With a focus on sustainable growth, Hostess
Brands reports significant progress in its second Corporate
Responsibility Report
LENEXA,
Kan., May 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hostess
Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWNK) today released its 2022 Corporate
Responsibility Report (CRR) announcing the people, safety and
sustainability strides the company is making to build a socially
responsible, modern-day snacking powerhouse.
"I am proud of our team for placing our environmental,
social and governance commitments at the heart of everything we do.
Our collective progress is a reflection of the hard work, shared
mission, vision and values we prioritize every day," said
Andy Callahan, CEO of Hostess
Brands. "We are seeing our initiatives translate into tangible
benefits for our people, our customers and our planet. While there
is still work to do, we have made significant progress and are
excited to continue building a snacking powerhouse that is grounded
in social responsibility."
Hostess Brands is prioritizing initiatives focused specifically
on the categories of Workplace Health & Safety; Diversity,
Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEI&B); Environmental; and
Governance. Progress highlights include:
- Workplace Health & Safety and DEI&B: Employee
health and safety is a top priority at Hostess Brands. With a
people-first mindset and amid industry-wide labor force challenges,
the company continues to focus on executing operational best
practices.
Hostess Brands' employee training practices are a large part of
this effort and they have resulted in significantly lower injury
and safety incident rates than industry averages as compiled by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Additionally, Hostess Brands has instituted several employee and
culture-enhancing programs designed to attract, develop and retain
a high-quality workforce, including "thank you" bonuses for its
frontline bakery and distribution center employees, roundtable
employee discussions encouraging open and transparent dialogue and
an emphasis on DEI&B programs.
The results of these efforts are seen in its first-ever recognition
by Forbes as a 2021 Top 500 Place to Work for Mid-sized Companies
and a 2021 Top Workplace for Military Veterans.
- Water, Energy and Packaging Lifecycle Management:
Hostess Brands is committed to a focus on conserving water and has
made great strides by reducing water usage by 25% over the last two
years on a per metric ton of product produced basis. Its energy use
also decreased by 14% over the past two years as did its greenhouse
gas emissions by 19%, both on a per metric ton of product produced
basis.
In 2021, Hostess Brands began work on its first-ever Climate Action
Plan to determine next steps to further reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, energy and water usage. The company will finalize this
plan over the next two years.
In addition, Hostess Brands conducted a detailed review of its
packaging to identify opportunities to further reduce its carbon
footprint and has also made strides in its use of recycled
packaging materials year over year.
- Creating a Sustainability-First Bakery: Hostess Brands
purchased a brownfield site in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, in February 2022 and is in the process of converting
an idled factory into a state-of-the-art bakery with a
sustainability-first approach. Using best practices from across
Hostess Brands' bakery network, the facility will become the
company's most sustainable facility to date and an example of one
of many environmentally conscious capital expenditure decisions the
company has made. The bakery is expected to be operational in the
second half of 2023.
- Governance: Since 2016, Hostess Brands has assembled a
diverse and independent board. Sixty-seven percent of board members
currently self-identify as being from diverse backgrounds.
The board oversees Hostess Brands' ESG initiatives and the company
has put a system in place that links compensation incentives for
executive team members to corporate responsibility goals to ensure
they are embedded at every level of company decision-making.
"Hostess Brands is driven to continue its growth trajectory
while keeping ESG commitments front and center in the hearts and
minds of our employees," said Jerry
Kaminski, chairman of the Board of Directors. "By dedicating
Hostess Brands to sustainable growth, we are furthering the
company's vision to help people celebrate the 'everyday' by
creating moments of joy in the communities in which we do
business."
Hostess Brands' second-annual CRR can be viewed in full,
here.
About Hostess Brands, Inc.
Hostess Brands, Inc.
(NASDAQ: TWNK) is a leading sweet snacks company focused on
developing, manufacturing, marketing, selling and distributing
products in North America under the
Hostess® and Voortman® brands. The
company produces a variety of new and classic treats, including
iconic Hostess® Donettes®,
Twinkies®, CupCakes, Ding Dongs® and
Zingers®, as well as a variety of
Voortman® cookies and wafers. For more information
about Hostess Brands, please visit hostessbrands.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains
statements reflecting our views about the future performance of the
company that constitute "forward-looking statements" that involve
substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are
generally identified through the inclusion of words such as
"believes," "expects," "intends," "estimates," "projects,"
"anticipates," "will," "plan," "may," "should" or similar language.
Statements addressing our future operating performance and
statements addressing events and developments that we expect or
anticipate will occur are also considered forward-looking
statements. All forward-looking statements included herein are made
only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to update
any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and
uncertainties, the company's actual results or performance may be
materially different from those expressed or implied by these
forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties are identified
and discussed in Item 1A-Risk Factors in the company's annual
report on Form 10-K for 2021 filed on March 1, 2022. All
subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable
to us or persons acting on the company's behalf are expressly
qualified in their entirety by these risk factors.
Investor contact
Amit
Sharma
816-701-4662
asharma@hostessbrands.com
Media contact
Carly
Schesel
612-375-8590
carly.schesel@clynch.com
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SOURCE Hostess Brands