The grain-focused snack and bakery industry accounts for over $100 billion in annual retail sales. The core of those offerings originate from a select group of businesses, some who have served American consumers for many decades. And Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery magazine, founded in the early 1900s, has been there every step along the way. Some of these companies have strong diversification and are among the largest food businesses in the world. Others serve important—and growing—core areas of snack and baking across North America. Mergers and acquisitions continue to change the playing field.

Fiscal 2020 posed unprecedented challenges to the industry. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and associated industry challenges continue to refine how consumers approach their food, directly impacting business strategies. But despite the formidable challenges we continue to face, this is a time of opportunity—and growth, as seen at a number of companies on this year’s list of the Top 50 Snack & Bakery Companies of 2021.

Top 10 highlights

CJ CheilJedang. Diversified parent company CJ CheilJedang reported earnings of about $26.6 billion (KRW 24.2 billion) in fiscal 2020. The company finalized its acquisition of Schwan’s Co. in 2019, thereby squarely placing the company at the No. 6 spot on the SF&WB Top 50 list. CJ CheilJedang adds significant frozen brand assets brought by the Schwan’s acquisition, including Red Baron, Freschetta, and Tony’s in frozen pizza; Mrs. Smith’s and Edwards in frozen desserts; and Pagoda in frozen appetizers. These complement CJ CheilJedang’s Bibigo frozen appetizer brand. According to the SF&WB State of the Industry, Schwan’s has seen very strong growth in both its frozen pizza and frozen snacks and appetizers segments, currently contributing U.S. sales of $1.3 billion with very positive year-over-year growth.

Grupo Bimbo. The world’s largest bakery company, Grupo Bimbo, moved up two spots in the Top 50 rankings, catapulted by record sales growth of 13.4 percent in net sales, as noted by Daniel Servitje, chairman of the board and CEO, in the company’s 2020 annual report. Total company sales grew to around $16.0 billion (MXN 331.1 billion). He noted profits outside of Mexico were particularly strong. Dedicated work toward route optimization has also improved distribution efficiency, while production continues to benefit from ongoing robot process automation and virtual training capabilities.

Ferrero Group. European confectionery company Ferrero moved up a spot in the SF&WB Top 50 in the wake of a strong performance during fiscal 2020. Ferrero continues to capably leverage the strength of its Nutella brand in the snack market, with its Nutella & Go line approaching the $100 million mark in U.S. sales, as noted in the SF&WB State of the Industry. The brand even managed a strong performance, with a strong 18.5 percent sales growth, during the pandemic in a category that otherwise saw a notable downturn as on-the-go sales of products like crackers with fillings declined.

Additional Top 50 highlights:

• Campbell Soup climbed one spot on the Top 50, with 5 percent growth of its Campbell Snacks division for fiscal 2020, and recently invested in the largest Goldfish line in company history, is increasing supply for its Cape Cod and Kettle brands, which together account for over $560 million in U.S. sales for the company

• Gruma climbed five spots with strong performance in its U.S. tortillas business, with Mission Foods sales alone up 23 percent to $1.2 billion, per the SF&WB State of the Industry

• Flowers Foods moved up one spot, increasing its annual bottom line to $4.4 billion, with fiscal 2020 annual sales growth of approximately 17 percent for Nature’s Own, 31 percent for Dave’s Killer Bread, 28 percent for Wonder, and 36 percent for Canyon Bakehouse

Companies to watch in the coming year:

• Hershey Co. acquired red-hot Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels in 2021, a move that will drive the company up in the rankings, with Dot’s nearly doubling sales per SF&WB State of the Industry reporting, now a $160 million brand

• Hearthside Food Solutions will see its star rise in the wake of its acquisition of the ambient bakery business from Weston Foods reportedly for an aggregate cash consideration of CA$370 million (about $296 million)

• FGF Brands also acquired George Weston’s fresh and frozen bakery business in 2021 for $1.2 billion, which will introduce FGF, which is also home to the Stonefire flatbread brand, to the Top 50 list next year

• Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, which went public again in 2021, is showing very strong growth lately, with its retail business up over 14 percent to $245 million per SF&WB State of the Industry coverage