In Focus

Flowers Foods for the Fourth of July?

NOTE: During the month of July, we are featuring companies who are headquartered in some of the states we Chicks call home. This week, Georgia kicks off the fun. More than just the state famous for peanuts, peaches and Jimmy Carter, Georgia has 15 public companies featured on Forbes 500 list. Here's how they rate: Home Depot (23), UPS (52), Bellsouth (66), Southern Company (76) Georgia-Pacific (84), Coca-Cola (93), Delta Air Lines (123), Coca-Cola Enterprises (128), Aflac (193), Suntrust Banks (221), GenuineParts (229), First Data (313), Flowers Industries (387), Cox Communications (466) and Mohawk Industries (491). This week we will review Delta Air Lines, Cox Communications, UPS and Flowers Industries.

My favorite holiday is the Fourth of July. I'm not lying. My husband and I invite the world over, we watch the parade, pig out until the sun goes down and then he puts on a spectacular fireworks show. We are the envy of the St. Croix River... one day a year. Believe it or not, it's the easiest party I ever have to host. I provide the beach, the lawn chairs, the fireworks and everyone else brings the goodies. I have a smorgasbord of food in front of me all day and I don't have to lift a finger (unless it's to light a match).

Yesterday was a different story. This summer we are homeless; our new house is being built where the old house stood. We had no party, so I invited our family to my friend Sheila's. It was my turn to be a guest so I had to bring something to eat. Sheila asked me if I would mind making a dessert. OHMYGAWD! I don't bake. I don't enjoy it, and even if I did, it would taste like it just came from a box -- because it would have! I thought about getting someone to bake something for me, but I was sure one of my kids would blab to everyone at the party that I had to pay someone to make my dessert. My grandmother would turn over in her grave if I ever.

I'm going to let you in on a secret, and don't ever tell Sheila. I did it, I baked, but I had help. My dessert was a hit, but 90% of the success goes to Mrs. Smith. No, not my neighbor Mrs. Smith, but the frozen pie queen Mrs. Smith. I bought two Mrs. Smith's Classic Key Lime Pies and followed the recipe I found on her website for Cherries Jubilee. By heating up a few frozen cherries, throwing in some corn starch and orange juice, I had a sauce to pour over the Key Lime Pie. Then, I fried up some tortilla strips, sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar, and criss-crossed them over the top. It looked like I just whipped up a home-baked dessert, which I did, kinda. Because I'm me, I had to divulge the secret to the women who wanted the recipe. "Finally," they said, "A solution for the busy woman who has no time to bake but still wants to be able to say, 'I made it this afternoon.' " Mrs. Smith is a happy medium. (I hope my Nana is okay with a happy medium.)

To tell you the truth, I probably would have made chocolate chip cookies from a roll if it wasn't my job to research Georgia based companies. I chose Flowers Foods, the parent company of Mrs. Smith's Bakeries and thank goodness I did. It's how I found the recipe. Not only did I become Suzy Homemaker, I learned a lot about a company I had no clue existed, and in Chicks Jana and Kristin's home state of all places.

In 1919 the Flowers brothers - William and Joseph - opened a bakery in Thomasville, Georgia. In 1968 they took their company public and changed the name to Flowers Industries. The company branded many of their own specialty breads and buns under the names Nature's Own and Cobblestone Mill brands. They also franchised many of the brands regionally under the names Sunbeam, Bunny, Holsum, Roman Meal, Country Hearth, Evangeline Maid and Butter Crust. Through the years they acquired Stilwell Foods, Mrs. Smith's frozen dessert brand, Winn-Dixie Bakeries, and Pies, Inc. In 1998 they bought enough shares of Keebler Foods to become a majority owner.

Flowers Industries was one of the largest baked food companies in the United States. But something was going stale and turning the company to mold. It was that little elf dude. He had to go.

So in March of this year :::POOF::: he was sold to Kellogg (K). It was a case of too many cooks in the kitchen or too many spices spoiling the stew. (Or however that goes. Chick Cheryl and I always screw up those aphorisms. Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians. Too many elves and not a Santa in sight. You get the idea.) What happened was pretty tasty for all parties.

Flowers Industries changed its name to Flowers Foods. They kept only two divisions, Flowers Bakeries (all those breads and buns mentioned above) and Mrs. Smith's Bakeries. Once all the dough was in a row (I'm crackin' myself up now trying to think of the right 'ism there), they held their own IPO, under the new name, and the ticker, FLO. Say again...

Once all the dough
was in a row,
they held their own IPO,
under the name and ticker, FLO.

This was March 29, 2001.

Since then, their stock has gone up 50%! (I should say, it has risen.) The S & P 500 has barely made it above sea level, and FLO is in the dough. Go FLO Go! See Mrs. Smith Run! Rise Bread Rise! Rhyming's kinda fun! (And you thought I was crackin' up at the 'isms. Now I'm the giggling doughboy on the floor.)