LENEXA, KAS. — Flowers Baking Co. of Lenexa, L.L.C. will open this summer. The former Hostess Brands bakery was acquired by Flowers Foods in July 2013 and has been undergoing an extensive modernization project at an estimated cost of more than $10 million.
“We are pleased to announce the start-up of the bakery this summer, and hiring is under way,” said Paul Frankum, president of Flowers Baking Co. of Lenexa. “Over the past few months, we’ve been making significant improvements to the facility, including the installation of state-of-the-art baking equipment.”
Mr. Frankum said the bakery will open with one bread line and have about 100 jobs at start up. Flowers will bake Nature’s Own, Wonder and Home Pride bread at the facility. Product will be distributed throughout Kansas, eastern Oklahoma and Missouri.
“We are pleased that Flowers has selected Lenexa as the site for its new bakery,” said Blake Schreck, president of the Lenexa Chamber of Commerce. “We very much appreciate the commitment they are making to our community, both the capital investment in the facility as well as their corporate citizenship. We are proud to have them in our city.”
Pat George, Kansas Commerce Secretary, added, “It is great news that Flowers will open a bakery in Lenexa. Kansas is home to a thriving food processing sector, and Flowers’ investment and job creation in our state will support the continued growth of this industry and the Kansas economy.”
Flowers Baking Co. of Lenexa, L.L.C. will operate as a subsidiary of Flowers Foods, Inc. Headquartered in Thomasville, Ga., since its first bakery was opened by the Flowers family in 1919, Flowers Foods is one of the largest producers of packaged baked foods for retail and food service customers in the United States. Flowers has 46 bakery subsidiaries that produce a wide range of bakery products.
The Lenexa bakery first was opened by Interstate Bakeries Corp. in 2002 as a $28 million, 137,354-square-foot facility to replace an outdated plant in Kansas City.