Forbes Magazine puts Thomasville-based Flowers Foods No. 1 among food, drink, and tobacco companies THOMASVILLE, Ga., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO) has been named the "best-managed" food company among the 400 best big companies in America by Forbes Magazine. Forbes editors selected Flowers Foods as the best among the 17 companies in the food, drink, and tobacco category that made it on to Forbes' annual Platinum 400 list. This is Flowers Foods' fifth time on the list and the second time the company has been named "best" in its category. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080530/CLF007LOGO ) To create the list, the magazine looked at more than 1,000 publicly traded companies with at least $1 billion in revenue and then chose 400 based on financial metrics, earnings forecasts, corporate governance ratings, and other public company information. From that list, Forbes editors picked one best-managed company from each of the 26 industries represented. Forbes selected these companies not just for their financial performance, but also for leadership, innovation, and execution. In addition, Flowers Foods' stock was one of 15 noted by Forbes as holding up well during recession. Editors looked through the Platinum 400 to see which stocks performed best in 2008 and during the last recession in 2001. "We're honored to once again be selected as 'best of the best' among our peers by Forbes," said George E. Deese, chairman of the board, CEO, and president. "The entire organization takes pride in our ongoing dedication to executing on our long-term strategy that continues to build value for our shareholders." "America's Best Big Companies" appears in the January 12, 2009 issue of Forbes and online at http://www.forbes.com/platinum. Headquartered in Thomasville, Ga., Flowers Foods, with annual sales of over $2.4 billion, is one of the nation's leading producers and marketers of packaged bakery foods for retail and foodservice customers. Flowers Foods operates 38 bakeries that produce a wide range of bakery products marketed throughout the Southeastern, Southwestern, and mid-Atlantic states via an extensive direct-store-delivery network and nationwide through other delivery systems. Among the company's top brands are Nature's Own, Whitewheat, Cobblestone Mill, Blue Bird, and Mrs. Freshley's. For more information, visit http://www.flowersfoods.com/. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080530/CLF007LOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Flowers Foods CONTACT: Mary A. Krier, VP/Communications of Flowers Foods, +1-229-227-2333 Web Site: http://www.flowersfoods.com/ http://www.forbes.com/platinum

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