
Little Debbie products are primarily cookie and cake-based dessert snacks. Īs of 2013, McKee ships more than 900 million cartons of Little Debbie products each year. The bankruptcy court approved the purchase on April 9, 2013. It was announced on January 28, 2013, that McKee Foods would pay $27.5 million for Hostess Brands' Drake's brand, which includes Ring Dings, Yodels, and Devil Dogs products. McKee, took over, but retired from day-to-day operations in September 2012 and retains the position of company chairman. In 1991, McKee Baking Company became McKee Foods Corporation.Įllsworth McKee, the son of company-founder O.D. McKee Baking Company moved to Collegedale in 1957. They decided to buy back the bakery, which was renamed McKee Baking Company from King's Bakery in 1962, and run it themselves. They moved back to Chattanooga in the early 1950s when Cecil King, Ruth's brother, was in poor health and needed help. After some time, they sold the Charlotte plant. The McKees moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, into a new bakery designed by O.D. decided to sell his business and start over.

His father-in-law, however, did not share his ideas. The bakery did well for a few years, but O.D.

Wanting to expand, he bought a small bakery, Jack's Cookie Company. Oather started out selling cakes from his 1928 Whippet in the Chattanooga area. The company was founded during the Great Depression by Oather "O.D." McKee and Ruth McKee. The company also formerly operated Heartland Brands. The corporation is the maker of Drake's Cakes, Fieldstone Bakery snacks and cereal, Little Debbie snacks, and Sunbelt Bakery granola and cereal. McKee Foods Corporation is a privately held and family-owned American snack food and granola manufacturer headquartered in Collegedale, Tennessee.
