Salute To Industry: Flowers Bakery Of Crossville

CROSSVILLE — Tina Capps began working at Flowers Bakery of Crossville in 1976, when the long-time Crossville industry was Mountain Farm Bakery.

After 36 years, she said, "It's become my second home."

Capps said the bakery offered a good, steady job, even though she had limited English skills as a German native.

"I decided to try working here and see how I did," Capps said. "I've been here ever since."

Through the years, she's seen many changes in the business. Mountain Farm Bakery opened in 1963, owned by Cumberland County resident Howard Mercer. In 1980, the business was purchased by Thomasville, GA, based Flowers Foods, and operations were expanded. Since that time, the company has completed six expansions and invested more than $35 million since 1997 to improve efficiency. Today, Flowers Bakery of Crossville employs about 430 people, with another 90 employed through Aramark in various parts of the bakery facility on Hwy. 127 and a distribution center at the former Avery Dennison facility. Each week, the Crossville bakery produces about 1.4 million pounds of snack cakes.

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