It has been said that to keep up with consumer trends and preferences today is to be falling behind. To succeed in today’s ultra-competitive and high-speed environment, companies need to identify burgeoning trends and find unique ways to deliver on them. This has been central to the successful innovation strategy our Hostess^® brand team has established, and it was key to its most recent success story – Hostess Kazbars^™.  

As with any great innovation, the work to bring Kazbars^™ to life began where the product ends – with extensive work to better understand consumer habits and preferences. 

“We spent a few years going through dedicated intelligence gathering where we spent time with consumers to better understand their snacking preferences within reality of their daily lives,” said Clare Reynolds, Director of Innovation, for the Hostess brand. “We wanted to understand what consumers looked for at different times of day, what was most important to them as they made their snacking selections and how they prioritized those options.”  

The team had many interesting learnings from these sessions. Notably that the increasing desire for multi-sensorial snacking continued. Many consumers have developed more sophisticated palettes with the huge variety of options available to them today and with this they seek snacks that offer something unique – from distinct flavors to multiple layers and textures.   

With these insights, the team turned to the functionality aspect of snacking preferences and learned that portability and the ability to eat with one hand was an important consideration, especially among its convenience store consumers – primarily millennial and Gen Z males.  

Armed with this intelligence, the team sought to create a solution that married what the Hostess brand does best – delivering delicious soft cake and creamy filling – with the textures, flavors and convenient form of the candy bar.   

The result was more than a delectable treat, it’s a unique snacking experience. One that is thoughtfully constructed with six layers in total – two layers of airy cake separated by creamy filling, caramel or fudge and a sweet crunch, all wrapped in a chocolatey coating. 

While our team knew the multi-texture format brought joy to consumers, the secret to the success of Kazbars is in the creation. What they learned through the development process was that it was essential the different layers were perfectly in balance.  

The combination of the crème filling and caramel or fudgy layer brings a fantastic smooth texture.  That soft creaminess is balanced out by the structure of the light, fluffy cake. Finally, the crunch brings an unexpected and complementary texture at the end of each bite.  

But the amount of crunch has to be just right. Our team realized that too much crunch overpowered the creamy layers.  However, without a sufficient amount of crunch the desired experience and multi-textural presentation wouldn’t be as pronounced.  In addition, the team had to ensure that the crunch element perfectly complemented the cake to maintain the consistency and integrity of each layer.  

In short, it certainly wasn’t easy. But the final creation is a perfect reflection of what makes the Hostess brand so special. Kazbars is a delicious, high-quality baked snack that reflects the diligence and thoughtfulness the team puts into delivering for every consumer with every product. Oh, and it just happens to be absolutely delicious.  

The initial intelligence the team gathered pointed to a great opportunity with the convenience store consumers who already regularly turn to the Hostess brand. However, in testing the product, the team identified a pleasant surprise: Millennial parents also showed love for Kazbars^™.  

“Product testing was very strong and one interesting lesson we learned was that there was an opportunity for Kazbars to deliver for the whole family,” said Reynolds. “The millennial parents we engaged loved the taste and unique format, but desired something slightly smaller for greater ease, convenience and lighter snacking for the whole family.”  

The result was the launch of both a full-size Kazbars^™ for convenience stores and a multipack of eight mini bars for grocery, dollar and mass stores. 

Once the concept was finalized the cross-functional team got to work to prepare the products, which required a review of its current manufacturing capabilities.  

“Kazbars is a baked product and we first and foremost wanted to ensure we were delivering the high-quality consumers expect from Hostess,” said Talia Merriman, Senior Food Scientist, for the Hostess brand. “We then needed to develop a plan to build this product by creating each distinct layer. In addition, with the full size and mini offerings, we had to establish a process that allowed us to efficiently deliver on both size formats.”  

As with every aspect of the Kazbars launch, the cross-functional team collaborated to ensure success. This included leveraging its current process and technology while integrating new engineering and equipment.  

“It’s honestly pretty incredible when we think back of how quickly we were able to get Kazbars to market but what makes us proudest is how we have established a seamless workflow to deliver this great product to our customers and consumers efficiently and effectively with consistent delicious quality in every bite,” said Merriman.   

Even before Kazbars hit store shelves there was an established fan base: our retail customers.  

“Customers were really intrigued by the idea and then once they tried Kazbars they got very excited,” said Aundrea Graver, Brand Director for Hostess. “They saw it as something truly unique and a product that would create new opportunities to deliver for their shoppers.” 

The result was exceptionally strong distribution at launch with Kazbars available at retailers across the country. And, once consumers got their hands on the new product, they fell in love.  

In fact, of all new items in the sweet baked goods category last year, the Chocolate Caramel Kazbars^™ multi-pack had the highest consumer trial. In addition, the brand saw an exceptionally high repeat rate. And, the innovation was recognized by CStore Decisions as the Gold winner in the Sweet Snacks & Desserts category in the 2023 Hot New Products Awards. 

“It’s not hyperbole to say that Kazbars is the most complex Hostess product we have ever created given the level of detail and diligence that went into the development, and it was only possible because of the unwavering belief of the cross-functional team spanning across our organization who worked tirelessly to bring Kazbars to market,” said Graver. 

So, with the success to date, what’s next for Kazbars? 

“We see Kazbars as a proven platform. It’s an exciting format that offers tremendous opportunity for continued development. Our teams are already working to reimagine how we can deliver Kazbars while maintaining the great format fans love,” said Graver. 

“We are so excited about where Kazbars can go from here and can’t wait to deliver even more ways to bring carefree joy to consumers.”