As Flower Foods, Inc., Thomasville, GA, prepares to re-launch the Hostess bread brands it acquired, the company expects these to strengthen its presence in new markets and drive growth.

In July, Flowers Foods acquired the Hostess bread brands Wonder, Merita, Home Pride, Butternut and Nature’s Pride as well as 20 bakeries and 36 warehouses. In a conference call with analysts to discuss second-quarter results, Allen Shiver, president and CEO of Flowers Foods, expressed optimism about the brands’ comebacks. “The Hostess bread brands have been off the market since Nov. 16, 2012, but our research gives us confidence that the brands have staying power with consumers and with refill customers,” he said.

The Wonder brand continues to possess high aided brand awareness, and food retailers know of the brand’s ability to drive good margins, according to Mr. Shiver. The other brands Flowers acquired offer the company strength in selected regional markets. “We plan to reintroduce the brands in a way that will enhance consumer choices, strengthen the overall category for retail customers, build our distributors’ business and, of course, positively impact the Flowers Foods bottom line,” he said. Flowers’ plans to reintroduce the new brands are being finalized for this fall, and Mr. Shiver was certain that the company’s retail customers will be excited about the reintroduction.

Mr. Shiver continued, saying that adding these brands will aid in the company’s continued growth and strengthens the brand lineup.

“From a national brand standpoint, we will continue to position Nature’s Own as a healthy soft variety bread and premium specialty brand,” he said. “Nature’s Own is the No. 1 selling loaf bread in the country, and we continue to see it driving growth in our core and in our new markets. With the addition of Wonder, we now have a national white bread brand that will help accelerate our growth, especially in new markets.”