Flowers Foods Will Buy Simple Mills for $795 Million

Jan. 8, 2025

The acquisition will take Flowers into new categories of crackers, cookies, snack bars and baking mixes.

Big baker Flowers Foods Inc. today (Jan. 8) announced an agreement to acquire Simple Mills, which will take Flowers into new snacking segments. The price is $795 million in cash.

The sellers are Katlin Smith, who founded the company in 2012, Simple Mills management, Vestar Capital Partners (the largest individual shareholder) and initial angel investors. The company makes better-for-you crackers, cookies, snack bars and baking mixes.

Flowers wrote: “The brand's stunningly simple ingredients, pioneering use of nutrient-dense nut, seed and vegetable flours, and exceptional taste have cultivated unmatched brand love and loyalty among natural and mainstream consumers alike. Simple Mills products are available nationwide across more than 30,000 natural and conventional stores.”

Simple Mills is estimated to have generated 2024 net sales of $240 million, representing 14% growth compared to the prior year.

Upon closing, Simple Mills will operate as an independent subsidiary of Flowers Foods and continue to be led by CEO Katlin Smith and her leadership team. Simple Mills will maintain its operations in Chicago and Mill Valley, Calif.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.