Smucker Continues Work to Stabilize Hostess While Riding Uncrustables, Coffee Tailwinds

Mark Smucker, CEO, president and chair of the board for The J.M. Smucker Co., opened his company’s presentation to the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) explaining that the bundle of top-end leadership changes made last week were designed to “enhance the profitability and earnings” and was a long-term play.

The move aligns Smucker’s business units under Tucker Marshall and Rob Ferguson, and it supports the strategy to drive the kind of growth that has the company anticipating about $9 billion in net sales for fiscal 2026. This is the seventh straight year of topline growth for the company, excluding sales from the divested pet food co-manufacturing business.

Smucker believes near-term opportunities to expand margin exist in the company’s U.S. retail coffee and sweet baked snacks (Hostess) businesses. In the macro world of the coffee business, Smucker said that green coffee tariff costs have had an impact, but the company expects to lap those costs in fiscal 2026 — and that there seems to have been moderation in green coffee futures. For sweet baked goods, the closure of the Indianapolis plant has been completed, which the company expects to create about $30 million in annual savings.

Digging deeper into each business unit, Smucker said coffee was “a ritual for our consumers,” that 75% of Americans over 18 years old drink coffee, and that at-home coffee occasions represent around 70% of all coffee-drinking occasions in the U.S. That makes the continued growth of its Cafe Bustelo, Folgers and Dunkin brands critical.

Cafe Bustelo is the largest opportunity, he said, having racked up more than $500 million in net sales this fiscal year — a jump of more than $100 million from the year prior. Gen Z and Millennial drinkers are driving strong growth with the brand, and Smucker has launched new roasts and a single-serve cold coffee product under the brand. Smucker has designs on making Cafe Bustelo into a top-4 at-home coffee brand.

This doesn’t mean Folgers and Dunkin are being forgotten. For Folgers, the company has reimagined the legacy “Best part of wakin’ up…” jingle and revised it to get the attention of a wider set of age groups. Meanwhile, Dunkin, which has traditionally focused on light roast varieties for the at-home consumer, is launching new packaging and bolder, dark roast varieties.

Moving on to the company’s Frozen Handhelds and Spreads business, Smucker revealed that Uncrustables continues to fly high, growing to an anticipated $1 billion in net sales for fiscal 2026 and becoming the No. 3 brand across the entire freezer aisle. Uncrustables has expanded to the morning/breakfast daypart and will launch a third, blueberry-flavored variety there this year, and the company continues to push the product in convenience channels.

But the big opportunity for this brand will come in July, when Smucker’s will launch a refrigerated variety of all of its Uncrustables products, which will feature a five-day shelf life and are expected to drive a significant flood of new consumers to the product as well as increased purchasing by current customers.

On the Spreads side of the business, modernization is the mantra currently. Jif has launched a Jif Simply product made with limited ingredients while Smuckers fruit spreads will get a redesigned label for the first time in decades. The company is working to angle consumers toward more usage beyond the traditional PB&J sandwich.

Milk-Bone and Meow Mix anchor the company’s U.S. Retail Pet business, and Smucker believes projected increases in the U.S. pet population, the continued humanization of pets and growth in the e-commerce channel for pet products provide tailwinds the company must ride.

Milk-Bone’s packaging has been undergoing a modernization effort, and the company also will expand the thus-far successful Milk-Bone collaboration with Jif for peanut butter treats, launching Peanut Buttery Cups this year. Meow Mix has significant runway to grow, even though it is the No. 1 dry cat food brand, Smucker said. Gravy Bursts, which was launched in 2025, saw enough success that the company will launch new flavors this year, and there is a lot of opportunity in wet food and treats, where Meow Mix is “significantly underdeveloped,” Smucker said.

Finally, Smucker turned to the Sweet Baked Goods business — aka, the Hostess acquisition. He admitted that, indeed, stabilization of the business has taken longer than expected and was still under way. The shutdown of the Indianapolis plant, along with a 25% reduction of SKUs, were both expected to help matters as they wrapped up. Meanwhile, the company was reducing promotional activity to focus on improving operations, still working to position the business for sustained growth.

The Donettes and Cupcakes product lines were highlighted for their successes and opportunities in the marketplace, and Smucker again reiterated that the stabilization of this business “takes time.”

For fiscal 2026, Smucker expects to maintain its full-year outlook at its third-quarter earnings call next week.