Flowers Foods facts for kids
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Headquarters in Thomasville, Georgia
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| Public | |
| Traded as | NYSE: FLO S&P 400 Component |
| Industry | Packaged bakery products |
| Founded | 1919 |
| Headquarters | Thomasville, Georgia, U.S. |
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Key people
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George E. Deese (Non-executive Chairman of the Board); A. Ryals McMullian (President and CEO) |
| Products | Wonder Bread, Nature's Own, Whitewheat, Sunbeam, Mrs. Freshley's, Blue Bird, Mi Casa, Cobblestone Mill, Tastykake, Dave's Killer Bread |
| Revenue | $3.95 billion (2018) |
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Number of employees
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9,200 (2018) |
Flowers Foods is a large American company that makes and sells packaged baked goods. Its main office is in Thomasville, Georgia. The company runs 47 bakeries that make popular foods like bread, buns, snack cakes, and tortillas.
You can find Flowers Foods products like Wonder Bread, Tastykake, and Dave's Killer Bread in stores across the United States. The company has two main ways of getting its food to stores. One way is by delivering fresh products directly to stores in many regions. The other way is by sending frozen items to big warehouses, which then send them to stores all over the country.
Flowers Foods is the second-largest baking company in the U.S. It has grown over the years by buying other baking companies.
Contents
The History of Flowers Foods
The story of Flowers Foods began in 1919. Two brothers, William Howard and Joseph Hampton Flowers, opened the Flowers Baking Company in Thomasville, Georgia. They started small but soon began to grow.
In 1942, their bakery became one of the first in the country to sell Sunbeam brand bread. This was a big step for the company.
During the 1960s, the company bought more bakeries in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. In 1968, it became a public company, which means people could buy shares of it on the stock market. It changed its name to Flowers Industries. By 1982, it was listed on the major New York Stock Exchange.
How the Company Grew by Buying Brands
Flowers Foods has a long history of buying other companies and brands. This is a major way the company has grown to be so large. This process is called an acquisition.
Major Purchases in the 2000s
In the early 2000s, Flowers Foods made several big moves.
- 2001: The company was split into two parts: Flowers Bakeries and Mrs. Smith's Bakeries. This helped the company focus on its different products.
- 2002: It bought Ideal Baking Company and Bishop Baking Company. These purchases helped Flowers Foods sell its products in new areas like Arkansas and Missouri.
- 2003: Flowers sold its Mrs. Smith's frozen dessert business. This allowed the company to focus more on baked goods like bread and snack cakes.
- 2005 & 2006: The company bought Royal Cake Company and Derst Baking Co., adding more bakeries to its family.
- 2008 & 2009: It acquired ButterKrust Bakery in Florida and Holsum Bakery in Arizona. A year later, it bought Leo's Foods, a company that makes tortillas.
Growing Bigger in the 2010s
The company continued to grow by buying even more well-known brands.
- 2011: Flowers bought Tastykake, a famous snack cake company from Philadelphia. This helped it reach more customers on the East Coast.
- 2013: In a huge deal, Flowers Foods bought most of the bread brands from Hostess Brands, including the famous Wonder Bread. It also got 20 bakeries as part of the deal.
- 2015: The company made three more big purchases. It bought Dave's Killer Bread, a popular organic bread company, for $275 million. It also bought Alpine Valley Bread Co. and the rights to sell Roman Meal bread in North America.
- 2018: Flowers purchased Canyon Bakehouse, a company that specializes in gluten-free bread.
By the end of 2018, Flowers Foods had acquired 16 different companies since 2003. The company made its most recent purchase in 2023, when it bought Papa Pita, another baking company.
See also
