Heavy lifting - largest U.S. bakers in midst of major restructuring

摘要

Sales trends in the fresh bread category were weak once again over the past year. While the decline in unit sales was modest compared with earlier years and very modest in dollars, the nation's largest baking companies have moved to reshape their businesses to remain competitive and successful in what has been a chronically flat market.The realities of conditions in the U.S. bread market were bluntly described recently by Allen L. Shiver, president and chief executive officer of Flowers Foods, Inc., Thomasville, Ga.