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Hostess
Note: Some products had multiple discontinuation periods or regional variations in availability dates.
Discontinued: Early 1980s
Imagine you’re a kid in the 1970s, and your lunch box contains pure gold wrapped in foil.
Big Wheels weren’t just snacks—they were an experience. Each individually wrapped chocolate cake round came with a memorable “orangy” flavor that made them superior to their Ding Dong cousins. The bright yellow boxes featured Chief Big Wheels, a Native American mascot, and cut-out baseball cards on the back.
Kids loved to collect them. The tragedy? Hostess quietly replaced them with regular Ding Dongs, claiming they were “the same product.” Anyone who tasted both knew better.
Discontinued: Late 1990s (with multiple comeback attempts)
The holy grail of discontinued snacks.
What happens when you take America’s most iconic snack cake and coat it in chocolate? You create something amazing. Chocodiles were basically chocolate-covered Twinkies, but that simple description doesn’t capture their cultural impact.
By the 1990s, they were West Coast exclusives—making the snacks more sought after. When Hostess filed for bankruptcy in 2012, desperate fans paid premium pricing just to get their hands on a single Chocodile.
The mascot Chauncey Chocodile appeared at state fairs, but even he couldn’t save this treat from distribution Hades.
Discontinued: 2013
Two lives, same wild spirit.
The original Tiger Tails debuted in 1966 for just 29¢. These were golden Twinkies striped with raspberry jelly and sprinkled with coconut. The snacks were discontinued, then roared back in 1986 when folks couldn’t get enough of tropical flavors.
The raspberry-coconut combination transported you somewhere exotic, even if you were eating lunch in a school cafeteria.
When Hostess attempted a 2020 revival during the “Tiger King” hype, they committed the ultimate sin: keeping only the name. No stripes, no coconut, no soul—just orange cream and tiger-print packaging.
Discontinued: Early 1990s
Hostess’s first all-chocolate treat.
Released in 1986, Choco-Bliss was layers of devil’s food cake, chocolate crème, and chocolate icing. It was made for chocoholics and became a bestseller by 1988. They even tested a mint version in 1987.
Then it vanished forever.
Discontinued: Mid-2000s
The chocolate chip Twinkie that almost was.
Launched in 1999 as Hostess’s first new snack cake in three decades, Leopards were engineering marvels. The company built special machines to embed soft chocolate chips into yellow sponge cake without crushing them.
Targeted at kids, they were Twinkies with personality—spotted, playful, and delicious.
Apparently, Hostess executives didn’t share that enthusiasm and axed them for unknown reasons.
Discontinued: 1987
The pie that changed everything—briefly.
In 1986, Hostess broke their own mold. Instead of fruit filling, they created chocolate-iced pies stuffed with actual pudding. Chocolate or vanilla. The filling was so generous that kids would chew the end off and scoop the pudding out with a spoon.
TV commercials featured young Joey Lawrence, and taste tests showed they rivaled Hunt’s Snack Packs as lunchtime favorites.
One year later? Gone.
Discontinued: 1991
The greatest crossover in snack history.
When the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ruled pop culture, Hostess seized the moment. These bright green pies filled with vanilla “mutagen goo” were marketed as “fresh from the sewers.” Kids couldn’t get enough of them.
Each package featured different turtle designs, collectible stickers, and trading cards. Kids could mail in “pudding points” for decoder cards, belt buckles, and other turtle gear.
Limited to just one year, they achieved legendary status. They even appeared in a 2023 “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” episode.
Discontinued: 1992
The health food failure that became a cautionary tale.
During the low-fat craze of 1991, Hostess launched 97% fat-free, zero-cholesterol chocolate cakes shaped like bear bites. Complete with mascot “Grizzly B,” they were marketed as “wholesome treats.”
The problem? They tasted terrible.
People remember them as dense, dry, and flavorless.
Discontinued: 2012
The donut that did the impossible.
Launched in 1973 as Hostess O’s, these powdered donuts promised “filling in every bite.” Sold in six-packs for 75¢, they delivered on that promise with raspberry jelly throughout.
Later renamed to the more boring “Raspberry Filled Donuts,” they appeared in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and became breakfast staples for decades.
They survived until Hostess’s 2012 bankruptcy.
Discontinued: 2017
The breakfast survivor that couldn’t survive the times.
Sweet Rolls were Hostess old-timers, dating back to the 1940s. These sticky, white-coated pastries came in flavors like cinnamon, cherry, raspberry, and apple—some even shaped like butterflies.
For decades, they were the “warm” option in the Hostess lineup, perfect for breakfast or late-night munchies.
When they quietly disappeared, Hostess faced years of customer inquiries before finally admitting on Twitter in 2017 that they were officially discontinued.
Discontinued: Multiple times (2012, 2020; returned 2025)
The comeback kid of discontinued snacks.
Named after a Continental Baking executive’s daughter in 1961, Suzy Q’s were oblong chocolate cakes filled with white cream—basically whoopie pies in snack cake form.
They’ve been discontinued multiple times, but have recently come back again. Grab some now before they are pulled from the shelves again.
Discontinued: 2019
An experiment was too good to last.
In 2018, Hostess tried going upscale with Bakery Petites—higher quality ingredients, no artificial flavors or colors, no high fructose corn syrup. The Double Chocolate Cake Delights even won “Best in Show” at the Sweet & Snacks Expo.
Success seemed guaranteed.
But then Hostess randomly gave up on this premium treat.
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