulberry Street, Bridgewater, Pennsylvania 15009

Do They Franchise? Bruster’s Ice Cream Franchise Information

 

 

What Is It Like To Work At Bruster’s Ice Cream?

Bruster’s Employment Page

3.9/5 or 78%; 111 Reviews (indeed.com)

3.4/5 or 68%; 141 Reviews (glassdoor.com)

What to expect when working at Bruster’s (job-applications.com)

 

The History of Bruster’s

Original Location: 1525 W Riverside Dr,  Bridgewater, Pennsylvania

Founded: July 13, 1989

Founded by: Bruce Reed

Founder Obituary: Still Living

Name Origin: Named after the owner, Bruce Reed

History Page: Bruster’s History

Current View of Original Location: 1525 W Riverside Dr as it is today (link may not work on mobile devices without Google Maps)

Historical Articles: 

History of Bruster’s Ice Cream (fastfoodmenuprices.com)

History of Bruster’s Real Ice Cream, Inc (refrenceforbusiness.com)

 

Social Awareness

Charity Focus: Support community fundraisers

Green | Eco-Friendly: No resources found

Animal Cruelty: No resources found

 

 

Discounts At Bruster’s

Rewards Program: Bruster’s Reward Program

Do Kids Eat Free at Bruster’s?

What day do kids eat free? Daily

Summary: Children 40″ or shorter receive a free small cone with no purchase necessary (brusters.com)

Does Bruster’s Offer Military Discounts?

Summary: Although no resources were found in discounts for food, multiple sources that state veteran’s wishing to purchase a franchise receive a discount of 50% off the franchise fee. (brusters.com)

What About My Birthday at Bruster’s? 

Summary: When you sign up for their email listing you get a coupon for a buy one get one free waffle cone. (favoritecandle.com)

Does Bruster’s Offer First Responder Discounts?

Summary: No Resources Found

Does Bruster’s Offer Senior Citizen | AARP Discounts?

Summary: Bruster’s gives out “Kid At Heart” cards for customers 60 and older which gives them $.25 off future ice cream purchases. (brusters.com)

Are There Any Other Discounts or Benefits at Bruster’s?

Summary: Bruster’s does a great job at offering promotional benefits including the ones already mentioned, but in addition to those, they offer Banana Thursday, Quart Club, Doggie Sundaes and of course PJ Day! All those can be found on their promotions page.

If you are a fan, you know that they rotate their flavors much like Culver’s rotates their custard. If you have a favorite flavor or two, you can use their favorite flavor sign-up to be notified (by email or text) when your favorite is back on the menu!

Amenities

Order Online: No

WiFi Available: Yes

Use Apple Pay: No  

Reservations: No 

Catering: Bruster’s Catering

Drive-Thru: Yes  

Open 24 Hours: No    

 

Customer Reviews of Bruster’s

Yelp: 4.3/5 or 86%, 721 reviews sampled

Tripadvisor: 4.2/5 or 85%, 187 reviews sampled

Overall Average: 4.29/5 or 86%, 908 reviews sampled

Summary: Very positive reviews across the board. In 2015 they were voted #1 in the Ice Cream category by Nation’s Restaurant News. You can read here how the study was done as well as who the only chain that beat them out of an overall #1. In addition to that, you can read how the company was named a Top-10 Consumer Pick in a National Study

 

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Food & Nutrition

Menu: Bruster’s Menu

Kids Menu:  No

Secret Menu:  No resources found

Most Popular Menu Item: No resources found

Coke or Pepsi Products: Coke

Serve Alcohol: No

Nutritional Information: Bruster’s Nutritional Menu

Vegetarian | Vegan Options: You would think vegetarian but probably not vegan. No outside resources found but please check their nutritional information, unfortunately, they do not offer an allergen menu. 

Farm to Table | Organic Options | Clean | Non-GMO: No information found

Miscellaneous Nutrition Information & Resources: 

They state on their site the following as it pertains to their food – “Bruster’s owns its own dairy and controls the entire production process from “cow to cone,” with dairy products never frozen. Only premium mix-ins and brand-name candies are used.”

There isn’t a lot of external information as it relates to the chain.  You also won’t find any above the norm menu items such as farm to table, non-GMO, vegan, etc.

The company is transparent in reporting the nutrition and ingredients they do use. I just wish they had an allergen menu like so many restaurants. Their FAQ page is a really good resource in addition to their nutritional information. It also contains portion sizes as well.

Allergy Information

Bruster’s Allergen Information: You may or may not find what you need on the nutritional information page but they do not offer an allergen menu.

Gluten Free Options: Their FAQ page states “We do not consider our ice cream gluten free…” and goes on to explain why.

Dairy Free Options: No resources found, but the following may be helpful to you.

Restaurant Guide For Dairy-Free Dining (godairyfree.org)

Peanut Free Options:

Their FAQ page states the following – 

We make all of our products fresh in our stores each and every day. We have two ice cream machines in which we make all of the products. The machines are sterilized before we start and rinsed between batches. No peanuts are put through the machine. If peanut butter is used, the machines are rinsed and sanitized. Please note, there are A LOT of peanuts in our stores. We can not give a 100% guarantee that there will be no cross-contamination. Please make sure your scooper is aware of any allergy.

Food Allergy Guides For Many Chain Restaurants (verywellhealth.com)

Ways to Eliminate Risks of Peanut Allergy When Dining Out (healthguidance.org)

 

Does Bruster’s Ice Cream Have Any Secret Recipes?

Secret Recipes:  

Strawberry Shortcake (genuiskitchen.com), (thedailymeal.com)

How to make ice cream from scratch (goldcoasticecream.com)

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream (allrestaurantrecipes.com)

Bruster’s Graham Cracker Chocolate Chunk (cupcakesandkalechips.com)

Homemade Ice Cream Recipe (barefeetinthekitchen.com)

 

 

Did You Know?

Fun Facts: 

The company owns its own dairy and controls the entire production process from cow to cone. (source)

They use the “old-fashioned way” in making their ice cream by using slow kettle processing. (source)

Bruster’s Ice Cream also owns Nathan’s Hot Dogs who is the leading hot dog retailer in the U.S. (source)

They have over 200 flavors and allows you to sign up for email or text alerts when your favorite is being offered. (source)

Interesting Articles: 

Media Information: The Cold, Hard… Sweet Facts!

Bruster’s Real Ice Cream Introduces Cookie Butter Favor

Multiple Locations Coming to Vegas

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Social Media

Followers (as of August 2018) –  

Facebook: 76,567

Twitter: 1,723

Instagram: 4,858

Mobile Apps

Not at this time.

Alternatives

Food Type: Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt

Restaurant Type: Culver’s, Dunkin Donuts, In-n-Out, Menchies, Steak ‘n Shake, White Castle, Zaxby’s

For an alphabetical listing of all our restaurants, simply go to our Restaurants Page.

 

In Summary

There are few summer nights that we don’t drive by our local Bruster’s Ice Cream that there isn’t a long line, sometimes even 10-11 at night. For the part of me, that’s concerned about the health and obesity rate in America; I know these long lines aren’t helping that. At the same time, you will find our family there many times through the warmer months of the year. Balance and discipline in how we’re eating overall allow you to splurge sometimes. For Bruster’s, you will need to be splurging on your diet and your wallet (it can be a little expensive). They do offer a lot of ways for you or your family to save which helps. In my personal opinion, their ice cream is hard to beat in taste and is my choice in our town of all the different ice cream parlors.  

I hope you found the information helpful and insightful; I know I did. The more we know and understand about the restaurants we eat at, the better decisions we can make of where and what we should eat. If you found this article helpful, would you please help others by sharing this with your friends and family. If there is anything you would like to see about a restaurant that’s not already listed or if there is anything I can do to make your restaurant experiences better, please leave a comment below, I would love your feedback! You can also email me at anytime backofthemenu @ gmail.com. Thanks so much for your time, I know how valuable it is. 

 

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