By Garland Pollard
Not mad happy. But mad furious.
There is no defense for what Interstate Brands, the parent company of Merita, has done to Merita Sweet Sixteen. A very wonderful person in our house brought back a bag of Sweet Sixteen doughnuts. They are now Hostess Sweet Sixteen.
Anyone from the South knows Merita Sweet Sixteen doughnuts. Why are they so good? The first reason they are so good is that they are so good. There are also 16 in a package, so there are lots. They are white doughnuts, and are so tasty you might want to sit down and eat half the bag, which is what I did after photographing them for this article. You can see it is almost empty.
So, what’s wrong. LOOK ON THE LABEL. The Merita is gone. Gone. Kaput. Sayonara. The Merita has been replaced by Hostess. We don’t know if this is everywhere, or just Florida, but we are watching.
First, there is nothing wrong with the Hostess brand. It is a great brand, and associated with all sorts of goodness, including the Twinkie and the Hostess Cupcake. (We like Hostess Cupcakes better than Twinkies, by the way.)
Anyway, sometime recently, the Merita brand disappeared from the package, and now we have to eat Hostess Sweet Sixteen. Not as good.
There is another thing wrong with the package. The old package had a sort of teen dance party going on with the label. Get it? There were 16 doughnuts, and they were for a Sweet Sixteen birthday party. How innocent. How 1963!
We think, but cannot be sure, that Merita Sweet Sixteen was even featured in Spy magazine back in the 1980s in a feature called Unwittingly Hip. A few years ago they updated the teen dance party and made it more modern. That was a big waste-o-time, but since we didn’t have this website to write about it, we didn’t do anything.
Recently, the company filed amended plans to get out of bankruptcy, and we sure hope they can. Life without Sweet Sixteen would be awful. But it sure would be better if it were Merita Sweet Sixteen and not Hostess Sweet Sixteen.
27 responses so far ↓
1 T. Spivey // Nov 14, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Florida is not the only state suffering from the loss of Merita Sweet Sixteen doughnuts. We noticed the change here in North Carolina a few months ago. The worst part about the change is not the name, but the taste. The new doughnuts have a distinctively different taste and they have lost my business
2 admin // Nov 15, 2008 at 7:05 am
I agree, and hadn’t noticed it at first. But they did stick together, and were larger. Hostess also sold doughnuts, but they were in a box, six at a time, as I recall.
3 WootenNC // Nov 28, 2008 at 12:39 am
I was also really bothered by this. I know it’s stupid on my part but the change in packaging actually caused me to pass them up quite a few times, just because I was looking for the Merita label. I always just saw “Hostess” and figured ok, nobody’s selling Sweet 16′s anymore. Turns out they’re under the Hostess name now, of which I’m already not real crazy about, and they also have that new Hostess taste.. again, not crazy about it. Merita Sweet 16′s have been a staple of my Sunday morning routine ever since I can remember… my dad going to the IGA and bringing a bag back before church, sometimes taking me with him as long as he could trust me not to eat half the bag before we got back home.
Unfortunately all good things must come to an end it seems.
4 Hawes Spencer // Nov 28, 2008 at 11:06 pm
When I was in college in Texas in 1986, I recall a female friend supplied some Sweet Sixteen donuts for a party, and she remarked that one of the coolest things about them was that packaging which had these cool 1960s-era images of sock-hop kids listening to records and such. Well, to our horror, just a year or two later, the folks at Merita decided to update the package. Did they choose New Wave people, as might have been appropriate for the mid-1980s? No, they suddenly evicted the clip art of Eisenhower/Kennedy era fun-lovers for a bunch of cheesed-up groovers from the Carter administration. Giant mop heads and bell-bottoms replaced page-boy hairdos and neat pants and skirts. I had been under the mistaken impression that Merita really liked the Eisenhower/Kennedy era fashions. Now, I realized, the company marketing department simply was run by folks who were 20 years behind the times. It was so disheartening that I just can’t weep now about anything that followed– including the switch to no images.
5 Erik // Jan 30, 2009 at 3:31 pm
While it’s somewhat comforting to see I wasn’t alone in my dismay and disappointment, it was troubling to find the confirmation here that my Merita Sweet Sixteen have passed on.
However …
Just over the past few weeks the local Publix has begun to stock not only the Hostess but also “Blue Bird Bakeries Powdered donuts”. It’s a 10 oz. bag, red and blue, same size as the Merita and the donuts … ARE the MERITAS!!!
They’re GREAT!
We’re in Fort Myers and Publix so far is the only place I’ve found ‘em. The convenience stores and Sweetbay have all switched to Hostess. But you can pick-up two bags of the Blue Bird/Merita-esque for $3.00!
Hopefully that price isn’t indicative of a push to clear out stock. The web-address on the bag is http://www.bluebirdcake.com, which simply redirects to Flowers Food, but their brand page shows “Blue Bird” with a “coming soon” site.
Find ‘em, they’re great!
6 Merita // Feb 21, 2009 at 8:41 am
OMG i didn’t know there was a brand nammed Merita, that’s soo cool! Obviously (if u looked at the name box thing) my name is Merita
D i wanna buy these donuts now…whereever they sell them lol
7 Merita // Feb 21, 2009 at 8:45 am
OMG this is so cool i never knew there was a brand with my name on it
D but now it’s gone…great.
8 Linda // Mar 26, 2009 at 7:12 am
Look at the package again. Now Sweet “Sixteen” only has 15 donuts in it. Also, with the serving size of 3 and “about 6″ servings per bag, there should be 18 donuts per bag. Hostess needs to decide what it is really selling! Be truthful. . . I don’t like the deception.
9 Bunny // Apr 7, 2009 at 12:48 pm
I’m so disappointed that the best powdered sugar donut on the face of the earth is no longer available. I’m in my 40′s and have enjoyed these delicious little donuts as far back as I can remember. How excited my sister and I would be when my parents would bring home a bag of Sweet Sixteens! We didn’t have a lot in those days, and those soft, fluffy, light little donuts were such a special treat!
With the ever-changing world we live in, a little continuity is nice — something you can count on from generation to generation. I feel like another little connection to childhood and family (and continuity of *my* universe) has been erased.
:::sigh::: I know it’s just a donut, but, hey…I’m still mourning the loss of my beloved Chef Boyardee Sausage Pizza Kit, too (remember when the cheese pizza kit was in a yellow box; the pepperoni kit was in a green box; and the super delicious sausage kit was in a red box?).
The first time I bought the Hostess SS donuts was about two months ago. I couldn’t find the familiar Merita packaging and happened to notice the new Hostess pkg. My heart sank right then and there, but I thought maybe it was the same product with only a new brand name. Okay, so maybe the first bag wasn’t fresh or something…so I tried a second bag recently. Blech. Booooooohissssssss!
You know, if Hostess is going to use the SS name, they have an obligation to produce a product worthy thereof — it’s trickery to use the name, but not the recipe/process that made Merita Sweet Sixteen so beloved for all these years! Their version of Sweet Sixteen is far inferior. Has that “off” taste that all the other packaged donuts (EXCEPT for Merita Sweet Sixteen) have always had. Heavier, cakier, with a flavor that screams, “I’m a packaged cake product…what did you expect?”
Hey, Erik, thanks for the tip about the Bluebird brand — I’ve seen it here in NC but haven’t ever tried it. Thanks to you, I will, though!
10 Bunny Misses Her Sweet Sixteen | // Apr 7, 2009 at 7:47 pm
[...] as I can remember. How excited my sister and I would be when my parents would bring home a bag of Merita Sweet Sixteens! We didn’t have a lot in those days, and those soft, fluffy, light little donuts were such a [...]
11 Loving Walgreens in Orlando Florida USA | janetong.com - Sharing with you my Travelling Experiences, World Souvenirs such as Fridge Magnets, Dolls & many others.....& my Greatest Love of All.....Delicious Yummy Food!! Enjoy! // May 20, 2009 at 3:02 am
[...] And of course I start counting the Donuts first upon opening the Pack & YES, there’re 16 of them that’s why it’s called Sweet Sixteen!! [...]
12 nancy // Aug 7, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I can’t believe that all of you remember Sweet Sixteen. I live in South Jersey now and no one seems to know what I’m talking about but I grew up on Long Island, NY.
At my house we had 2 treats a week a box of Scooter Pies and a sack of Sweet Sixteens. I was so intrigued at the packaging when I was a little girl I wanted to dance to those records and wear capri pants like the Barbiesque girl on the bag and just when I thought that was the greatest thing about them I looked in that cellophane window and saw those delicious donuts.
The powdered sugar would stick to the roof of your mouth and your lips would look like white lipstick. What a great memory!
13 jennifer // Mar 20, 2010 at 4:52 pm
when i was a kid in florida i remember getting the sweet sixteen donuts all the time!! they were by far my favorite! but since i moved to montana back in 1998, i have had to eat other brands of donuts including in the last few years, the hostess brand of donuts. i DO NOT like the taste of these donuts AT ALL, and was longing to find out if you could get the sweet 16 donuts anywhere around here..apparently not. i am sorely disappointed in the taste and quality of the hostess brand donuts and wish that the merita sweet 16 donuts would come back again…you can never correct a PERFECT thing and the meritas were the perfect thing!
PLEASE COME BACK AND COME TO MONTANA!!!!
14 judy // Apr 13, 2010 at 6:32 pm
oh, here in chattanooga, too. bad. they are stale all the time. i love merita everything. why oh why merita???
15 erin // Dec 10, 2010 at 2:03 pm
I knew right away that something had changed – I was a little suspicious of the package which looked different but I had not realized that original Sweet 16s were a Merita brand. My daughter said she thought I was crazy when I threw my partially eaten bite of the donut away and sat down at the computer to do some research. This is a REAL shame. I am so disappointed. I was hoping that these were just a competitor’s (like Entenmann’s)lame attempt to copy a legend. These new imitations are awful. Seconding Bunny’s blech. So glad there is still hope in the BlueBird version. Thanks Erik! We will be on a quest to find them.
16 Renee // Jan 24, 2011 at 6:28 pm
I am little behind the rest of you, but just as annoyed. I recongized the Sweet Sixteen logo, but couldnt fathom why it was on a Hostess brand bag…well until now. They just do not taste the same, and I will now be on the look out for the BlueBird brand here in Charleston,SC also.
17 Tina // Mar 18, 2011 at 9:03 am
I grew up in Florida and now live in Maine. I grew up with Sweet Sixteen donuts and love them. Everytime I go back home to visit, my family buys a couple of bags of them. On my recent trip last week, we got bags of the donuts but I noticed they weren’y Merita anymore. The hostess brand of the sweet sixteen taste great to me, but here in Maine the hostess brand is way different and they don’t sell the Sweet Sixteen’s here. I want to buy them online but don’t know how?
18 Tiffany // Aug 14, 2011 at 6:01 am
We Been Buying the Sweet Sixteen donuts(Hostess) and they have been Nasty and Melted the Powdered and Choc. and My Kids eat them but the last 3times they have not eat them bc of this and it makes me ever upset bc Sweet Sixteen use to be my favorite while i was pregnant 2yrs ago I could eat a whole bag by myself but i can’t even eat 1 right now:( Im upset and something needs to happen….
19 chris // Feb 8, 2012 at 8:51 pm
im glad everybody on this blog is as outragged as I am hostess shit , i grow up on merita , then one day it was gone , no white bag with dancing people, no orange with oval with white lettering, no charm, no nostalgia, just this abomination they call hostess sweet sixteen, they better be playing a fucking joke like coke and bring the old thing back
20 Belle // Apr 17, 2012 at 5:58 pm
These donuts are awful. Glad I’m not the only one who noticed. I will not buy these anymore!
21 andy // Apr 19, 2012 at 11:32 am
Look what they did to Dolly Madison. The best snack cakes on the planet and they do away with it. Not to mention all the feel good memories of Charlie Brown they sponsered.
22 Ginger // Jul 31, 2012 at 5:18 pm
We lost rhe Merita brand in Tennessee too. Very sad.
23 Ernest // Sep 11, 2012 at 10:07 pm
The reason for the name change was so that hostess could sell the Merita Name. Flowers is the frontrunner and if they do purchase look for this brand to be back flooding the market. After all , everyone knows how well they sell.
24 Teresa // Nov 13, 2012 at 2:02 pm
I want Merita back… the taste was so much better
25 Blaine // Nov 25, 2012 at 12:16 pm
Will someone start making these again now that the union has killed Hostess?
26 Shannon // Nov 26, 2012 at 9:43 pm
The Bluebird ones are pretty good but Tastykake brand are better to me. They’re the closest to Sweet Sixteen that I can find!
27 Jules // Dec 10, 2012 at 8:44 pm
Just tried the Tastykake donuts. Not even close. They taste like the chemically, plastic packaged 6-counts wannabe’s from a convenience store. Please let somebody buy the Merita name (and Hostess, if we must) out of bankruptcy. Sweet Sixteens have been the only thing I eat when sick for about 3 decades. I need them!
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