King's Hawaiian is broadening its snacking portfolio with the national retail launch of Soft Swirl Cinnamon Bites, the family-owned bakery's second entry in its Bites snack line after debuting Soft Pretzel Bites in 2024. The product is now available at major grocery retailers across the United States.
The Product Play
The Cinnamon Bites — cinnamon swirl baked into the brand's signature soft dough and sold in tubs — are positioned explicitly at morning snacking occasions, a daypart King's Hawaiian has not previously targeted with a dedicated SKU. The move signals an effort to generate incremental sales volume outside the brand's core mealtime and occasion-driven roll business, which has historically been concentrated around dinner, entertaining, and holiday gatherings. Raouf Moussa, Chief Marketing Officer at King's Hawaiian, described the launch as "bringing the King's Hawaiian experience fans know and love to an entirely new sweet occasion — morning snacking."
Campaign Mechanics
To support the launch, King's Hawaiian commissioned a campaign titled Mmmomments, created by agencies Alison Brod Marketing & Communications and Erich & Kallman. The centerpiece is a branded musical rendition of Hanson's 1997 hit "MMMBop," retitled "MMMBites," performed by Taylor Hanson of the pop-rock trio. The creative executes as a series of humorous video spots, with the first — Mmmdays — debuting on September 7. The campaign is timed to the song's approaching 30th anniversary, giving the brand a cultural hook for earned media coverage. Taylor Hanson characterized the collaboration as the first reworking of the track that "felt quite right" among opportunities the band has received over the years.
Portfolio Context
King's Hawaiian, founded more than 75 years ago and still family-owned, holds the top branded roll position in the United States. The Bites line represents its most direct push into the packaged snacking aisle, a category that commands significant shelf space and repeat-purchase frequency at grocery. The 2024 Pretzel Bites launch established the platform; the Cinnamon Bites SKU extends it into a sweeter, broader-daypart segment that competes with soft-baked snack cakes, cinnamon rolls, and other morning-suitable impulse items.
For operators and retail buyers, the expansion reflects a wider industry pattern of heritage bakery brands leveraging brand equity to capture snacking occasions rather than ceding that ground to snack-native competitors. As explored in our coverage of packaged snack trends driving grocery center-store growth, branded ambient baked goods with clear flavor cues — cinnamon chief among them — have demonstrated strong velocity in club and conventional grocery formats. King's Hawaiian's distribution breadth gives the new SKU an immediate national footprint that few emerging snack brands can replicate.
Retailers and distributors interested in shelf placement or promotional programs can reference recent food and beverage brand extension strategies covered here for comparative context on how bakery incumbents are managing portfolio expansion without cannibalizing core SKUs.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
