Robert L. Benton is a man who has made his mark on the baking industry, both in plant design and people. Throughout his 40-year career, exclusively at Flowers Foods, Thomasville, Ga., Benton oversaw the design and construction of 10 new facilities as well as the redesign and update of nearly all of the company’s 46 bakeries. His impact on Flowers Foods, which grew from a regional to a national company during Benton’s tenure, cannot be overstated when every facility bears his signature designs meant to improve efficiencies of process and operations. 

Benton’s career began in 1980 in Flowers Foods’ bakery in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on the production room floor. He worked his way up to plant management and into the corporate level before retiring in 2023 as executive vice president of network optimization. Having a hand in the plant as well as corporate management, Benton has certainly had an impact on Flowers Foods beyond just line and facility design. In a letter recommending Benton to the Hall of Fame, A. Ryals McMullian, Flowers’ chairman, chief executive officer and president, and George Deese, a member of Flowers’ board of directors, wrote: 

“Robert’s inspirational leadership and personal commitment to excellence are legendary here at Flowers and across our industry. He is a curious, confident, passionate and approachable leader. Over the years, we have been extremely fortunate to be the beneficiary of his unique combination of vision, engineering expertise and superior management skills as we added plants and expanded our scope of business from a regional to a national baked foods company.”

Maybe more lasting than his line and facility design work, however, is the lasting impact Benton has had on people in the baking industry, whether through his work on various committees and associations or the long-lasting relationships he’s built with associates of Flowers Foods and its vendors. Baking & Snack Publisher James Boddicker noted in his recommendation letter that at every bakery he’s walked with Benton, he remembers not only associates’ names but their families as well. 

Matt Stanford, vice president, Bettendorf Stanford, reflected on his experiences with Benton.

“I can look around at BEMA meetings and sit across from suppliers — sometimes competitors — and see how he has shaped their careers,” he stated. “I would hop on conference calls or pick up the phone and see how his mentoring and his thought processes have shaped the lives of so many at Flowers Foods.”

Those relationships are what Benton loved most about his career as he reflected upon retirement. 

“Most people who know me would expect me to say that I love building bakeries, and it’s true, I do,” he said. “But that doesn’t come before the joy that I have received from building teams and the friendships I have gained within the company and outside of it, especially with our vendors. Those will last for a lifetime.”

This article is an excerpt from the February 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire special report on Baking Hall of Fame, click here.