KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Hostess Brands is moving full steam ahead, entering the bagel market and launching chocolate Twinkies and white fudge Ding Dongs, among other new offerings, just a couple of months after it started trading as a public company.
In a January presentation to investors at ICR Conference 2017 in Orlando, Fla., Hostess CEO William Toler said the new products and varieties are examples of the company's new direction. Click through for a look at new items for convenience and drug stores from the Kansas City, Mo.-based Hostess Brands ...
Hostess is entering the bread market, introducing bagels (plain and cinnamon raisin) with a 65-day code. Toler said the product will go to some c-stores and mostly to the drug channel.
For the first time, Twinkies are available in chocolate cake with the same creme filling as their traditional vanilla counterparts.
Hostess-branded ice-cream pints, including a CupCakes flavor, will be available in six varieties as part of a licensing deal with Nestle USA. A Ding Dongs ice-cream sandwich is available now, Toler said, with more ice cream items launching in the spring. Under the agreement, Nestle will handle production, sales and logistics of the ice-cream business.
This is the first-ever line extension for Ding Dongs, CEO Toler told investors.
Hostess is launching products in the in-store bakery area of supermarkets, including Cupcake Cookies with the Hostess icing squiggle on them. The new cookies are shipping to stores early in the first quarter of 2017.
The company announced its peanut butter Ho Hos at the end of 2016 and expects other peanut butter offerings to follow in 2017. The addition of peanut butter products required changes at its Indianapolis plant that produces the items, Toler said.
Deep-fried Twinkies were introduced at Wal-Mart Stores in 2016, and distribution has broadened since then, Toler said. Varieties include original, chocolate and banana.
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