With an announced focus on growing the Hostess brand of sweet snacks, parent company JM Smucker says it has reached a “definitive” agreement to divest several other brands.
Smucker says it will divest Cloverhill and Big Texas packaged pastry brands, as well as several private labels, to JTM Foods as part of a $40 million all-cash transaction. The deal is subject to a working capital adjustment and means the transition of 400 employees from business to business.
Smucker says the affected brands generated net sales of about $30 million for the fiscal year that ended April 30, 2024, with a full-year net sales amount expected to be around double that total.
Smucker says the this step “reflects our continued commitment to portfolio optimization” as part of ongoing work to grow the Hostess brand and “advance out leadership in the sweet baked goods category.”
How this impacts the Emporia Hostess facility is to be determined, but the production plant on Industrial Road has been a focal point of company plans for years after one prior management group declared bankruptcy in 2012. C Dean Metropolous and Apollo Global then bought Hostess in 2013, sparking a revival and numerous plant improvements. The plant now makes regular and specialty Twinkies, CupCakes and other treats. Smucker purchased Hostess for over $5 billion in September 2023.
