You don’t have to Wonder anymore.
Flowers Foods, the Thomasville, Ga., bakery that owns bread brands Nature’s Own and Cobblestone Mill, will add Wonder Bread and other Hostess names to its stable under a $390 million deal announced last night.
The deal, part of the Bankruptcy Court liquidation of Hostess Brands, is subject to higher offers at an auction later this year.
The Flowers deal is for 20 bakeries, 38 depots and the Nature’s Pride, Merita, Home Pride, Beefsteak and Butternut brands.
Rivals, including Mexican baker Grupo Bimbo, will have a chance to make superior offers in the yet-to-be-scheduled auction in bankruptcy court.
The Hostess snack food brands — which include Twinkies, Ho-Hos, and Drake’s cakes — will be sold off separately.
Hostess expects to take bids on that part of its business during the third week in January, a source close to the situation said.
At that time, it will name a preferred, or stalking horse, bidder.
The Post reported exclusively this week that private equity firm Apollo Global Management has teamed with veteran food executive C. Dean Metropoulos to bid on that side of Hostess.
They are expected to face competition mainly from Grupo Bimbo, the source said.
Irving, Texas-based Hostess shut down in November after its bakers union struck over steep pay and benefit cuts.
The bread business was considered the harder piece to sell since it was losing money.
Plus, retailers are more likely to give away shelf space for bread than they are for snack food like Twinkies.
Flowers — trying to grow its presence beyond the Southeast — is not a union shop and has no obligation to give new workers the same union benefits enjoyed at Hostess.