Tastykake sold, but it’s not going away

Butterscotch Krimpets and Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes are here to stay as Flowers Foods announced a deal yesterday to acquire local Tasty Baking Co.

The Georgia-based company will acquire Tasty for approximately $165 million which includes Tasty Baking’s existing indebtedness.

An iconic company in Philadelphia for almost 100 years, Tasty Baking fell to hard times last year after suffering from declining sales, increasing flour costs and the construction of an expensive bakery in the Philadelphia Naval Yard, which all translated into debt. For the past several months, speculation of a sale loomed over the company.

Charles Pizzi, president and CEO of Tasty Baking, said that both of the Tasty bakeries in Pennsylvania will continue to operate.

Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rob Wonderling added that the chamber is “very pleased that Tasty’s 700-plus employees will be retained in this region and that Flowers Foods will continue to utilize Tasty’s state-of-the-art facilities at the Navy Yard complex in South Philadelphia and in Oxford, Chester County.”

The merger is expected to strengthen Flowers’ snack cake business through the iconic Tastykake brand while also making Tastykakes available to 53 percent of the U.S. population through Flower’s 4,000 independent distributors.

“Since Tasty Baking Company is such an iconic Philadelphia jewel, we are very happy that the brand will continue to live on,” Wonderling said.