Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO), headquartered in Thomasville, Ga., since its first bakery was opened by the Flowers family in 1919, is today one of the largest producers of packaged bakery foods in the United States. The company operates more than 40 highly efficient bakeries that produce a wide range of bakery food for retail and foodservice customers in the U.S.
 
Flowers operating strategies:
The company maintains some of the most efficient and technologically advanced bakeries in the country and has a team of outstanding employees and associates. Each bakery operates as a separate subsidiary of the company and has its own president, human resources director, and controller
 
Fresh breads, buns, rolls, snack cakes, and tortillas are available to approximately 80% of the U.S. population through the company's direct-story delivery (DSD) network. This network covers the Northeast, South, southern Midwest, Southwest, and California. Independent distributor partners are in supermarkets, convenience stores, and restaurants delivering and merchandising these fresh bakery foods every day.
 
Flowers Foods' top DSD brand is Nature's Own, the #1-selling bread brand in the United States.* Other top brands include Whitewheat, Wonder, Cobblestone Bread Co., and Tastykake. (*Symphony IRI Total US Syndicated Fresh Bread and Rolls Category, Calendar Year 2015)
 
The company also offers organic baked foods under the Dave's Killer Bread, Alpine Valley Bread, and Barowsky's Organic brands. Dave's Killer Bread and Alpine Valley products also are verified non-GMO by the Non-GMO Project.
 
Frozen bakery items and fresh snack cakes sold under the Mrs. Freshley's and European Bakers brands are delivered direct to customers' warehouses and are sold in retail, vending, and foodservice outlets nationwide.