Flowers Foods plans to shut Bailey Street Bakery
USA – Flowers Foods Inc., one of the largest producers of packaged bakery foods in the United States with net sales projected at US$5.1 billion for 2024, is planning to shut down its Bailey Street Bakery LLC subsidiary in Atlanta, a facility that produces various bread products for retail and food service channels.
The bakery is slated to permanently cease all manufacturing operations on April 16, resulting in the termination of 176 employees, including 120 Flowers employees and 56 temporary staff from Aramark assigned to Flowers.
This information was shared in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filed on February 12 in Georgia.
However, the WARN notice indicates that a few employees will remain at the plant until May 9 to assist with the wind-down process.
In the WARN letter, Joel Wood, the plant manager at Bailey Street Bakery, explained that the closure is due to ongoing efforts to maximise production capacity across the network of Flowers bakeries and streamline its supply chain.
Other Flowers bakeries will take over the production activities currently performed at Bailey Street.The company operates 45 bakeries, which produce brands such as Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, Canyon Bakehouse, Wonder, Tastykake and Simple Mills.
Despite the bakery’s closure, a retail store selling discounted baked goods under Flowers brands, such as Tastykake and Nature’s Own, is expected to remain open at the Bailey Street Bakery location. Other nearby bakeries will continue to supply these products.
This shutdown follows Flowers Foods, Inc.’s recent acquisition of Simple Mills, a brand recognised for its “better-for-you” crackers, cookies, bars, and baking mixes, which was valued at US$795 million.
Meanwhile, during a webcast on February 7 to report fiscal 2024 results, A. Ryals McMullian, the chairman and chief executive officer of Flowers, emphasised margin improvement as a strategic priority and highlighted operational efficiencies as key to achieving this goal.
“To further enhance margins, we are concentrating on optimising our supply chain to provide the highest level of service to our customers in the most cost-effective way. Our initiatives involve reducing production waste, improving manufacturing efficiencies, optimising our transportation network, and rightsizing our transportation equipment base,” McMullian stated.
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