Corporate Profiles - 2024 - 70

COMPANY overview
and blueberry almond butter.
Under the Wonder brand, Flowers introduced
bagels in classic, everything and blueberry flavors.
Its Wonder English muffins are available
in classic, sourdough and wheat.
Canyon Bakehouse,
Flowers'
gluten-free
brand, which had been affected by capacity
constraints, is now offering cinnamon raisin
bread, available on the brand's online store.
Tastykake is now selling 4-oz apple cinnamon
Honeybuns and boxed Iced Honeybun
multipacks,
with individually wrapped 2-oz
buns.
And Mrs. Freshley's is offering bite-size Deluxe
Hershey's Mini Muffins in double chocolate
and S'mores flavors. The double chocolate muffins
have Hershey's cocoa and mini chocolate
chips; the S'mores flavor has chocolate chips
and marshmallow bits.
Building upon numerous leadership moves
taken in 2023, additional actions have been
taken over the past 12 months to strengthen
Flowers'
management. In January,
James
Simms joined the company as executive vice
president of DSD sales operations (direct-store
delivery). A newly-created role, Simms reports
to Heeth Varnedoe, promoted in 2023 to president
and chief operating officer. Simms came
to Flowers Foods from PepsiCo, Inc., where he
most recently was vice president, PepsiCo customer
lead. Working with retailers in pursuit of
strategic growth, Simms was accountable for all
of PepsiCo's brands, including Frito-Lay, Pepsi,
Quaker Foods, Gatorade and Tropicana.
Flowers recruited another PepsiCo veteran
- Meredith Wiktorowski who in July
was named senior vice president and chief
RECENT INNOVATIONS
customer officer. Reporting to Terry Thomas,
chief growth officer, Wiktorowski is responsible
for sales strategy and growing the company's
revenue,
market
share,
profitability
and reputation with retail customers nationwide.
At PepsiCo, Wiktorowski held a variety
of sales roles with increasing responsibility
in the snacks and beverages businesses over
the last 26 years. Most recently, she was vice
president, retail sales, for PepsiCo Beverages
North America - North Division.
The deployment of resources necessary to
repurchase the California distribution rights has
led to a temporary slowdown of Flowers' information
system platform upgrade, a project now
in its fifth year. According to filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, Flowers
said it completed a planning and mapping
phase of its enterprise resource planning (ERP)
upgrade in 2020 and completed design work in
2021. A build phase was begun in 2022 and
implementation kicked off in 2023. The ERP
upgrade is a centerpiece of Flowers' strategic
effort to boost its margins.
In May 2024, Flowers said it paused the ERP
bakery rollout to " concentrate resources on our
California distribution transition. "
Still in its most recent filing with the SEC,
Flowers said the ERP deployment is anticipated
to be completed in fiscal 2026 at a total cost
of approximately $350 million. The projected
timetable and total expense were unchanged
from what the company had been forecasting
before the California distributor settlement. As
of July 13, 2024, Flowers had incurred costs
related to the project of approximately $226
million, the company said. CP
Flowers Foods, Inc.
branded retail
Fiscal 2023
in millions
Net
sales
$3,263
+3.9%
Source: Flowers Foods, Inc.
change from
prior year
Flowers Foods, Inc.
other
Fiscal 2023
in millions
Net
sales
$1,828
+9.7%
Source: Flowers Foods, Inc.
Flowers Foods, Inc.
sales by category
(52 weeks ended Dec. 31, 2023)
Other
34%
Branded
retail
64%
change from
prior year
Source: Flowers Foods, Inc.
Flowers Foods, Inc.
sales channels
(52 weeks ended Dec. 31, 2023)
Mass
merchandiser/
discount
35%
Supermarket/
drug stores
40%
Source: Flowers Foods, Inc.
FLOWERS FOODS, INC.
Other
25%
70 \ October 2024
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Corporate Profiles - 2024

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