FOOD - Baker slicing production - The maker of Wonder Bread is closing its Southland bakeries amid changing tastes and falling sales.
Southern California parents packing children off to school this fall may have to do without a lunchtime staple: Wonder Bread.
The company that makes the white bread with red, yellow and blue balloons on the wrapper said Tuesday that it was closing its Southland bakeries and laying off 1,300 workers. But junk-food lovers can take heart: The company locally will still make Hostess Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ho Hos and other snacks.
It seems that Wonder Bread, once touted as a nutrient-rich way to "build strong bodies 12 ways," has lost ground in health-conscious Southern California.
Essentially, "the company was in the wrong business in the wrong market," said Rich Seban, chief marketing officer for Wonder Bread maker Interstate Bakeries Corp. of Kansas City, Mo.
Shoppers such as Sarah Foss, a court reporter from Upland, are weaning their families off refined flour products. "Wonder Bread is like wallpaper paste," she said.
But others want Interstate to keep selling the bread in Southern California.
"It is the best for peanut and jelly sandwiches," said Susan Johnson of Seal Beach, whose four daughters prefer Wonder and other white breads. "When I give them wheat, I have to sneak it in."
Nonetheless, Southern Californians in particular are partial to whole-grain breads and "premium" loaves from rivals such as Oroweat and Pepperidge Farms, Seban said.
Interstate, however, is pretty much a "white-bread business," he said, and it didn't make financial sense to keep the bakeries open when sales were declining.
The last Wonder loaves will come out of the ovens Oct. 20. All operations at the bakeries will be shut down by Oct. 29. After that, Las Vegas will be the nearest market where Wonder Bread is sold.
Seban said Interstate had no plans to license the brand to another baker or ship the bread to Los Angeles from its bakeries in other regions.
The company, which has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for almost three years, will close all four of its Southland bread bakeries, located in Glendale, Pomona, San Diego and in Los Angeles southeast of USC. The company made a similar move in Washington state two years ago.
Interstate will continue to manufacture money-making products such as Hostess Twinkies and Dolly Madison snacks locally, but it will close 17 distribution centers and 16 outlet stores in the Southland.
