Flowers Foods to Acquire Property in Kentucky for New Bakery

THOMASVILLE, Ga. (Map) - THOMASVILLE, Ga., Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO) today announced that it has reached a tentative agreement to purchase 30 acres in Bardstown, Ky., from the Bardstown Industrial Development Corporation and Nelson Fiscal Court. The transaction, which includes the option to purchase an additional 24 acres, will be completed within the coming weeks, subject to Flowers' remaining due diligence on the project. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Flowers Foods plans to build a 200,000-square-foot bakery on the property that will produce fresh breads and buns for markets in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Construction is expected to begin in January 2008. The bakery will open with one production line in fall 2008 and initially will provide employment opportunity for approximately 100 people. A second production line will be added later. Flowers expects to invest approximately $52 million in the bakery over the next two years.

"Demand for our baked foods continues to grow as we expand our geographic territory and gain greater share within our existing, core markets," said George E. Deese, chairman, chief executive officer, and president of Flowers Foods. "Bardstown is strategically located at the northern part of our current market territory for our fresh baked foods and this bakery will help serve new markets as we expand northward. The added capacity will also help relieve production pressure at our other bakeries. We appreciate the support we've received for this project from

Headquartered in Thomasville, Ga., Flowers Foods is one of the nation's leading producers and marketers of packaged bakery foods for retail and foodservice customers. Flowers operates 36 bakeries that produce a wide range of bakery products marketed throughout the Southeastern, Southwestern, and mid-Atlantic states via an extensive direct-store-delivery network and nationwide through other delivery systems. Among the company's top brands are Nature's Own, Cobblestone Mill, Sunbeam, Blue Bird, and Mrs. Freshley's. For more information, visit www.flowersfoods.com.

Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. 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) competitive conditions in the baked foods industry, including promotional and price competition, (b) changes in consumer demand for our products, (c) the success of productivity improvements and new product introductions, (d) a significant reduction in business with any of our major customers including a reduction from adverse developments in any of our customer's business, (e) fluctuations in commodity pricing and (f) our ability to achieve cash flow from capital expenditures and acquisitions and the availability of new acquisitions that build shareholder value. In addition, our results may also be affected by general factors such as economic and business conditions (including the baked foods markets), interest and inflation rates and such other factors as are described in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.