MEDIA

For Immediate Release

FOUR HEARTY NEW VARIETIES OF BAKER’S INN ™ BREAD DEBUT IN STORES

New Brand of Super Premium Bread Called a Top 10 “Brand to Watch” After Highly Successful Launch in 2004

Four new hearty varieties of Baker’s Inn ™ bread have begun debuting in retail stores, following the highly successful launch of the super premium brand last year, according to Bob Morgan, executive vice president of sales and trade marketing at Hostess Brands.

Nine Grain, Stone Ground Whole Wheat with Extra Fiber, Crunchy Honey Oat, and Cinnamon Wheat join initial varieties 100% Whole Wheat, Honey Whole Wheat, Harvest MultiGrain, Raisin Wheat, Seven Grain, Honey White and Hearty Potato with Grain to give consumers 11 wholesome choices to chew on.

With outstanding consumer feedback and strong sales, Baker’s Inn was named a top 10 “brand to watch” by Information Resources, Inc. in its recent “New Product Pacesetters” report. To qualify as a pacesetter, brands must achieve a certain sales threshold in the food, drug and mass channels (excluding Wal-Mart) in their first year. Less than one quarter of new brands or brand extensions introduced in 2003-2004 reached that threshold, according to IRI.

“The impressive debut of Baker’s Inn reflects consumers’ general interest in healthy eating as well as the specific aspects of our product, including great taste and corner bakery-style packaging, that have made it an absolute stand-out in a competitive category,” said Morgan. “What’s particularly gratifying, however, is that Baker’s Inn has achieved this level of success as an entirely new brand. Nearly all of the other ‘pacesetters’ recognized by IRI are brand extensions.”

Hostess Brands is the nation’s largest wholesale baker and distributor of fresh baked bread and sweet goods, under various brand names, including Wonder®, Hostess®, Dolly Madison®, Baker’s Inn®, Home Pride®, Merita® and Drake’s®.

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