Flowers Foods plans to acquire Royal Cake Company

07/07/05 Flowers Foods has announced that it has entered a contract to acquire Royal Cake Company, Inc., a Winston-Salem, N.C.-based bakery currently operating in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The contract is subject to approval by the bankruptcy court.

Royal Cake, with 2004 sales of $24 million, filed for bankruptcy in February in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, Winston-Salem Division. The company employs approximately 190 people and produces cookies, cereal bars and creme-filled cakes that are sold under the Royal, Bakers Best, and private label brands.

Headquartered in Thomasville, Ga., Flowers Foods is one of the nation's leading producers and marketers of packaged bakery foods for retail and foodservice customers. Flowers operates 34 bakeries that produce a wide range of bakery products marketed throughout the Southeastern, Southwestern, and mid-Atlantic states via an extensive direct-store-delivery network and nationwide through other delivery systems. Among the company's top brands are Nature's Own, Cobblestone Mill, Sunbeam, BlueBird, and Mrs. Freshley's.

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