Wonder moves beyond bread with the launch of snack cakes

Christopher Doering

Tue, Mar 25, 2025, 6:06 AM 2 min read

Wonder, best known for sliced bread, is launching its first major extension in the brand’s 104-year-old history with a move into snack cakes.
Flowers Foods, which owns the iconic Wonder brand, said the new line of donuts, honey buns, cupcakes and cinnamon rolls allows the bakery offering to enter a new section of the grocery store.
Snack cake sales have soared to $1.6 billion in 2023 from $1 billion in 2019, according to Circana data cited by the National Confectioners Association.

Dive Insight:

Few food brands are as synonymous with a single product as Wonder is with bread. Flowers purchased Wonder, Nature’s Pride and three other breads more than a decade ago from then-bankrupt Hostess Brands for $360 million. At the time, Hostess’ cake brands, including Ho Hos, Ding Dongs and Twinkies, were sold to a different entity and today are part of J.M. Smucker.

Wonder’s move into snack cakes replicates some of the offerings Hostess sells today. More importantly, the new line gives Wonder a larger platform with which to grow and expand the brand that has high recognition among shoppers.

Consumers continue to show an interest in snacking and indulgent treats, and the cinnamon rolls, powdered mini donuts, glazed honey buns and creme-filled cupcakes fit squarely within that space.

“For generations, Wonder bread has been a staple in American households,” Ashley Hornsby, director of brand management, said in a statement. “With the launch of our new treats, we’re excited to bring that same sense of nostalgia and joy to a new category, giving consumers a delicious way to enjoy Wonder beyond the bread aisle.”

Flowers already has a presence in snack cakes with its Tastykake and Mrs. Freshley’s brands. The new Wonder offerings will allow the Georgia company to tap into its existing ingredients, innovation, marketing and equipment to make the new snacking products.

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