Milling & Baking News - June 7, 2016 - 12

Business X

Hostess c.e.o. offers update
on innovation and acquisition
Brownies are a white space for us;
it's a segment of the category that
we didn't play in. And we wanted to
do something to elevate the brownie
experience with the Hostess brand,
and we found the best way to do that
was to co-brand with a great partner
like Mars. And we've done it with
M&M's and Milky Way, and we have
hopes and plans to do it with other of
their brands in the future.

Continued from Page 1

the Mini Muffins reformulation.
Mr. Toler: We're very pleased to
have been able to convert our Mini
Muffins to whole grain. It has 8 grams
of whole grains per
serving. We think these
are great tasting and
healthier alternatives
for the Mini Muffin
consumer. It gives us an
opportunity to provide
some news in the
category and provide
a little differentiation
for our consumer base
who is looking for some
permissible indulgence
or friendly labels and
Hostess converted its healthier snacking.
Mini Muffins line to
whole grain and removed high-fructose
corn syrup.

Do they meet the school
snack requirements?
Mr. Toler: We are
working on that right
now and hope to have (School Nutrition
Association) approval and be ready for
schools later this year.
In addition to adding whole grains,
you removed high-fructose corn syrup.
Mr. Toler: We have been able to go
to whole grain and also clean up the
label, take out some ingredients that
have caused question over time and
give us an overall better product, we
think. We tested this extensively with
consumers, and our standards have
always been parity or better with our
prior, and also parity or better with
our competition, and we've been able
to prove these are products that meet
those standards.
Are there any plans to extend this
clean label initiative to other products
in the portfolio?
Mr. Toler: We are continuing to
look at opportunities to improve
our
ingredient
panel,
whether
that's simplification, to remove our
ingredients that are sensitive or
we don't think are optimal for our
products, but first and foremost, we
are an indulgent snack and we want to
deliver on taste, but we want to do that
in as reasonable of a way as we can.

12 / June 7, 2016 XMilling & Baking News

Hostess revived Suzy Q's snack cakes after
fans begged for their return.

Why did Hostess revive Suzy Q's?
Were consumers asking for it?
Mr. Toler: It's probably on our social
channels the most frequently discussed
and often requested item that we've
had from the old company to the new
company. As you see on the boxes, they
say, "She's back... because Rob's been
asking for it" or "Chris demanded
we deliver it." Those are (based on)
actual comments consumers made to
us on social media, so we put them on
the box to make it a little more of that
connected message with our raving
fans who love Suzy Q's.
Is the product the same as before?
Mr. Toler: They're very similar.
They're all about the crème. They're all
about the stickiness. A little fun-messy to
eat. And they're made in a very similar
fashion to how they were made before.
How did the partnership with Mars
come about?
Mr. Toler: We contacted Mars.

Hostess recently partnered with Mars to
launch Hostess Brownies with M&M's and
Milky Way.

What other innovation is in the works
at Hostess?
Mr. Toler: We had a very good
seasonal effort in Valentine's. We did
the heart-shaped Ding Dong cakes.
The "I love you" cakes were a lot
of fun for kids. We've had a good
cupcake craze season, and now we're
kicking off our partner-ship with
our Summer of Twinkies and our
Ghostbusters relationship that will be
touted over the summer.
We think limited-time offers and
seasonal flavors are an important
part of keeping the category fresh.
They give consumers a different
flavor profile to move in and out of
as they rotate across our portfolio,
and we think this category is driven
by impulse, driven by news, driven
by flavor, and those kind of offerings
are important for our innovation and
important for our pipeline.
How does the company identify
popular flavors for limited-edition
products?
Mr. Toler: We look around the
store, we talk to consumers, we talk
to customers. Our innovation process
has multiple inputs. We do
flavor work. We do look at
other categories. Ice cream
is a great category to use
as a benchmark for where
flavor work comes from.
Chocolates and candies
are another place we look.
And we also listen to our
customers. We try to be a
good company that partners
with our customers and
comes up with ideas that they think
are important to drive their category
and their business as well. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com
http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com
Milling & Baking News - June 7, 2016

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