Twinkie Back

Should the Newly Revived Hostess Brand Go the Way of the Cronut?

It's almost time to wake up and get back to work, Twinkie the Kid.
It’s almost time to wake up and get back to work, Twinkie the Kid. Photo: Courtesy of Hostess Bran

Hostess closed and Twinkies went out of production in November. Winter came along, cronuts were invented, and now, following that $410 million sale of Hostess’s most crucial snack-cake brands to Apollo Global Management back in March, the Twinkie-making machines at the Dolly Madison Bakery in Columbus, Georgia, are about to get a tune-up and get put back into commission. These are the first signs of life for the revived company. The thing is, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports, it’s unclear what will roll off the production line first.

Hostess Brands LLC spokesman Michael Cramer says production will commence next month. “You’ve got to run and test product and train (workers) and all of that stuff,” he tells the paper. “That would be the normal and natural thing to do is test your product and make sure the lines are running. We’ve been engaged in that process for a couple of months.”

Cramer won’t say if Twinkies will return to store shelves first, or Ding Dongs, or perhaps Zingers. If it’s not too late, perhaps its time for the resuscitated brand to pull a Dominique Ansel and make a hybrid of all three. It would be chocolate-snack-cake-based, layered with frosting, filled with cream, and called a Twinzinkiedong, of course.

New Hostess owner prepares to resume snack cake production in Columbus [Columbus Ledger-Enquirer]
Earlier: Twinkies to Return in July, But With Some Stiff Competition
Related: Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and HoHos Spared by Maker of Pabst Blue Ribbon [Update: They’ll Be Back By Summer]

Should the Newly Revived Hostess Brand Go the Way of the Cronut?