Flowers Foods to sell Specialty Blending business, focusing on branded bakery foods

20-Dec-2016 - Last updated on 21-Dec-2016 at 11:41 GMT

Pic: Flowers Foods

One of the largest yeast and bakery ingredient products and solutions firm in the US, AB Mauri, has reached an agreement to acquire the business and assets of Specialty Blending Company.

Specialty Blending, a bread and sweet goods mix manufacturer located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is owned by Flowers Foods, and is the company’s only bakery mix facility, according to Flowers Foods’ spokesperson, Mary Krier.

Flowers Foods recently paid $9m to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged it misclassified three distributors as independent contractors, this site previously reported.

Specialty Blending’s mix and milling operation features multiple blending lines, including two for whole-grain bread concentrates and a third for sweet goods mixes used in items, such as doughnuts and honey buns.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Strengthening North American business

Commenting on the acquisition, president of AB Mauri North America, Mark Prendergast, said, “The acquisition of Specialty Blending will further strengthen our North American bakery ingredients business representing a unique opportunity to combine the global technology strength of AB Mauri together with a high-quality and well-positioned ingredients blending operation.”

Flowers Foods said it acquired Specialty Blending in 2009 as a support business, but it is selling the company because it has decided to refocus its strategy on growing branded bakery goods, Krier told BakeryandSnacks.

“We look forward to continuing that relationship now as a customer of AB Mauri,” Allen Shiver, president and CEO of Flowers Foods said.