The Demise Of The Twinkie: Hostess Files Motion To Liquidate

Wall Street Journal ^

[Sub-Driver]

The Demise Of The Twinkie: Hostess Files Motion To Liquidate

By Tom Gara

And that’s that: Hostess Brands, maker of Twinkies, Wonder Bread and more, announced this morning it has filed a motion with bankruptcy court to start liquidating the company immediately. A huge number of jobs are soon to be lost.

“Hostess Brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce,” said CEO Gregory F. Rayburn in the statement, “and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders.”

In a letter posted on a new site set up to communicate with employees and suppliers through the liquidation process, Mr. Rayburn pinned the blame on its striking union:

Despite everyone’s considerable efforts to move Hostess out of its restructuring, when we began implementing the Company’s last, best and final offer, the Bakers Union chose to stage a crippling strike. This affected Hostess’ ability to continue to make products and service its customers’ needs and pushed Hostess into a Wind Down scenario. As a result, we are forced to proceed with an orderly wind down and sale of our operations and assets. We deeply regret taking this action. But we simply cannot continue to operate without the ability to produce or deliver our products.

There’s no way to soften the fact that this will hurt every Hostess Brands employee. All Hostess Brands employees will eventually lose their jobs – some sooner than others. Unfortunately, because we are in bankruptcy, there are severe limits on the assistance the Company can offer you at this time.

[crosshairs]

UNIONS

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Parasites killed the host.

[RS_Rider]

Will we see obama-ho’s in the future?

[crosshairs]

In the union world, that’s called STICKING IT TO THE MAN !!!

It's like the demwit voting negroes who think they are stickin it to whitey by voting for barry. They're cutting their own throats out of spite.

[X-spurt]

And your suggestion is??????

[SERKIT]

Where is the Twinkie bailout like GM got? Did Michelle weigh in on on the junk food aspect of the union jobs that would have been saved? With Soetoro’s history with Choom, wouldn’t snacking on Twinkies be a priority?

[CrazyIvan]

With a little luck, the groundwork has been done with another entity and this just an end run on the union.

[Qwackertoo]

Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagon, Mercedes, BMW, Kia, Honda are not stupid and that is why they are bringing their production lines to various right-to-work states. People are happy to have the jobs. They paid a good wage for the work performed. They have nice benefits. They are not rocket scientists and neither are these bakers. The unions deserve every job loss on their watch and every failed or relocated company.

[KeyLargo]

Also affected will be more than 50,000 Hostess Brands partners including suppliers, bakeries, distribution centers, depots and retailers.

[freeangel]

“What a shame. I hope the union bosses enjoy the crap cupcake they just gave their rank and file..”

Do you really think the union bosses really care about the rank and file. Like obama and most of congress, as long as they are getting theirs, the rest can go eat cake(or not).

[ground_fog]

Apparently, from the CNBC interview, the Teamsters actually agreed to concessions and worked.It was the Baker’s union.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

They were doing something wrong.

Like not shutting down all their bakeries in union states and moving to non-union states.

[P.O.E.]

Curtain call!

[paul544]

That’s the point though. Between all the money unions were given from the “stimulus” and the endless unemployment benefits and Obamacare, these people will feel almost no impact to their lives. This isn’t hurting any of them.

[sitetest]

Adam Hanft, a branding strategist behind Hanft Projects, sees the potential for new life in the death of a decades-old company. A fresh owner of the intellectual property, which includes everything from names to recipes to graphics, could revitalize the Hostess brands, which Mr. Hanft sees as weakened but not lacking potential. He raised the prospect of new flavors, limited-edition Twinkies, products co-branded with independent music groups and the potential for an international reach.

“Its nutritional emptiness in the right hands could be its core strength,” he said, explaining that a buyer that embraces the brand’s “kitschy,” “deliciously retro” feel could be rewarded. He foresees a potentially diverse crowd of bidders for the property.

“It’s the kind of iconic brand that might attract people who might not otherwise be interested in owning a consumer good,” Mr. Hanft said.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Hostess goes Galt. I love their products and will miss having them around but I admire them for having the courage to do what they are doing. I hope more and more companies does the same thing. It’s a great way to tell Barry and his union thugs to kiss their @$$.

[pepsi_junkie]

Showcase example for Republicans.

I can see it now: "Remember those little cakes with the cream in the middle? You know, Twinkies? Who could forget Twinkies! They were pretty good but the pies were the real treat! Man, I remember the nice glaze on one of those apple pies and how good it was when I was a kid! You know they're gone now don't you? The terrible economy in Obama's first term drove them to bankruptcy. But they were still going, digging their way out. They had to make some adjustments, cut some costs, streamline and they asked the employees to help, take a little less. Just 'til they got back on their feet. And for a while it was working, they were keeping their 18,000 people employed and still making those great pies. But the bakers were greedy, they decided they didn't want to sacrifice at all. They wanted the whole pie, so to speak. So they called a strike. They shut the company down for weeks. And that was the end, they had to shut their doors for good. All 18,000 employees were let go. Not just the bakers either, that was just 5,000 of them. The other 13,000 were truck drivers and the sales people and the accountants and mechanics and single moms who supported their families by wrapping those delicious pies. Not to mention everyone who sold ingredients to them too, they suffer now too. I wonder how many of them will have to let people go now too? All because one union decided it would rather destroy the company than work with them. Sure wish I could have one of those pies again."

If only Bain Capital had rescued them. Oh wait, Bain are the bad guys. Forgot.

[X-spurt]

Having had to be in several unions through the years just to get the job, it was immensely clear that the union was never there for the workers that wanted to do their job well or help the company prosper. Unions protect the slackers who kiss up to union bosses and snitch on everyone else all the while the “union leaders” running the union like a Mafia operation, coming around every week to collect the protection money. All unions are the same.

The only union members not lazy pea-brained idiots are those forced to be in the union.

[X-spurt]

Having had to be in several unions through the years just to get the job, it was immensely clear that the union was never there for the workers that wanted to do their job well or help the company prosper. Unions protect the slackers who kiss up to union bosses and snitch on everyone else all the while the “union leaders” running the union like a Mafia operation, coming around every week to collect the protection money. All unions are the same.

The only union members not lazy pea-brained idiots are those forced to be in the union.

[xzins]

I wouldn’t be surprised to learn there already have been inquiries. Technically, I think there are union laws that prevent any selling of a company that is just changing ownership to get rid of a union.

I think you have to actually sell it. I think the best way to prove that is to take the brand, the recipes, and leave to another area.

If I were Little Debbie, and I didn’t have a union, I’d be all over buying up the remainder of the my market niche. I could produce it in my own factories, and I’d be free and clear of any charges that it was just a sham sell shell game.