Flowers Foods was founded in 1919 when two brothers--William Howard and Joseph Hampton Flowers--opened Flowers Baking Company in Thomasville, Ga.

Flowers' operating strategy from the beginning was to invest in efficient, technologically advanced bakeries, to offer excellent baked foods products, to build strong brands, to provide extraordinary service to customers, to offer a workplace that fosters a team spirit, to develop innovations to improve the business, and to grow through strategic acquisitions.

In the early years, Flowers focused its attention on the fresh bakery business, growing through strategic acquisitions of bakeries in the Southeast.

In 1968, Flowers Baking Company went public, became Flowers Industries, and began trading over-the-counter stock. Less than a year later, Flowers listed on the American Stock Exchange. In 1982, the company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FLO.

In the mid-1990s, Flowers Industries transformed itself from a strong regional baker into a national baked foods company with the acquisition of Keebler Foods Company, one of the largest cookie and cracker companies in the United States, and Mrs. Smith's, the country's top-selling frozen pie brand. By 1999, Flowers Industries had become a $4.2 billion national baked foods company with three business units--Flowers Bakeries, a super-regional fresh baked foods company; Mrs. Smith's Bakeries, a national frozen baked foods company; and Keebler Foods.

In March 2001, Flowers sold its investment in Keebler to the Kellogg Company and delivered $1.24 billion to its shareholders. Flowers' remaining business units--Flowers Bakeries and Mrs. Smith's Bakeries--were then spun off into a new company called Flowers Foods. In January 2002, Flowers Foods announced it would sell its Mrs. Smith's frozen dessert business to The Schwan Food Company. That sale was completed in April 2003.

With $1.55 billion in sales, Flowers Foods today is a dynamic force in baked foods, operating direct store delivery routes that deliver fresh breads, rolls, and snack cakes throughout the Southeastern, Southwestern, and mid-Atlantic states as well as a national sales force that provide foodservice, retail, and vend customers a wide range of fresh snack cakes and frozen breads and rolls.