Smucker’s CEO Said Buying Twinkies ‘Tastes Like Growth.’ Three Years Later, It Tastes Like a $5 Billion Mistake.

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In 2023, Mark Smucker, the CEO of J.M. Smucker, paid $5 billion to acquire Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Donettes. To celebrate, he took the stage at an industry conference and bit into a Twinkie. “Tastes like growth,” he said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Three years later, the Twinkie is giving Smucker heartburn. Snack division sales have declined for six straight quarters, the company has taken nearly $3 billion in impairment charges, and its stock is down 14%.

What went wrong? Smucker’s core products sit on shelves for a year or more. Twinkies last 65 days. That gap created problems with delivery, inventory and spoilage. Smucker also separated grocery and convenience store sales teams even though 40% of Hostess sales run through convenience stores, a channel Smucker barely knew. “It’s just a different route to market,” one analyst told the Wall Street Journal. “I don’t think they were prepared for it.”