Good news for Drake's cakes fans. The iconic creamy snack is making a big comeback, since the bankruptcy and breakup of Hostess.
Drake's Cakes posted on its Facebook Page that their treats will start their triumphant return to stores beginning Monday.
McKee Foods Crop., which acquired Drake's from Hostess Brands after the company went out of business last year, announced Thursday that Drake's most popular treats, Devil Dogs, Coffee Cakes, Ring Dings and Yodels, were returning to the grocery and convenience store in the Northeast.
"The launch of these top four varieties is just the beginning for Drake's," Chris McKee, executive vice president of marketing and sales for the bakery said in a release. "Our first mission is to get the most popular and familiar tastes back into the pantries and lunch boxes of Drake's loyal fans."
Collegedale, Tennessee-based McKee Foods best known for its Little Debbie snack cakes, paid $27.5 million for Drake's brands including Devil Dogs, Rings Dings, Yodels, Yankee Doodles, Sunny Doodles, Funny Bones and Drake's Coffee Cake earlier this year along with the equipment to make them from a former Hostess factory in New Jersey.
According to Food Navigator USA, the biggest challenge for the company has been ensuring the products taste exactly as fans remembered them.
"By the time we got hold of the reports in April, there weren't any precuts [on the market] to compare to, so from an R&D perspective, we had to start from scratch," said director Mike Gloekler, told Food Navigator USA. "We had to test our products with Drake's loyalists and fine tune recipes right down to how much of the cream filling from Devil Dogs people expect to get on the inside of the wrapper."
A product locator will be available Wednesday on the company's website for those looking to get their hands on the treats.
Twinkies have been back in stores since July after Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co. purchased Twinkies and other snack brands from Hostess. The reintroduction of Drake's cakes by McKee, which also owns Little Debbie, is seen as a welcome move by fans.
"Please sell in Georgia! I grew up in NJ and NY on Yankee Doodles and Devil Dogs!!" wrote one one person on the Drake's Cake Facebok page.
Another posted, "Anticipation...what more can I say?"
Drake's Cakes arrival will be followed by several other Drake's products in the coming days including Honey Buns, Blueberry Muffins, Banana Nut Muffins and Danish Pastries.
