Flowers Foods & Subsidiaries

Flowers employees are sending children back to school with everything on their lists this year. From California to Virginia, our team members have donated thousands of backpacks and school supplies to local school-aged children and joined together to support community events and fundraising efforts that benefit community schools and teachers. ✏🎒📓❤️

Today, Flowers Foods reported second quarter financial results for 2024. Learn more in our press release (https://lnkd.in/eTb4NdxJ) and webcast (https://lnkd.in/edGS8grh).

Our Dave's Killer Bread bakery in Milwaukie, Ore. is committed to making a positive difference in its community. Each week, the bakery donates approximately 11,000 products to local food pantries, meal centers, schools, assisted-living facilities, and shelters. Just this summer, the facility has supported several local senior citizens centers and helped provide meals and food to those in need through Dandelion House, the American Military Encouragement Network (AMEN), and Washington Gorge Action Programs. And volunteers recently joined Best Buddies in Oregon Friendship Walk to fundraise for programs serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. “Feeding local families creates a ripple effect throughout our community,” said Brindle Williams, community outreach coordinator. “Sometimes, we are able to coordinate volunteers, and sometimes it is as simple as donating a few cases of snack bars to a worthy cause... helping vulnerable populations is important to our team.”

Team members at Franklin Baking Co. in Goldsboro, N.C. and the Innovation Center in Thomasville, Ga. have spent some of their already busy season supporting student summer camp activities. Thirty-five Wayne Community College youth apprentices recently toured the Franklin bakery thanks to a partnership with the North Carolina Business Committee for Education SEED initiative, which offers high school students college credit and a stipend while they learn advanced manufacturing through hands-on training. At the Innovation Center, Flowers' R&D team, led by Haley Benson and Eric Uradzionek, senior bakery scientists, hosted a group of 11 middle school students exploring food science careers through a Florida 4-H Club Foundation summer enrichment program. If your location also hosted a student educational group this summer, please share your experience in the comments below!

On National Intern Day, we want to recognize the contributions of #interns across the company. This summer, more than 20 interns have worked alongside our accounting, brand, engineering, ESS, food safety and quality, HR, R&D, sales, and software teams to advance company projects while honing their professional skills. We look forward to seeing these talented individuals continue to learn and grow in their future careers. Our #internship program is one way we invest in the future of Flowers. By providing young, career-minded individuals the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and learn about our industry, we hope to build a pipeline of qualified new hires. #NationalInternDay

Meredith Wiktorowski has been named Flowers Foods' senior vice president and chief customer officer. In her role, she will be responsible for sales strategy and growing the company’s revenue, market share, profitability, and reputation with retail customers nationwide.   Wiktorowski joins Flowers from PepsiCo, where she held a variety of sales roles with increasing responsibility in the Snacks and Beverages businesses over the last 26 years. Most recently, she served as vice president, retail sales, for PepsiCo Beverages North America – North Division, where she was accountable for developing and implementing selling strategy across all formats and retailers located within the 14 states from Maine to Michigan.   “Meredith brings extensive experience catering to retail grocers of all sizes, robust strategic sales acumen, and strong leadership skills,” said Terry S. Thomas, chief growth officer. “These attributes make her a vital asset as we work to maintain a steadfast focus on the customer for sustainable, profitable business growth.” More at: https://lnkd.in/emaSBC7B.

In recognition of Juneteenth, the Flowers Community Engagement Team and our employee resource group, African-Americans Building Leadership Excellence (ABLE), joined forces with the Juneteenth of Thomasville-Thomas County Foundation and Second Harvest of South Georgia to sponsor a food distribution at this year's City of Thomasville - GA Juneteenth Celebration. Volunteers handed out hundreds of non-perishable meal boxes donated by Second Harvest while other team members supported various behind-the-scenes projects designed to highlight the history and significance of #Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of enslavement in the United States.

Seven of Flowers’ summer #interns recently toured locations in Thomasville, Ga. to see bakery operations behind-the-scenes and gain a deeper understanding of Flowers’ business. Interns were extremely engaged during the visit and asked questions on topics ranging from shift changes to machine maintenance protocols. “The tour was a fantastic experiential learning opportunity for our students – and a chance for our more Corporate-focused interns to gain exposure to the manufacturing processes in action,” said Lacey Harper, corporate recruiter. “It’s important for us to showcase every element of the company and give them the chance to interact with a variety of professionals at Flowers and see firsthand how our products are made!” Flowers employees can learn more about our summer interns on the company Intranet at: https://lnkd.in/eEW2PNqy.

Since 1996 Flowers Foods has awarded #scholarships totaling $682,000 to 252 students through our Sons & Daughters Scholarship Program. And we’ve just announced ten new recipients for 2024! 🎓 Our current employees can learn more about the recipients on our Intranet at: https://lnkd.in/exng7EMT.

Vote by Wednesday, June 5, to help Flowers' R&D team take home the gold in Food Processing’s “Best Product Development Team in the Food & Beverage Industry” poll!