A lot has happened in the baking and snack industries since Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery published its lists of top U.S. bakers and snack manufacturers a year ago. Acquisitions, mergers, plant openings and closings, anniversary celebrations and other events have kept well-known industry names in the news this year.
The most notable of these was Texas-based Hostess Brands Inc. (“Old HB”), which filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2012, and began accepting bids for its assets and brands shortly thereafter. Four bakeries eventually prevailed. Flowers Foods in Thomasville, Ga., now owns the majority of Hostess’ bread brands, including Wonder, Nature’s Pride, Merita, Home Pride and Butternut. McKee Foods in Collegedale, Tenn., acquired the Drake’s snack cakes brand. United States Bakery (a.k.a Franz Family Bakeries) in Portland, Ore., added the Sweetheart, Eddy’s, Standish Farms and Grandma Emilie’s bread brands to its offerings. Grupo Bimbo S.A.B. de C.V. in Mexico City now owns the Beefsteak bread brand.