TUSCALOOSA - Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow !169
LEFT: Flowers Baking Company of Tuscaloosa in 2009.
Molly retired to light buggy duty shortly after the first automobiles appeared on Tuscaloosa’s streets. Recognizing the impact that modern technology could have, Hardin’s Bakery became the first business in Tuscaloosa to trade the horse and carriage for motor vehicles. Hardin’s added delivery trucks as its service area expanded. In just a few short decades, Hardin’s went from one horse clopping through the streets of Tuscaloosa to a fleet of modern vehicles delivering baked goods to customers throughout north and west Alabama. Jack Hardin died in 1924. Years later, a Hardin’s ad in the Tuscaloosa News noted that he left his children more than just the bakery when he died. He left “a reputation for honest fair dealing with all men.” The history of Hardin’s merged with the history of another great Southern baking company in 1972, when Flowers Foods (then Flowers Industries) acquired the Tuscaloosa bakery. Like Hardin’s, Flowers Foods also started as a single bakery by men of vision. In 1919, brothers William and Joseph Flowers opened Flowers Baking Company in Thomasville, Ga. Like Jack Hardin, the Flowers brothers were interested in how technology could make their bakery more efficient. When the Flowers bakery opened, the local paper praised the bakery’s “latest and most sanitary machinery.” In an age when modern conveniences were just beginning to emerge, Flowers was baking an astonishing 30,000 loaves of bread every day.
Decades later, efficiency and technology continue to be a key ingredient in the success of Flowers Baking Co. of Tuscaloosa In 1996, the bakery invested millions of dollars to upgrade its operation with the latest baking technology, installing computerized loading and stacking machines for trays and pans, a new, state-of-theart bread slicer and bagger, and two silos that each hold 150,000 pounds of flour. In 2004, the bakery added a new proofer, in which dough rises before it is baked. Today, the 90,000-sq.-ft. bakery can turn out more than 4,000 loaves of bread and almost 29,000 buns an hour. By staying efficient and continually looking for ways to reduce costs, the Tuscaloosa bakery is able to produce quality baked foods that are a good value for consumers--even during times when ingredient, packaging, and energy costs are rising. There’s no doubt that bread remains one of the best food values consumers can find today, offering good taste and health benefits. Long ago, Jack Hardin and the Flowers brothers recognized the need for fresh, quality breads in their hometowns and created bakeries to meet that need. That their bakeries are prospering today is a testimony to their vision and to the successful business strategies the leaders of today’s bakeries continue to follow. Flowers Baking Co. of Tuscaloosa (formerly Hardin’s Bakery) is a subsidiary of Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO). With annual sales of over $2.4 billion, Flowers Foods is one of the nation’s leading producers and marketers of packaged bakery foods, operating 39 bakeries. For more information, visit www. flowersfoods.com, www.naturesownbread.com, and www.whitewheat.com. !