Hostess snack cakes are set to return to the shelves across the US, with 50 million Twinkies and 35 million CupCakes with Signature Squiggle expected to be rolled out in next two weeks.
The new products that will hit the shelves include Twinkies, CupCakes, bags of Donettes, Zingers, HoHos, DingDongs, fruit pies and mini muffins. SnoBalls and SuzyQs will return in the next few months.
Hostess Brands, which is now managed by investment firms Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management, noted that there will be five times more Twinkies on the market during the first two weeks of the comeback than during the same two-week period last year.
In April, Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management rescued the brand by buying select assets out of bankruptcy and outlining plans to bring back Hostess snack cakes.
Hostess Brands CEO Dean Metropoulos said the company is committed to investing, reinvigorating the brands, innovating to meet evolving consumer preferences with new products and continuing to bake the high-quality, fresh and delicious snack cakes.
"Judging by the incredible reception we've received, Hostess has a very exciting future," Metropoulos added.
According to the company, retail customers representing more than 100,000 stores placed significant orders in advance of the comeback.
Hostess will be launching a multi-million dollar integrated marketing, advertising and public relations campaign - developed in connection with the launch by Bernstein-Rein and LAK Public Relations. The campaign will carry a tagline - Sweetest Comeback in the History of Ever, and will push to broaden the brand's appeal.
Hostess products are currently being produced in four bakeries: Schiller Park, Illinois; Emporia, Kansas; Columbus, Georgia; and Indianapolis, Indiana. Under the company's new distribution model, Hostess products are delivered to retailers' warehouses, rather than individual stores. This will enable the company to reach about 160,000 stores by the end of the year.
The company's new owners, which emerged as winning bidders for the majority of Hostess' snack cake business on 12 March 2013, plan to invest approximately $100m this year making upgrades to bakeries and facilities. In addition, plans are underway to open a fifth bakery next year, at a cost of $75m to $80m, in a yet to be determined location.
