30°50′11″N83°58′42″W / 30.83639°N 83.97833°W /30.83639; -83.97833
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 Headquarters inThomasville, Georgia | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| NYSE: FLO S&P 400 Component | |
| Industry | Packaged bakery products |
| Founded | 1919; 107 years ago (1919) |
| Headquarters | Thomasville, Georgia, U.S. |
Key people | George E. Deese (Non-executive Chairman of the Board); A. Ryals McMullian (President andCEO) |
| Products | Wonder Bread, Nature's Own,Sunbeam,Mrs. Freshley's, Canyon Bakehouse, Simple Mills, Mi Casa,Tastykake,Dave's Killer Bread,Merita Breads, Captain John Derst's,Evangeline Maid, European Bakers, Butternut, Bunny Bread, Homepride, Papa Pita, Great Grains, Bubba's |
| Revenue | $5.103 billion[1] (2024) |
Number of employees | 10,200[2] (2025) |
| Website | flowersfoods.com |
Flowers Foods, headquartered inThomasville, Georgia, is aproducer and marketer of packaged bakery foods in the United States. The company operates 44bakeries across 19 states that produce a variety of products, including bread, buns, rolls, snack cakes, pastries, and tortillas.[3] As of February 2013, Flowers Foods had grown to be the "second-largest baking company in the United States."[4]
Flowers Foods owns several well-known bread and baked goods brands, including Nature's Own,Dave's Killer Bread, Canyon Bakehouse, Simple Mills,Wonder,Tastykake,Mrs. Freshley's, and more.[5] The company continues to expand its market reach through acquisitions and by extending its existing territory.
Flowers Foods distributes its products through two main channels: Direct Store Delivery (DSD) and Warehouse. The DSD segment handles the regional distribution of products through a network of independent distributors. The DSD segment encompasses almost 6,000 independent distributor territories across the East, South, Southwest, West, and Northwest regions of the United States.[6][2] Flowers' Warehouse segment manages the national distribution of frozen products, which are shipped directly to customers' warehouses throughout the continental United States.[7]
In 1914, brothers William Howard and Joseph Hampton Flowers founded the Flowers Ice Cream Company inThomasville, Georgia. Recognizing a growing local demand for fresh bread, they expanded their business and, in 1919, established the Flowers Baking Company.[8][9] The morning after its launch, 500 loaves of "Flowers Quality Bread" were sold in Thomasville. At the time, the bakery was considered the most modern in Georgia and had the capacity to produce 30,000 loaves of bread per day.[10] Throughout the 1920s, Flowers Baking Company distributed bread, rolls, and cakes by rail across southern Georgia and into parts of Alabama and Florida.[9]
During this period, Howard managed the bakery while his brother Joseph oversaw the ice cream business.[9] In 1929, the company made its first divestiture by selling its ice cream operations to Foremost Dairies.[8] After the death of founder William Howard Flowers in 1934, his 20-year-old son, William Howard Flowers Jr., assumed leadership of the bakery.[10]
The company made its first acquisition in 1937, purchasing Tally Maid Bakery ofTallahassee, Florida. With the onset ofWorld War II, the Flowers bakery operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week to supply bread to U.S. military camps across the southeastern United States.[11][9] In 1942, Flowers became the sixth bakery in the U.S. to franchiseQuality Bakers of America's Sunbeam brand and use theLittle Miss Sunbeam mascot on its bread wrappers.[12]
During the 1960s, Flowers expanded by acquiring bakeries inOpelika, Alabama, andPanama City, Florida. In 1965, Flowers constructed a new bakery inJacksonville, Florida. Two years later, the company entered the metropolitan Atlanta market by acquiring the Atlanta Baking Company.[9]
In 1968, the company made aninitial public offering, changed its name to Flowers Industries Inc., and began tradingover-the-counter.[4] Less than a year later, Flowers was listed on theAmerican Stock Exchange. The stock offering raised over $2 million, sparking a wave of acquisitions.[9] The company expanded by purchasing bakeries in Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia, and the Carolinas. In 1976, the company entered the frozen foods market by acquiring Stilwell Foods, a frozen vegetable producer.[4][13]
The company's growth also prompted the need for a larger headquarters, leading to a move in 1975 to a new 15-acre corporate complex south of Thomasville. In 1982, the company listed on theNew York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FLO, and the following year was listed for the first time on theFortune 500 list of the largest U.S. Industrial corporations, at number 470.[14] During the 1980s, Flowers diversified into the sale of cookies and sandwiches, though it quickly exited those ventures by the end of the decade. Throughout this period, the company continued acquiring bakeries across the southeast and southwest United States.[4][9]
Beginning in the 1990s, Flowers Industries underwent a series of changes. In 1996, when the company acquired the nationalMrs. Smith’s frozen dessert brand and entered a joint venture to acquireKeebler, a major cookies and crackers company. By the early 2000s, Flowers had shifted its focus back to bread and snack cakes. In 2001, the company sold its stake in Keebler, generating $1.2 billion for shareholders.[8] Following this transaction, Flowers Industries restructured and rebranded itself as Flowers Foods. In 2003, Flowers Foods sold Mrs. Smith’s Bakery.[4][9]
Flowers Foods continues to pursue acquisitions with the stated goal of expanding into growing product categories. This includes targeting the Hispanic market with its Mi Casa line of tortillas, and appealing to health- and budget-conscious consumers through its organic offerings likeDave’s Killer Bread and Alpine Valley Bread, as well as Keto-friendly products and smaller loaf options under the Nature’s Own brand.[15][16]
Flowers Foods has continued to acquire bakeries and food companies throughout its history, while alsodivesting from others.
In 1976, the company entered the frozen foods market by acquiring Stilwell Foods of Stilwell, Oklahoma, along with its Rio Grande Foods unit in McAllen, Texas.[4][13] In 1996, Flowers acquired both theKeebler Company andMrs. Smith's Pies. However, in 2001 it sold its investment in Keebler to theKellogg Company. Its remaining business units, Flowers Bakeries and Mrs. Smith's Bakeries, were spun off into a new company called Flowers Foods. In 2002, the company restructured into three divisions: Flowers Bakeries, Flowers Snack, and Mrs. Smith's Bakeries.[4]
In late 2002, Flowers purchased Ideal Baking Company and acquired Bishop Baking Company from Kellogg, expanding its presence into north Arkansas, southern Missouri, and parts of Tennessee, includingMemphis.[17][18] In 2003, Flowers sold its Mrs. Smith's frozen dessert business to theSchwan Food Company and renamed the Flowers Snack division, resulting in two divisions: Flowers Bakeries and Flowers Specialty.[4]
In 2005, Flowers acquired Royal Cake Company and continued operating its bakery inWinston-Salem, North Carolina.[19] In February 2006, Flowers purchased Derst Baking Co. ofSavannah, Georgia, which retained its name under the Flowers Foods Bakeries Group.[20] In 2008, Flowers acquired ButterKrust Bakery inLakeland, Florida andHolsum Bakery inPhoenix.[14][21] In 2009, the company purchased Leo's Foods, a tortilla manufacturer.[22]
Acquisitions continued into the 2010s. In 2011, Flowers acquired Philadelphia-based snack cake maker Tastykake, expanding into the mid-Atlantic region.[4][23] In 2012, it purchased Lepage Bakeries in Maine and acquired assets and licenses fromBimbo Bakeries for theSara Lee and Earthgrains brands in California and Oklahoma City.[4][24] In 2013, the company purchased most of the bread brands ofHostess Brands, includingWonder Bread, along with 20 closed Hostess bakeries.[25][26]
Flowers Foods made three acquisitions in 2015:Dave's Killer Bread ofMilwaukie, Oregon, for $275 million in cash;[27] Alpine Valley Bread Co., an organic bakery inMesa, Arizona;[28] and the North American rights to the Roman Meal trademark for bread, buns, and rolls.[29] At the end of 2018, Flowers Foods acquired Canyon Bakehouse, a privately held gluten-free bread company based inJohnstown, Colorado. With that purchase, the company had acquired 16 companies since 2003.[30]
Flowers Foods bought Papa Pita for an undisclosed amount in 2023.[31] Most recently, in the first quarter of 2025, Flowers Foods acquired Simple Mills for $795 million in cash.[32]
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