Spotlight on Merita Bread. Merita Bread was located between exits 81 and 82 going through downtown Orlando. Drivers would be met with the sweet smell of freshly baked bread wafting across the interstate.  The original Merita Bread was a small facility located on the north end of downtown.  A small corner store, it quickly grew and when the new warehouse and bakery was built on the south end of downtown, it was the largest of it's kind in the United States. 

 

Merita became part of Hostess brand and in 2012 after eight years of employee salary cuts the labor union organized a strike. 300 local workers walked out of the local Merita plant. Hostess said the strike affected a dozen of their 33 plants. Hostess decided to file bankruptcy in released the following statement:

"Many people have worked incredibly long and hard to keep this from happening, but now Hostess Brands has no other alternative than to begin the process of winding down and preparing for the sale of our iconic brands," CEO Gregory F. Rayburn said in a letter to employees posted on the company website.

 

Once sold, the dismantling of the iconic building began. I had tried to gain access to the iconic Merita Bread sign for years. I never received a return call; however, one of my students was involved with the company which brokered the sale of the property and she made arrangments for me to have access to the facility months before it's demolition and a coule weeks prior to the removal of the sign.