Sweet baked goods point-of-sale led by the Hostess brand posted its second consecutive quarter of more than 20% growth, said Andrew Callahan, president and CEO of Lenexa, Kan.-based Hostess.
Snacking was a big reason why.
“Our focus on large, growing snacking occasions and investments in innovation and marketing continue to drive the category and enable us to capture greater market share,” Callahan said.
Hostess’ Baby Bundts, targeted at the sweet start occasion, continued to be a standout innovation in the sweet baked goods category, as lemon and cinnamon Baby Bundts are the No. 1 and No. 3 (stock-keeping units) across all multipack in innovation sales over the last 52 weeks, he added.
And those aren’t the only snack items performing well for Hostess.
“Recently we launched Boost, our Jumbo Donette innovation with the caffeine equivalent of a cup of coffee in each donut,” Callahan said. “It’s garnered over 1 billion consumer impressions in just a few weeks, enabling it to gain rapid penetration with on-the-go consumers.”
Continuing the momentum, Hostess’ next big snack innovation, Bouncers, will hit the market in late summer, providing consumers with a smaller, single-serving poppable version of the company’s iconic Twinkies, Ding Dong and Donettes brands.
“Bouncers are designed specifically to bring incremental consumers to our brands, particularly millennial parents by targeting the lunchbox occasion and making it easier for kids to enjoy our iconic snacks.”
Momentum also continued in another popular snack category, Voortman cookies, where point-of-sale increased 29% in the quarter, well above the 9.5% growth of the overall cookie category.
Hostess’ single-serve and multipack point-of-sale each increased by more than 20% during the quarter with two-year stacked growth of 32% and 34%, respectively, Callahan said.