Hostess Twinkies Will Return to Stores Shelves on July 15
Posted on June 30, 2013
At last, our long national nightmare is over. Twinkies will return to grocery store shelves this summer. Well, maybe not in NYC, if Mayor Bloomberg has his way but they should be available everywhere else.
Twinkies vanished from store shelves last year when Hostess Brands Inc. liquidated after filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Hostess Brands was then bought by a two private equity firms - Apollo Global Management (APO) and Metropoulos & Co. (see the CNN Business report).
Dean Metropoulos, the founder of Metropoulos & Co. had this to say about the acquisition: "Our family is thrilled to have the opportunity to reestablish these iconic brands with new creative marketing ideas and renewed sales efforts and investment. We look forward to having America's favorite snacks back on the shelf by this summer. We are also ecstatic to bring jobs back to many cities across the country."
The two firms are paying $410 million for Hostess. The deal has already been approved by the bankruptcy court overseeing Hostess' case. Metropoulos currently owns Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. The firm has experience turning around food brands. It purchased PAM cooking spray, Bumble Bee seafood and Gulden's Mustard, turned them around and sold them all to ConAgra Foods. Metropoulos has not said where the Twinkies will be manufactured or when they might start hiring.
Update: We now have an official date. Hostess Twinkies will return to store shelves on July 15. The company has launched an online timer counting down every second until the popular snack cakes return.
Update: And now Twinkies are back in stores!