NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Twinkies, the iconic snack food whose producer went out of business last year, is due to return to store shelves on July 15.
The announcement was made by Daren Metropoulos, principal of Metropoulos & Co., one of the two companies that bought the rights to Twinkies and other snack brands from the bankrupt Hostess Brands earlier this year.
The new Twinkies box will look very similar to the old one, with the addition of the line “The sweetest comeback in the history of ever.”
“America wanted Hostess back — they wanted the original,” said Metropoulos.
The new company will sell all of the Hostess and Dolly Madison snack products. Other companies bought the bread brands, including Wonder Bread, from the bankrupt Hostess. Details of the return of those products have yet to be announced.
Wonder Bread, Twinkies and other Hostess products have not been produced since November, when Hostess Brands Inc. filed with the bankruptcy court to liquidate its 82-year old business following a crippling strike by the Bakery Workers union.
But while that company is out of business, and most of its 18,500 employees have lost their jobs, the bankruptcy court has been overseeing an auction of its various brands as part of the liquidation process.
The new snack company, Hostess Brands LLC, was purchased for $410 million by private equity groups Apollo Group and Metropoulos & Co. It also bought five of the closed bakeries as part of their bid.
Metropoulos’ other food holdings include Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, and in the past have included Chef Boyardee canned pasta, Bumble Bee seafood, PAM cooking spray and Gulden’s Mustard, all of which it eventually sold to ConAgra Foods Inc.
