MapMuse - Locate Wonder and Hostess Bake Shop Outlets Near You

...buyout of Continental (number one baker at that time) by Interstate Brands Corporation (number three baker) from the Ralston Purina Company. A large portion of the payment was in stock. Ralstons made an enormous profit when the stock jumped significantly shortly after the buyout. Butternut Bread/Dolly Madison bought out Wonder Bread/Hostess and ex-Merita Baking head, Charles Sullivan, became the CEO. Butternut and Wonder Bread operated with different cultures: Butternut was seat-of-the-pants, with each bakery a self-contained profit center; Wonder Bread was very "procedural and by-the-book." This caused some problems early on. In both cultures, snack cakes were more profitable due to "economies-of-scale and logistics." When extended-shelf-life enzymes were developed for bread, the hope was to convert the system of many small inefficient bakeries into an efficient network of a relatively few giant bakeries like their snackcakes operation. Bad luck intervened; the old resurrected Atkin's diet and Krispy Kreme doughnuts affected pricing and sales volume.
On September 22, 2004, Interstate Bakeries filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company also named a new chief executive. James R. Elsessor, who had taken over as CEO for Charles Sullivan, was replaced by Tony Alvarez. Interstate Bakery's stock, which had been at one time $34/share, fell to $2.05/share as they declared bankruptcy.
The Brands of Interstate Bakeries Corporation
In the United States, these include:
* Baker's Inn
* Beefsteak
* Blue Ribbon
* Bread du Jour
* Butternut Breads
* Colombo
* Cotton’s
* Merita
* Di Carlo
* Eddy’s
* Home Pride
* J.J. Nissen
* Millbrook
* Mrs. Cubbison’s
* Parisian
* Drakes
* Dolly Madison
* Sweetheart
* Hostess
* Wonder
* Dutch Hearth
* Standish Farms
Other Brands Manufactured by IBC

* Marie Callender’s
* Holsum
* Sunbeam Bread
* Sun-Maid
* Roman Meal