For a combined century of innovation and forward-thinking business acumen, Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery has honored Hostess Brands as its 2022 “Bakery of the Year.”
Hostess snacks are packed with yummy flavor and loads of nostalgia. It's not uncommon to have delicious memories in the snack pantries belonging to our parents, grandparents, or even great-grandparents. Hostess Brands tasty treats date back over a century. According to SFWB, the Hostess CupCake, with its signature curly squiggle, debuted in 1919. Twinkies followed in 1930, with a string of snack cake and sweet goods innovations across the decades like...
- Donettes in 1940
- Sno Balls in 1947
- Ding Dongs in 1967
- Ho Hos in 1967
- Zingers in the 1970s
Image Credit
Image Credit
As mentioned above, Hostess introduced its first snack cake - the Hostess Cupcake in 1919. At this time WWI has ended, prohibition was about to begin, and women were ready to vote! The snack cakes were hand-iced and lacked the sugary sweet creme filling as well as the iconic loop-de-loop icing, those additions did not develop until 1947 when D.R. "Doc" Rice redesigned it. They used the machine that filled Twinkies to also fill the cupcakes and added a straight white line of icing on top. Though the line was well received, a couple of weeks later Doc substituted the straight line of icing with the seven loop-de-loops we all know today. He said, "It needed something that would catch the eye and let the buyer know it was quality." He was right, they began selling 25 percent more new cupcakes than the regular straight-line ones, according to UPI.
Since Hostess's revival in 2013, Hostess Brands, Inc, has progressively gained market share through organic category growth and built its business through strategic acquisitions. Now, the company has implemented a range of corporate initiatives related to sustainability, workforce development, and workplace safety, according to SFWB. 
It's innovation, thoughtfulness, and success behind good products, like Hostess that have kept them on the shelves for centuries. Congratulations to our friends at Hostess!
