Bakery outlet reopens with new products

WASILLA — If you’d been hungering for sources of cheap bread in the wake of Hostess Brands’ national bankruptcy and the outlet store’s closure last fall, you’re in luck.

Franz Bakery has purchased Hostess’ former Sunrise Bakery and resuscitated two of its former outlet stores, including the one in Wasilla near Value Village.

“We opened that retail store on May 14,” said bakery general manager Larry Brandt. “I think as the word is getting out every day it seems to be getting more busy.”

He said the store offers 270 different items, including just about everything the bakery makes — from bread to cookies and donuts.

“We do an all-natural line (of bread) and we do sandwich breads and we do hot dog buns and hamburger buns,” Brandt said.

He said the company had to start fresh when it revived the outlet, hiring a whole new staff of three to run the shop.

Franz Bakery is based in Portland, Ore. It’s a fourth-generation, family-owned bakery that began operating in 1906 and has since expanded into Washington, Idaho, Utah, Montana and California.

In April, the U.S. Bankruptcy court in New York approved the sale of Hostess’ Alaska bakery to Franz as part of a $30.9 million sale of assets throughout the western United States.

“We’re excited to move forward with reopening the Sunrise Bakery and start supplying Alaska with fresh bread products,” Marc Albers, president of Franz Bakery, said in a press release at the time. “We’re also looking forward to contributing to the Anchorage economy by providing jobs.”

In Anchorage, that includes about 75 jobs at the bakery and outlet store.

Sunrise Bakery has been in business in Anchorage’s Spenard neighborhood since before statehood, and both Hostess and now Franz agreed to keep that old, iconic name on the building.

He said he anticipates a long relationship between Franz and Alaska.

“Franz has been in business for 107 years and it’s a family owned business,” and working for the company, he said, “is very nice.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.