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Smucker Divests Two Former Hostess Businesses for $40 Million

Feb. 3, 2025
Cloverhill, Big Texas brands, as well as some private-label business, will be purchased by JTM Foods, the latest move by Smucker to focus its sweet baked goods business directly on growing the Hostess brand.

The J.M. Smucker Co. reached an agreement to sell its Cloverhill and Big Texas brands, and some of its private-label products, to JTM Foods LLC, for approximately $40 million.

The deal includes the company’s manufacturing facility in Chicago, as well as some 400 employees who will move to JTM Foods along with the business. The two brands came over to Smucker in the Hostess Brands acquisition in November 2023 — Cloverhill is a pastries brand, while Big Texas produces cinnamon rolls — and are the latest to be trimmed from the former Hostess business, following the sale of the Voortman brand, which was sold in December 2024.

Cloverhill and Big Texas were acquired by Hostess in 2018 from Aryzta LLC (Aryzta North America was sold to private equity in early 2021, then renamed Aspire Bakeries in May 2021).

Dan O’Leary, senior vice president and general manager, Sweet Baked Snacks and Pet, for Smucker, said the move follows along with the company’s commitment to optimize its portfolio and strategy in sweet baked snacks to focus on growing the Hostess brand.

According to the release from Smucker, the brands and private-label businesses sold generated net sales of about $30 million for the fiscal year that ended last April (Apr. 30, 2024) — a partial year of net sales reported in the Sweet Baked Snack segment given the acquisition of that business happening on Nov. 7, 2023. The company anticipates full-year net sales for that group’s fiscal 2025 to be approximately $60 million.

The transaction is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year, which ends April 30, 2025.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.

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