Sunbeam Bread is a franchised brand of white bread, rolls, and other baked goods owned by the Quality Bakers of America cooperative.[1] The bread products are produced and distributed by eight regional bakeries located in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Mexico City, Mexico.[2]
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The brand was launched in 1942 and was first marketed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Annual sales of the branded bread products exceed $400 million.
Licensees include Schmidt Baking Company, Flowers Foods, Sara Lee and Grupo Bimbo.
Sunbeam's long-time mascot is called Little Miss Sunbeam. In 1942, illustrator Ellen Segner was commissioned by the Quality Bakers of America to create a marketing symbol of a young child. Over six months she submitted hundreds of sketches before coming across the girl who would become the first Miss Sunbeam in Washington Square Park close to Segner's studio in Greenwich Village.[3] The image of the holiday Little Miss Sunbeam first appeared on a billboard in the 1950s. Flowers Foods, the largest distributor of Sunbeam bread, has used this image of Little Miss Sunbeam on billboards and bread bags during the holiday season, in their Sunbeam markets, since 2001.