Many of us grew up eating snacks like Twinkies and Ding Dongs, trading the individually wrapped snack cakes out of our lunch boxes with friends at school trying to get our favorite flavors. Wonder Bread was another staple that you might have found on your peanut butter or baloney sandwiches, if your parents weren’t ahead of the curve and making your sandwiches with whole grain bread.
Hostess, the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, has announced that it is going out of business. The company has faced a lot of financial difficulty in the past few years and declared bankruptcy in January for the second time since 2004. They filed a petition to liquidate all of the assets of the company, which means that the majority of their 18,500 workers at their distribution centers and bakeries will be laid off. The company says that the process will begin right away, and has cancelled orders with its suppliers and is recalling products that are currently being shipped. Their brands include Wonder, Nature’s Pride, Dolly Madison, Drake’s, Butternut, Home Pride and Merita
The brands that belong to the company and their recipes will be sold, so this might not be the end of Twinkies or other classic snack cakes. When Mother’s brand closed, stopping production on their Classic Circus Animal Cookies, it was only a few months before the cookies were bought and reinstated by Kellogg’s. Some of the Hostess brands are iconic and have a lot of name recognition, making them an appealing investment for other baked good companies. However, it certainly is the end of an era and there is a good chance that you won’t see any of these products on store shelves for a long time.
Gloria
November 16, 2012No more Hostess???? What’s next? No more Hershey’s??? It is not as easy for a comfort food company to make $ these days. However, Hostess, a struggling business, tries to find a way to stay in business. The bakers (the”heart” of the business) decide it is not worth working for less to keep the whole body alive. How is no job better than taking a cut in pay and benefits? BTW, no job means unemployment. So now they will work for the taxpayers. Or NOT work I should say. I’ll get off of my soap box now!!!
Kelly
November 16, 2012I heard this this morning – ran out and bought four boxes of Hostess Cupcakes!
There is a Butternut bakery in Cincinnati. When I ride my scooter to work I pass it and if I’m lucky, I get a whiff of freshly-baked bread. So sad to see this happen.
Katrina
November 16, 2012Sad to say don’t think I’ve ever had a Twinkie.
Marcia
November 16, 2012I am sad too! It’s a shame that the union couldn’t settle and try to keep their jobs. I went to three different stores today, just because I wanted one last Twinkie. My kids were laughing at me! I know that I can make better tasting and healthier baked goods, but I just wanted to eat one last Twinkie.
NotPiffany
November 18, 2012The unions all took big pay cuts in 2004 during Hostess’s FIRST bankruptcy in the past decade. Two years after the company got out of that bankruptcy in 2009, it stops paying the workers’ pensions, demands they take cuts in pay and benefits that work out to roughly a third of their pay, start bankruptcy proceedings and give their executives raises. Frankly, I’m not surprised the bakers decided not to go back.
Bella
November 19, 2012Oh my…this is a sad day indeed. I grew up eating Hostess cupcakes! I’m in my forties now and still love them! I am teary-eyed as I type this. How very sad! I hope that like you mention, another company will buy the recipes for these wonderful baked goods!