| Type | subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food processing |
| Founded | Fort Worth, Texas, United States (1998) |
| Headquarters | Horsham, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Number of locations | 251 outlet stores |
| Area served | United States |
| Key people | Gary J. Prince (President and CEO |
| Products | Bread products, candies, pastries etc. |
| Revenue | $3.9 Billion USD |
| Operating income | $332.8 Million USD |
| Total assets | $4.0 Billion USD |
| Owner(s) | Grupo Bimbo |
| Employees | 15,000 |
| Website | www.bimbobakeries.com |
Bimbo Bakeries USA is the American corporate arm of Mexico's Grupo Bimbo. It is the largest bakery company in the United States, owning six of the top twelve fresh bread brands in the United States. The name means baby in Italian and does not mean anything in Spanish. The pronunciation is given on packaging as "Beembo" to distinguish it from the American slang term "bimbo". Both derive from the same word in Italian but does not have a negative connotation in Spanish.
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Grupo Bimbo initially entered the U.S. market with the purchase of Pacific Pride Bakeries in 1996. At the time, Pacific Pride Bakeries was the largest independent baker in the San Diego area. The current company, Bimbo Bakeries USA, was established in 1998 when Grupo Bimbo purchased Mrs. Baird's Bakeries in Texas, which at the time was the largest family owned bakery in the United States, and merged it with the former Pacific Pride Bakeries. In 2002, Grupo Bimbo made another acquisition when it purchased 5 plants in California, Texas, Colorado, and Oregon. The purchase also gave Bimbo Bakeries USA the right to such brands as Oroweat, Entenmann's, Thomas' English Bagels, and Boboli pizza kits in the western United States (the rights in the eastern USA at the time were owned by George Weston Limited).
On December 10, 2008, it was announced that Grupo Bimbo was in negotiations to purchase WFI (Weston Foods Inc.) a subsidiary of George Weston Ltd. for $2.38 billion, a purchase that would make Bimbo Bakeries USA the largest bakery company in the USA,And It Did. The purchase was finalized on January 21, 2009. The acquisition added brands such as Arnold, Brownberry, Freihofer's, Stroehmann, and gave Bimbo the rights to the Weston brands in the eastern United States (it had controlled the Weston brands in the western United States since 2002). The purchase also added 22 more factories and 4,000 delivery trucks, giving Bimbo Bakeries USA 35 factories and over 7,000 sales routes in the United States, along with a footprint in all of the lower 48 states and almost US$4 billion in annual sales.[1][2] The Weston Foods headquarters in Horsham, Pennsylvania (just outside Philadelphia) became the new headquarters for Bimbo's USA operations, relocating from Fort Worth, Texas, once the deal closed.[3]
In an effort to increase their national exposure, on January 11, 2011, Bimbo announced a four year partnership agreement making them the official jersey sponsor of the Philadelphia Union, the MLS team local to their national headquarters. The Union sponsorship agreement marks the fifth professional soccer team sponsored by Bimbo; the parent company Grupo Bimbo sponsors the following four teams: Club América, C.D. Guadalajara and C.F. Monterrey of the Primera División de México teams, as well as C.D. Saprissa of Costa Rica. The deal also makes Bimbo the official bread and baked goods sponsor of both the Union and MLS. Bimbo will also become an official sponsor of MLS, opening MLS League and Club marketing assets, such as stadium signage, to them.[4] The sponsorship deal is valued at roughly US$12 million over the four year period.[5]
On November 9, 2010, Grupo Bimbo announced that it has agreed to acquire the North American Fresh Bakery business of the Sara Lee Corporation. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory review, would combine the largest and third largest baking companies in the United States, as measured by annual sales. The deal is reported as costing US$959 Million. This acquisition will leave Bimbo Bakeries USA with 75 bakeries in 31 states, serving the entire continental United States through more than 13,000 sales routes.
The acquisition would bring approximately US$2.1 Billion in sales to Bimbo Bakeries USA, for a rough total of US$6 Billion. This would make Bimbo Bakeries USA more than twice twice as large the number two bakery company in the United States, Flowers Foods.
Sara Lee Corp. acquired its fresh baked division in 2001 with the acquisition of Earthgrains for a then industry record of US$2.8 Billion. This sale represents a 66% discount.
This acquisition will bring together Sara Lee's successful Soft & Smooth line of product with other national brands such as Oroweat/Arnold.
The company has been cited for numerous worker safety violations, as well as failure to report worker injuries to California's Division of Occupational Health and Safety.[6]