Bimbo Bakeries USA facts for kids
 |
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry |
|
| Founded | March 15, 1998 Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. |
| Headquarters | Horsham, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
|
Area served
|
United States |
|
Key people
|
Fred Penny (President) Daniel Servitje (Chairman and CEO) |
| Products | Baked goods |
| Owner | Grupo Bimbo |
|
Number of employees
|
20,000 |
Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc. is a huge baking company in the United States. It is part of a bigger Mexican company called Grupo Bimbo. This company makes and sells many kinds of bread and sweet baked goods.
Bimbo Bakeries USA is the largest bakery company in the U.S. Its main office is in Horsham, Pennsylvania. They own many popular brands like Entenmann's, Sara Lee, and Thomas'. They also help sponsor many big soccer teams around the world.
Contents
What Does "Bimbo" Mean?
The name "Bimbo" was first used in 1945. Before that, the company was called Super Pan S.A. The name "Bimbo" was created by mixing the words "bingo" and "Bambi."
The company wanted a name that sounded innocent and childlike. In Spanish, the word "bimbo" does not have a negative meaning like it can in English.
How Bimbo Bakeries USA Started and Grew
Bimbo Bakeries USA began its journey in 1994. That's when Grupo Bimbo, a large Mexican baking company, bought a tortilla company in California called La Hacienda. Grupo Bimbo already worked in 21 countries.
Entering the U.S. Bread Market
In 1997, Bimbo Bakeries USA started selling bread in the U.S. They did this by buying Pacific Pride Bakeries in San Diego. The company kept growing in 1998. They bought Mrs Baird's Bakeries in Texas. At that time, Mrs Baird's was the biggest family-owned bakery in the U.S. After these purchases, the combined companies became Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU).
Adding Famous Brands
BBU grew even more in 2002. They bought the Western U.S. baking business from George Weston Ltd. This added popular brands like Oroweat, Entenmann's, Thomas’, and Boboli. In 2008, Grupo Bimbo bought the rest of George Weston Ltd.'s fresh baked goods business in the U.S. This brought in brands such as Arnold, Brownberry, Freihofer's, and Stroehmann.
Biggest Purchase Yet
In 2011, BBU made its largest purchase ever. They bought Sara Lee's North American fresh bakery business. Adding Sara Lee's bread business made BBU twice as big! In 2020, BBU also bought Lender's Bagels from Conagra Brands.
Today, BBU runs over 60 bakeries. They have more than 20,000 employees. Their products are delivered across the United States using 11,000 sales routes.
About Kosher Certification
In 2018, Bimbo Bakeries USA decided not to renew its Kosher certification. This decision was important for many American Jews. Kosher bread is usually made without dairy products. This is because Jewish dietary rules do not allow eating dairy and meat at the same meal.
The company explained that they wanted the choice to make bread on factory lines that might also use dairy products. They could not do this if they kept their kosher certification.
Growing Across the Country
On December 10, 2008, Grupo Bimbo announced a big plan. They were going to buy Weston Foods Inc. for $2.38 billion. This purchase would make Bimbo Bakeries USA the largest bakery company in the U.S. The deal was completed on January 21, 2009.
New Brands and Locations
This purchase added brands like Arnold, Brownberry, Freihofer's, and Stroehmann. It also gave Bimbo the rights to Weston brands in the eastern U.S. (they already had them in the west since 2002). The deal also added 22 more factories and 4,000 delivery trucks.
After this, Bimbo Bakeries USA had 35 factories and over 7,000 sales routes. They now sold products in all of the lower 48 states. Their yearly sales reached almost US$4 billion. The Weston Foods main office in Horsham, Pennsylvania became the new main office for Bimbo's U.S. operations. It moved from Fort Worth, Texas.
Sponsoring Soccer Teams
To become more well-known across the country, Bimbo made a big announcement. On January 11, 2011, they started a four-year partnership. They became the official jersey sponsor for the Philadelphia Union. This is a Major League Soccer (MLS) team located near Bimbo's main office.
Bimbo's Soccer Connections
The Union sponsorship was the fifth professional soccer team Bimbo had sponsored. Their parent company, Grupo Bimbo, sponsors these teams:
- Rochester Rhinos
- Club América
- C.D. Guadalajara
- C.F. Monterrey (all from Primera División de México)
- C.D. Saprissa from Costa Rica
This deal also made Bimbo the official bread and baked goods sponsor for the Union and MLS. Bimbo gained access to MLS marketing, like stadium signs. This sponsorship deal was worth about US$12 million over four years.
Buying Sara Lee's Bakery Business
On November 9, 2010, Grupo Bimbo announced another big purchase. They agreed to buy the North American fresh bakery business from the Sara Lee Corporation. This deal would combine the largest and third-largest baking companies in the U.S. The cost was reported to be US$959 million.
Impact of the Acquisition
After this purchase, Bimbo Bakeries USA had 75 bakeries in 31 states. They could serve the entire continental United States. They did this through more than 13,000 sales routes. This acquisition was expected to add about US$2.1 billion in sales to Bimbo Bakeries USA. This would bring their total sales to roughly US$6 billion.
This made Bimbo Bakeries USA more than twice as large as the second-biggest bakery company, Flowers Foods. In November 2011, Sara Lee Corporation finished selling its North American fresh bakery business to Grupo Bimbo for $709 million. Sara Lee also sold its fresh-bakery businesses in Spain and Portugal to Grupo Bimbo for 115 million euros ($158.3 million).
Selling Off Some Brands
The U.S. Department of Justice asked Bimbo Bakeries to sell some of its businesses. This was to make sure there was still fair competition. Here are some of the operations that were sold:
- Earthgrains and Healthy Choice in Omaha were sold to Pan-O-Gold in May 2012.
- Holsum and Milano in Harrisburg and Scranton were sold to Schmidt Baking Company in May 2012.
- Sara Lee and Earthgrains in California, and Earthgrains in Oklahoma City, were sold to Flowers Foods in October 2012.
Main Brands You Might Know
Bimbo Bakeries USA owns many well-known brands. Here are some of them:
- Arnold – Makes loaf bread, sold mostly across the U.S.
- Ball Park – Makes buns and rolls.
- Barcel – Makes snacks like Takis.
- Bays – Makes English muffins.
- Beefsteak – Makes bread.
- Bimbo – Makes cakes and bread, found in U.S. cities with many Hispanic people.
- Boboli – Makes ready-made pizza crusts.
- Brownberry – Makes loaf bread, sold mostly across the U.S.
- Colombo – Makes sweet and sourdough bread products.
- EarthGrains – Makes loaf bread, sold mostly across the U.S.
- Entenmann's – A famous pastry baker in the U.S.
- Francisco – Makes bread and rolls.
- Freihofer's – Makes bread and cakes, often found in upstate New York.
- Grandma Sycamore's – Makes homemade breads, popular in Utah and nearby areas.
- J.J. Nissen – Makes bread, often found in New England.
- Lender's Bagels – Makes bagels.
- Maier's - Makes bread.
- Marinela – Makes Mexican cookies and pastries.
- Mrs. Baird's – A leading bakery, mostly in Texas and nearby states.
- Old Country – Makes restaurant bread.
- Old Home - A bread brand often seen in the Midwest.
- Oroweat – Makes loaf bread, sold mostly across the U.S.
- Sara Lee – Only their North American fresh bakery part.
- Stroehmann – Makes loaf bread in the U.S.
- Thomas' – Makes English muffins and bagels.
- Tía Rosa – Makes home-style bread, pastries, and tortillas.
See also
