food processing founded chattanooga tennessee united states 1928 founders o.d. mckee 1 ruth mckee headquarters collegedale tennessee united states key people mike mckee rusty mckee angie mckee ellsworth mckee jack mckee cole smith products little debbie snacks cereals granola bars number of employees 5 800 as of september 2012 update 2 website www.mckeefoods.com mckee foods corporation is a privately held and family owned american snack food and granola manufacturer headquartered in collegedale tennessee . 3 the corporation is the maker of the little debbie snacks sunbelt bakery granola and cereal heartland brands and drake s cakes . mckee foods has its own fleet of trucks to distribute its products . contents 1 history 1.1 little debbie name 2 brands 2.1 little debbie 2.2 sunbelt bakery 2.3 drake s 3 bakeries 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit the company was founded during the depression by o.d. and ruth mckee . o.d. started out selling cakes from his 1928 whippet in the chattanooga area . wanting to expand he bought a small bakery jack s cookie company . the bakery did well for a few years but o.d. was still looking to expand . his father in law however did not share his ideas . o.d. decided to sell his business and start over . the mckees moved to charlotte north carolina into a new bakery designed by o.d. after some time they sold the charlotte plant . they moved back to chattanooga in the early 1950s when cecil king ruth s brother was in poor health and needed the help . they decided to buy back the bakery and run it themselves . mckee baking company moved to collegedale in 1957 . in 1991 mckee baking company became mckee foods corporation . the son of mckee foods founder o.d. mckee ellsworth mckee took over but retired from day to day operations in september 2012 but retains the position of company chairman . 2 it was announced 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 . 4 the bankruptcy court approved this purchase on april 9 2013 . 5 as of 2013 mckee ships more than 900 million cartons of little debbie products . 6 little debbie name edit the brand little debbie is better known than the company itself . debbie is the granddaughter of founders o.d. and ruth mckee and daughter of ellsworth mckee the current chairman of the board and chief administrative officer . in the 1960s the mckees decided to name a product after one of their grandchildren 4 year old debbie . the photo was taken by the company olan mills . the original photo was black and white and an atlanta artist pearl mann did the original color artwork . she made debbie look older around 8 or 9 . minor changes were made to the photo in 1987 . brands edit mckee food brands little debbie logo 1985 2013 6 sunbelt logo 2002 09 drake s logo little debbie edit little debbie redirects here . for the american recording artist see lil debbie . little debbie products cosmic brownie nutty bar oatmeal creme pie swiss cake roll zebra cake little debbie products are primarily cookie and cake based dessert snacks . they come in dozens of varieties including the top selling swiss cake rolls nutty bars cosmic brownies and oatmeal creme pies . 7 little debbie products are available in most discount grocery and convenience stores both in boxes and individual wrappings . in the 1960s company founders o.d. and ruth mckee decided to name a product after one of their grandchildren four year old debbie . the original image of debbie used on packaging and advertising was based on a black and white photo . artist pearl mann of atlanta created the original color artwork . following instructions she made the little girl look older around 8 or 9 . 8 minor changes were made to the logo in 1985 and again in 2013 . 6 the little debbie brand sponsored the wood brothers 21 ford fusion for several years in the nascar sprint cup series . the brand switched to the 47 jtg daugherty racing team in 2009 season . from sundown friday to sundown saturday the little debbie logos are covered or removed and the crew wears non little debbie attire as a condition of sponsorship because mckee foods was founded and is run by owners who are seventh day adventists . 9 sunbelt bakery edit sunbelt bakery products include a variety of granola bars fruit snacks and cereals . drake s edit main article drake s cakes drake s is a baking company in wayne new jersey united states . originally an independent company hostess owned drake s from 1998 to 2012 ; mckee foods acquired the drake s line when hostess liquidated in bankruptcy in 2012 . the drake s brand distributes snack cakes such as ring dings yodels devil dogs yankee doodles sunny doodles funny bones and coffee cake . their mascot is a smiling duck holding a spoon and wearing a chef s hat and neckerchief . bakeries edit gentry arkansas stuarts draft virginia collegedale tennessee kingman arizona see also edit tennessee portal companies portal food portal references edit mckee foods corporation about our company . mckeefoods.com . retrieved 2012 11 17 . a b smith ellis september 15 2012 . little debbie s dad to sell ooltewah mansion . chattanooga times free press . retrieved 2013 05 13 . today his privately held company employs some 5 800 workers producing more than 160 types of snacks for the north america market . mckee is semi retired now serving as company chairman . corporate fact sheet . mckee foods . retrieved on november 17 2012 . street address 10260 mckee road collegedale tn 37315 stock market & financial investment news . the fly on the wall . retrieved 28 january 2013 . david flessner mckee completes purchase of drake s cakes from bankrupt hostess chattanooga times free press april 9 2013 a b c the little debbie logo gets a makeover . modern baking . may 8 2013 . retrieved 2013 05 13 . here are some of the changes that have been made to the little debbie logo little debbie s auburn hair is darker and has fewer curls . she s wearing a more updated plaid shirt with a rounded peter pan collar . she wore a lace embroidered pointed collar before . she s still wearing the straw hat but the hat string which is called a stampede string was removed . the red ribbon with the name little debbie on it also now has a more contemporary style . line feed character in quote at position 76 help frequently asked questions . littledebbie.com . retrieved 2012 11 17 . http www.mckeefoods.com our brands little debbie.htm jayski s nascar silly season site sprint cup team news and links 47 . retrieved 29 october 2010 . little debbie sponsorship note the 47 team primary sponsor little debbie snacks is run by seventh day adventists . from sundown friday till sundown saturday the team has to cover all little debbie logos on the hauler wear non little debbie attire and remove all little debbie decal from the race car . autoweek 3 16 2006 external links edit mckee foods website little debbie snacks website sunbelt bakery website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title mckee foods & oldid 737012185 categories mckee foods brandscompanies based in tennesseeprivately held companies based in tennesseeprivately held companies in the united statessnack food manufacturers of the united statessouthern adventist universityhidden categories cs1 errors invisible charactersarticles containing potentially dated statements from september 2012all articles containing potentially dated statements navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 31 august 2016 at 06 51 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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