Three of its Nature’s Own packaged bread products - Honey Wheat, 100% Whole Wheat and Whitewheat - will now be available in supermarkets and retail stores across the Northeast of the US.
The products will be baked at a Lepage Bakeries site in Maine and benefit from the direct-store-delivery policy the firm has, delivering fresh bread daily to stores across the region.
Mike McCall, president of Lepage Bakeries, said the increased distribution was an exciting move for Nature’s Own.
He said distribution was already in place but would continue to expand over the next few months across stores in the region.
Lepage Bakeries opens doors
Flowers Foods snapped up Lepage Bakeries for $370m at the beginning of June in a move to gain brands and market coverage. At the time, Flowers Foods chairman and CEO Geroge Deese, said the deal would enable expansion across the Northeast of the US.
Lepage Bakeries has three bakeries totaling nine production lines and a direct-store-delivery capability.
The Nature’s Own push
Flowers Foods has been busy with investments and acquisitions to, in part, expand and broaden its Nature’s Own brand.
In April this year, it pumped $31m into a Tasty Baking factory expansion in Pennsylvania to drive growth of its packaged bread brand by in new markets. It said the move aimed to bring Nature’s Own to an additional 25% of the US population.
It snapped up Tasty Baking for $165m back in May 2011 with a vision to drive Nature’s Own further into new markets.
Following its latest increased distribution, Nature’s Own will now be available in select Hannaford, Walmart and Demoulas/Market Basket stores among others in Boston, Springfield, Massachusetts, Providence, Rhode Island, Harford, Conneticut, Portland, Maine, Manchester, New Hampshire and Albany, New York.