Bakery's Closure Breaks Bread Supply Chain at ASD

ANCHORAGE, Alaska—

The closure of the local Sunrise Bakery, due to bankruptcy proceedings by owner Hostess Brands, is forcing the Anchorage School District to look to the Lower 48 to buy bread for school meals.

After Sunrise closed its doors in November, the district lost its supplier of hamburger buns, English muffins and sliced bread. It was able to buy out all of the bread Sunrise had left in stock and has since been sampling breads from companies across the country.

ASD's student nutrition department is set to decide on a permanent bread supplier soon, but in the meantime it has had to make do with a rush shipment to fill demands.

“We did an emergency purchase order for a large shipment of hamburger buns and English muffins and those actually got in last week, so we are well stocked with bread and it’s worked out really well,” said ASD registered dietitian Ladonna Dean.

On average each day, the district uses 24,000 hamburger buns or 48,000 slices of bread. ASD says it makes its own dinner and cornbread rolls but doesn't have the equipment to make other breads, which are currently cheaper to buy.