THOMASVILLE, Ga., July 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Flowers Foods, Inc.
(NYSE: FLO), producer of Nature's Own, Wonder,
Tastykake, Dave's Killer Bread, and other bakery
foods, today announced that it has temporarily stopped production
at its bakery in Savannah,
Georgia due to an increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases within
its production staff and in the number of those self-quarantining.
The bakery's shipping, engineering, sanitation, and office teams
continue to work at the facility, but 115 production employees have
been furloughed. Flowers will pay furloughed production employees
and ask those employees to shelter-in-place until the bakery
resumes production.
The bakery, which has 293 team members and produces fresh retail
bread and bun items sold in areas of Georgia and South
Carolina, is expected to resume production on or around
July 17, 2020. The bakery has been
thoroughly cleaned and sanitized, and those working at the bakery
are continuing to follow all precautionary measures and wear
personal protective equipment. The bakery also is maintaining its
enhanced sanitation schedule.
The company anticipates the closure will have little impact on
its ability to service the market as other bakeries in Flowers'
network are offsetting the lost production in the near term, and
the bakery's sales team and distribution network are expected to be
unaffected.
Flowers is continuing to implement precautionary measures across
its bakeries, including wellness and temperature screening for
everyone entering facilities, mandatory face masks, enhanced daily
sanitation and cleaning of commonly used areas and frequently
touched surfaces, social distancing measures, contact tracing and
required self-quarantining for those having close contact with a
confirmed case or otherwise exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. The
action does not reflect on the quality or safety of the products
baked at the Savannah facility or
any of Flowers' other facilities. According to the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration, there is no evidence of food or food packaging
being associated with COVID-19 transmission.
About Flowers Foods
Headquartered in Thomasville, Ga., Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:
FLO) is one of the largest producers of packaged bakery foods in
the United States with 2019 sales
of $4.1 billion. Flowers operates
bakeries across the country that produce a wide range of bakery
products. Among the company's top brands are Nature's Own,
Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, and Tastykake.
Learn more at www.flowersfoods.com.
FLO-CORP
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements contained in
this press release that are not historical facts are
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements relate to
current expectations regarding our future financial condition,
performance and results of operations and the anticipated impact of
COVID-19 on our business, profitability or results of operations
and are often identified by the use of words and phrases such as
"anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect,"
"intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "should," "will,"
"would," "is likely to," "is expected to" or "will continue," or
the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. All
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ from those projected.
Other factors that may cause actual results to differ from the
forward-looking statements contained in this release and that may
affect the company's prospects in general include, but are not
limited to, (a) the effects of global, political, market, health
and other conditions, including the impact of COVID-19 and measures
or voluntary actions, including social distancing,
shelter-in-place, shutdowns of nonessential or other businesses,
such as any of our production or warehouse facilities, and similar
measures imposed by governmental or regulatory authorities or
undertaken by us in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19; (b)
general economic and business conditions and the competitive
conditions in the baked foods industry, including promotional and
price competition, (c) changes in consumer demand for our products,
including changes in consumer behavior, trends and preferences,
including health and whole grain trends, and the movement toward
more inexpensive store-branded products, (d) the success of
productivity improvements and new product introductions, (e) a
significant reduction in business with any of our major customers
including a reduction from adverse developments in any of our
customer's business, (f) fluctuations in commodity pricing, (g)
energy and raw material costs and availability and hedging and
counterparty risk, (h) our ability to fully integrate recent
acquisitions into our business, (i) our ability to achieve cash
flow from capital expenditures and acquisitions and the
availability of new acquisitions that build shareholder value, (j)
our ability to successfully implement our business strategies,
including those strategies the company has initiated under Project
Centennial, which may involve, among other things, the integration
of recent acquisitions or the acquisition or disposition of assets
at presently targeted values, the deployment of new systems and
technology and an enhanced organizational structure, (k)
consolidation within the baking industry and related industries,
(l) disruptions in our direct-store delivery system, including
litigation or an adverse ruling from a court or regulatory or
government body that could affect the independent contractor
classification of our independent distributors, (m) increasing
legal complexity and legal proceedings that we are or may become
subject to, (n) product recalls or safety concerns related to our
products, and (o) the failure of our information technology systems
to perform adequately, including any interruptions, intrusions or
security breaches of such systems. The foregoing list of important
factors does not include all such factors, nor necessarily present
them in order of importance. In addition, you should consult other
public disclosures made by the company, including the risk factors
included in our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission ("SEC") and disclosures made in other filings
with the SEC and company press releases, for other factors that may
cause actual results to differ materially from those projected by
the company. We caution you not to place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements, as they speak only as of the date made
and are inherently uncertain. The company undertakes no obligation
to publicly revise or update such statements, except as required by
law.
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SOURCE Flowers Foods, Inc.