Where is Hostess Made 2024 – Is It Made in USA?

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Hostess produces its delicious bakery products in three states of the United States, including Kansas, Georgia, and Indiana.

Where is Hostess Made

This bakery company manufactures eight different delicious items, including various cakes. The items have made Hostess one of the most well-known companies in the United States in the bakery market. 

It has been only around ten years since Hostess started its bakery journey, and now turned into a multibillion-dollar company. Check out the following article to learn more about this brand.

What company makes Hostess products?

Hostess Brands is the producer of Hostess products. It is an American bakery brand with several brands in the USA and Canada.

In June 2013, C. Dean Metropoulos and Company and Apollo Global Management collaborated to acquire the assets of Old HB, Inc. This Old HB became Hostess Brands after the acquisition in 2013.

There is a reason for the acquisition of Old HB. This company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Due to the liquidation, its assets were handed over to other bakery companies like Apollo and C. Dean Metropoulos.

In 2016, Hostess Brands became a public company. And now, several bakery brands are operating under this company. The brands that Hostess Brands has acquired since its establishment, including

  • Hostess
  • Superior Cake Products
  • Big Texas
  • Cloverhill Bakery
  • Dolly Madison
  • Voortman Cookies Limited

However, not all of them are under Hostess Brands now. Currently, Hostess Brands has four subsidiary brands.

Where are Hostess plants located?

Hostess goodies are produced in Hostess Brands’ manufacturing plants. Currently, Hostess Brands has three production facilities in three different states of the United States. The locations of the facilities are listed below:

  • Columbus, Georgia
  • Indianapolis, Indiana
  • Emporia, Kansas

Besides these facilities, Hostess Brands had another facility in Schiller Park, Illinois. However, the company shut down this facility back in October 2014.

In 2022, Hostess Brands announced that the company would open a new facility in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, at the end of 2023. If the facility is started, around 150 people will get jobs, which will positively impact the US economy.

Though Hostess Brands makes the goodies for Hostess, Hostess has thousands of houses all over the United States for distribution, storing, and selling. Therefore, Hostess Brands does the job of production here only.

Who is Hostess owned by?

JM Smucker has been the owner of Hostess since September 2023. The company bought Hostess from Hostess Brands on 11 September 2023 for 5.6 billion dollars.

Hostess Cake, also known as Hostess, is a 104-year-old bakery brand. In 1904, Hostess was first introduced in the market of North America and Europe.

Till 1995, Hostess was under the Continental Baking Company. However, in 1995, Interstate Bakeries Corporation took over the Continental Baking Company, and Hostess became a subsidiary brand of it.

In 2009, Interstate Bakeries Corporation became Hostess Brands or HB. However, the current Hostess Brands came after liquidating the old Hostess Brands in 2013.

Hostess was a part of the new Hostess Brands company. But at the end of 2023, Hostess Brands sold Hostess to JM Smucker. However, Hostess Brands still manufactures Hostess goodies in its processing plants.

Are Hostess and Little Debbie the same?

The answer is no. Though some Hostess and Little Debbie products are identical, the two are two separate companies.

Hostess and Little Debbie are both brands in the United States. However, Hostess is a subsidiary brand of JM Smucker, and Hostess Brands is the producer of Hostess’s delicious products.

On the other hand, Little Debbie is a subsidiary brand of Mckee Foods. Mckee Foods is also the producer and distributor of this brand.

However, there is a connection between these two brands. When Old Hostess Brands faced liquidation in 2013, Mckee Foods bought Drake’s Brand under Hostess Brands for 27.5 million dollars.

Why did Hostess shut down?

Hostess is doing fine in 2023. But the story was different back in 2013. Hostess Brands was facing liquidation and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Let’s find out why.

The popularity of junk food was fading away. But Hostess was still stuck with the 82-year-old recipes. As a result, customers’ slope was going down.

However, in 2009, Hostess made an effort to turn around. The brand launched a new item named Twinkie Bites. But again, the company was sinking in debt to adjust commodity costs and the rise of labor.

As a result, Hostess was facing bankruptcy in 2012. But all is a past now. Hostess is doing great in 2023 as a multibillion-dollar company.

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