Milling & Baking News - September 9, 2008 - 13

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14 / September 9, 2008

Milling & Baking News

Business

Baking relatively unscathed when
Gustav weakens before making landfall
NEW ORLEANS - A little more than
three years ago, Hurricane Katrina blew
through New Orleans and the surrounding areas causing devastating damage
and disrupting operations at many
baking companies for several months.
It was feared that Hurricane Gustav
could have a similar impact when it approached landfall early last week.
To the benefit of all involved, the
hurricane weakened as it made land
Sept. 1, limiting the aftereffects to
mostly minor disruptions following
mandatory evacuations.
Thomasville, Ga.-based Flowers
Foods, Inc., which operates baking
plants in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and
New Orleans, La., said interruptions
caused by the storm were minimal.
"Our bakeries, employees, and associates in Baton Rouge, Lafayette,
and New Orleans weathered Hurricane Gustav well," said Mary Krier,
vice-president of communications for
Flowers Foods. "Our bakeries reported only minor damage and our warehouses were unaffected. Our bakeries in Baton Rouge and Lafayette are
running; New Orleans is still with out
power, but we expect the bakery to be
operating Friday (Sept. 5).
"All of our bakeries have hurricane
preparedness plans and those that
could be impacted by Tropical Storm
Hanna have activated their plans and
are monitoring the situation closely."
By escaping the brunt of the storm,
Flowers was able to avoid a repeat of
the significant damage it incurred following Hurricane Katrina in August
2005. In the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina, Flowers' baking plant in New
Orleans was shut down for more than
three months, with other Flowers bakeries working to replace the lost production capacity.
A baker of hearth bread items such
as po-boys and muffalettas (Italian
round bread), the Leidenheimer Baking Co. is located a few hundred yards
from the Louisiana Superdome and
less than a mile from the city's famed
Garden District.
Sandy Whann, president of Leidenheimer, said New Orleans fared "exceptionally well" with little to no damage.
"This is no Katrina," Mr. Whann
said. "I expect business to be back to
pre-storm levels very quickly. The
majority of our employees are either
already in the city or in route. We are
producing bread today (Sept. 4) and

expect to have a full product line by
Monday (Sept. 8)."
It was expected Alois J. Binder Bakery would be operational and baking
bread by the evening of Sept. 4, said
Alois J. Binder, president and general
manager, on the afternoon of Sept.
4. While electricity, gas and water all
were working at the facility, Mr. Binder said he still was in need of workers.
The company normally would have
39 workers, but only four had made
it back to work on Sept. 4. His family
members planned to help out.
Before the hurricane, Binder Bakery
baked bread on the night of Aug. 29,
and then shut down. Binder Bakery suffered no major damage although about

AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS

The Industrial Canal flood wall is shown
as Hurricane Gustav moves through New
Orleans on Sept. 1.

half the ceiling tiles fell in the bakery and
had to be cleaned up, Mr. Binder said.
A spokesperson for Interstate Bakeries Corp. said the company's bakery
in Alexandria, La., (located about 180
miles northwest of New Orleans) halted
operations for three days. He said the
company lost power at the bread and
bun facility, restarted it, but then was
forced to shut back down because of
power disruptions. Operations resumed
around 11 a.m. on Sept. 4, he said.
In addition to the power outage,
I.B.C. said the Alexandria facility had
some water in the building, but damage was minimal. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com
http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com
Milling & Baking News - September 9, 2008

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