Wapsi Square Forum

So... I guess you all may have heard the news.

Hostess brands -including IBC, the makers of Wonder Bread and its associated products - have completely shut down production, as of last week Friday (Nov. 16).

Most stores in my area have no more Twinkies or any other major Hostess-branded products; there are still enough Wonder Bread, Butternut and Mrs. Karl's bread on the shelf, though.

Don't worry, there's so many generic brands of their snacks that I doubt anyone will suffer from deprivation. Although it does put to mind the question if someone will save any back to determine if, in fact, twinkies CAN actually go bad with time...

That's actually been determined. They do go bad after about 28 days, though that's longer than most other snack cakes.

"Silly customer! You cannot hurt a Twinkie!"

Hostess products are too huge. As big as a bummer this has been I'm confident another company will buy the rights to and resume at least the Twinkie if not some of the others as well.

"After the apocalypse, all that will remain is cockroaches, Keith Richards, the faint, lingering odour of cat pee ... and Twinkies."

They go into court tomorrow (ok, later today) where they start discussing the Liquidation. They'll be selling everything -- including trademarks, recipies, etc. -- so I'll bet that there will be one or more major food companies that will be bidding on the various brands and/or products. (I'd guess one company may take the breads and such (Wonder), and one or two to take the Hostess and/or Drakes brands, and so on.)

stjen wrote:They go into court tomorrow (ok, later today) where they start discussing the Liquidation. They'll be selling everything -- including trademarks, recipies, etc. -- so I'll bet that there will be one or more major food companies that will be bidding on the various brands and/or products. (I'd guess one company may take the breads and such (Wonder), and one or two to take the Hostess and/or Drakes brands, and so on.)

I am kinda expecting Nabisco Twinkies and Ho Hos in the future. Maybe Twinkie the Kid will meet up with the Keebler elves. The marketing possibilities boggle the mind.

No, word is that a baker from Mexico, Grupo Bimbo, is gunning to purchase them.

Since sugar is cheaper in Mexico, they'll end up exporting all those jobs that the unions were fighting to keep down South of the Border.

But hey, at least we'll still have Twinkies!

jwhouk wrote:Since sugar is cheaper in Mexico, they'll end up exporting all those jobs that the unions were fighting to keep down South of the Border.

A lot of people are trying to make this story political and bash unions but in this case that doesn't hold water. It was a long struggling, mismanaged company. An excerpt from here.

Economists say high sugar prices tied to US trade tariffs were a big reason Hostess was struggling

Also, this page:

Finally, as noted by Think Progress, Hostess mysteriously tripled the pay of their CEO just months before asking union members to take a pay cut to “save the company.” One could understand how union members found it hard to believe the company was strapped for cash after raising the CEO’s salary from approximately $750,000 to $2,555,000. Nine other executives at the company also received massive pay raises earlier this year, which now appear to be part of a “golden parachute” package. Other CEO's, like the head of American Airlines, freezed or reduced their pay over the past four years when they asked unions to make similar sacrifices.

And no, even if Bimbo buys the assets that doesn't mean the jobs will go to Mexico. Grupo Bimbo is the parent company but Bimbo Bakeries USA operates here. From Wikipedia:

Grupo Bimbo initially entered the U.S. market with the purchase of Pacific Pride Bakeries in 1996. At the time, Pacific Pride Bakeries was the largest independent baker in the San Diego area. The current company, Bimbo Bakeries USA, was established in 1998 when Grupo Bimbo purchased Mrs. Baird's Bakeries in Texas, which at the time was the largest family owned bakery in the United States, and merged it with the former Pacific Pride Bakeries. In 2002, Grupo Bimbo made another acquisition when it purchased 5 plants in California, Texas, Colorado, and Oregon. The purchase also gave Bimbo Bakeries USA the right to such brands as Oroweat, Entenmann's, Thomas' English Bagels, and Boboli pizza kits in the western United States (the rights in the eastern USA at the time were owned by George Weston Limited).

If you click on BBUSA's Plant Tours, that Mrs. Baird's plant is next door to the Miller-Coors brewery I ran around a few months replacing computers in during my last contract.

I hope the deal goes through. It would open up the potential for something like an international pack including both Twinkies and Gansitos.

Oh, yeah, I don't make it out to be union vs. management. Hostess IBC was being run crappily to begin with.

shadowinthelight wrote:"Silly customer! You cannot hurt a Twinkie!"

"I heard if you age them for ten years, they turn to liquor."

MerchManDan wrote:

shadowinthelight wrote:"Silly customer! You cannot hurt a Twinkie!"

"I heard if you age them for ten years, they turn to liquor."

An idea to go into another thread perhaps? *giggles evilly*


It's sad. I loved the chocolate Twinkies they had, and loved more still to go into the thrift store and buy day olds.

I remember going to the Hostess bakery on a family road trip and having a tour with my siblings. They loved getting the tiny loaves of bread(just their size) after seeing how they were made. I loved the happy memories.

Yeah, I'm glad the truth has come out though. All these gimme gimme businesses blaming unions(not all unions are bad, though I am the first to admit there are a few random stinkers that make them on a whole look bad) for their mismanagement downfalls. Truth be told, they were looking for a goat. Luckily for the union, there was enough incriminating evidence to show that it wasn't their fault that the company closed.
Hopefully someone will buy the brand and manage it better than IBC(not to be confused with the soda brand) did, and perhaps recall some of Hostesses loyal workers? Hey, if I'm gonna dream, may as well make it big, right?

DinkyInky wrote:Hopefully someone will buy the brand and manage it better than IBC(not to be confused with the soda brand) did, and perhaps recall some of Hostesses loyal workers? Hey, if I'm gonna dream, may as well make it big, right?

E. Spengler:Well, let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. Based on this morning's sample, it would be a Twinkie... thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.
W. Zeddemore: That's a big Twinkie.

Jabberwonky wrote:E. Spengler:Well, let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. Based on this morning's sample, it would be a Twinkie... thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.
W. Zeddemore: That's a big Twinkie.

*hugs Jabberwonky for making a Ghostbusters reference*

DinkyInky wrote:

Jabberwonky wrote:E. Spengler:Well, let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. Based on this morning's sample, it would be a Twinkie... thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.
W. Zeddemore: That's a big Twinkie.

*hugs Jabberwonky for making a Ghostbusters reference*

One of my all-time faves...

"We just got a visit from the Environmental Protection Agency..."

Curses!! If I had thought to make the reference sooner, I could've gotten hugs!

MerchManDan wrote:"We just got a visit from the Environmental Protection Agency..."

Curses!! If I had thought to make the reference sooner, I could've gotten hugs!

You get hugs for trying though! *hugs*

Yay! Thank you, Miss Julie!

Good news! Twinkies could be back by the summer!

Although this quote makes me a little nervous....

Dean Metropoulos wrote:Our family is thrilled to have the opportunity to reestablish these iconic brands with new creative marketing ideas and renewed sales efforts and investment.

Jabberwonky wrote:Good news! Twinkies could be back by the summer!

Although this quote makes me a little nervous....

Dean Metropoulos wrote:Our family is thrilled to have the opportunity to reestablish these iconic brands with new creative marketing ideas and renewed sales efforts and investment.

With every Twinkie, you get a free Trabi?