THOMASVILLE, GA. — Acquisitions could be on the horizon for Flowers Foods, Inc. as the baked foods company eyes market share growth beyond gains made in its core bread business.

“We are pretty bullish on the M&A market,” A. Ryals McMullian, chairman and chief executive officer, said at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference in Boston last week. “We believe that there are some things that can be coming to market over the next 12 to 18 months that would be a great fit for us and really help to advance our business.”

In bread, Flowers has continued to outperform the overall category, while in sweet baked foods the Thomasville, Ga.-based manufacturer has grappled with the same market pressures as competitors, McMullian said. Meanwhile, the company has been landing new business in private label, where growth has continued but slowed, while experiencing some softness in its foodservice segment as QSR customers adjust to a rising food-at-home trend.

On the mergers-and-acquisitions front, McMullian didn’t hint at any names but noted that any moves by Flowers would be “nothing transformational.”

“Some smaller things can become transformational over time, but we don’t really have our eye on anything massive at this point,” he said. “We’re really focused on expanding our branded portfolio, and there are a few core acquisitions that would help.”

Flowers’ roster of bread brands — spanning loaves, buns, rolls, flatbreads, bagels, English muffins and tortillas — includes Nature’s Own, Wonder, Dave’s Killer Bread, Canyon Bakehouse, Homepride, Sunbeam, Merita, Captain John Derst’s, Evangeline Maid, Butternut, Bunny, Mi Casa and European Bakers.

Dave’s Killer Bread has been a “shining star,” McMullian said. The organic, non-GMO brand’s unit sales rose 10% in the first quarter and 7% in the second quarter, when it also gained 20 basis points in dollar share. The CEO said DKB appeals to the premium, healthy and even low-income household segments, and the brand offers an expansion springboard geographically and into new categories — such as snack bites, snack bars and, most recently, protein bars.

“We’re very confident in the brand equity that Dave’s carries — we’ve moved it across different products in the bread aisle, which with our other brands we have not been able to do,” he said. “That gave us confidence to take one step further and actually step outside of the category.”

Flowers’ main baked snacks lineup includes the brands Tastykake and Mrs. Freshley’s.

“What you’ll see us do more of over the next several years is outside of our core business,” McMullian said. “We’re typically focused on branded products that really resonate with consumers that would be both growth- and margin-accretive for us but that also have healthier attributes to them, or at least try a better-for-you health halo over them.”

Already strong in the South, Flowers aims to boost its market presence both regionally and nationally, and acquisitions “could certainly help you get a faster toehold in some of those geographic areas,” McMullian said.

“We have a lot of geographic expansion ahead of us,” he said. “We were born in the South, and that’s where we’re most penetrated. But in places like the Northeast, we’ve only got a 10(%) share, (and) 18% nationally. So just getting that 8 points is substantial. And in the upper Midwest, you have some major metro markets like Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, etc., where we only have roughly a 5 share, and we’re just now starting to move up into that area. There is no fresh Dave’s Killer Bread in Chicago; there is no fresh Nature’s Own in Chicago.

“So we think it’s a nice part of our growth story that not only are we being able to show organic growth across the portfolio in our core territories, but also being able to grow in those underpenetrated markets and underpenetrated segments of the category like sandwich buns, rolls and breakfast. We’ve been really chipping away and growing our share in breakfast out of the Dave’s Killer Bread label, which has been huge for us. And Wonder as a national brand has really been a smashing success in the bun segment, where we were never very strong before.”

McMullian considers Flowers a “buyer of choice” in the baked foods space when it comes to M&As because of its production capabilities, distribution network and longtime industry relationships, namely with “founder-led businesses.”

“Obviously, valuation matters,” he said. “But so do these relationships, because the founders are typically very passionate about these businesses, and they’re passionate about the go-forward stewardship of the business. And we bring a lot to the table in that regard.”

Flowers, too, will be sure to do its homework when evaluating any potential deal, McMullian added.