Twinkies and Ding Dongs Still Available, But Not For Long
Hostess Brands announced Friday that it is shutting down operations after 82 years of making Wonder Bread, Twinkies and other iconic snack foods.
It’s not too late to get a Twinkie or Ho-Ho in Caledonia, Mount Pleasant and Sturtevant, but you might want to hurry.
Hostess Brands, makers of those and other iconic snacks, announced Friday that it filed a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for permission to go out of business. The company failed to reach agreement with striking workers, and now plans to lay off all 18,500 employees and liquidate assets.
Walmart, Pick‘n Save and Piggly Wiggly all had Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ho-Hos and Zingers on the shelves.
Ralph Malicki, owner of the Piggly Wiggly on Washington Avenue, said he still has a lot of Hostess brand products on the shelves.
"My thinking is, that they'll probably have to liquidate their product, but if no one is making them, I'm sure that someone will buy the brand and start making them under their own name," Malicki said.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the remaining Hostess inventory will likely be sold to a big-box store or discounter.
Vivian King spokesperson for Roundy's Supermarkets, which operates Pick'n Save grocery stores, said that while they do have Hostess brand products on their shelves they don't anticipate getting another order from the company and they've already seen sales spike.
“So far today we’ve sold more Twinkies today than in the last three days combined, and we’re not expecting any more deliveries from the company. So, the window is closing for people to buy them,” she said.
mau
4:01 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
Sorry for the workers losing their jobs but I haven't bought any Hostess products for years. Why? I read the ingredients label.
a quiet conservative
4:23 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
Isn't there a Hostess store up in Cudahy?
Greg
9:43 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
The unions had their cake and ate it too.
Tansandy
4:30 am on Saturday, November 17, 2012
Maybe the union should protest at the Company headquarters and holler hey, hey, ho, ho! Bang drums, blow horns. Disrupt operations. Or find a liberal judge to rubber stamp their position. And maybe ask for a recall of the CEO. Oops, this is the real world, not a place funded with tax dollars and no one is held accountable. The union bullies put greed in front of their jobs! No they are not funded by taxpayers, so they are out of work. Hats off to Hostess for taking a stand. I feel sorry for the non union jobs that will be lost due to the union greed. If the union thinks there is so much money to be had a Hostess, maybe they should buy the company and run it the way they want.
Richard Head
8:06 am on Saturday, November 17, 2012
Good luck to the 18,500 employees in finding another job in the new economy that pays as much as they got.
From "The Daily Kos" (ugh) "The The average employee salary for Hostess employees is approximately $43,000 a year."
In a work year of 2080 hours, that comes to $20.67/hr. Plus they got benefits.
They are going to get a wake up call when they go to find a new job and discover that there are few if any jobs available, and they will probably start over at $10 or less and benefits will not be as good, or perhaps not available if they can only find part-time work.
Zigmond
11:34 am on Saturday, November 17, 2012
The Bakers Union saw the books in the previous bancrupcy and still denied reality. The majority of the workers (Teamsters) took the deal but in the end was dragged down by a minority of workers. Trumka said in a public statement. “Crony capitalism and consistently poor management drove Hostess into the ground, but its workers are paying the price.” And he said that it was Mitt's fault. The real problem is that Union Drones deny reality and will blindly believe him!
One change management requested was a change in work rules that said that one truck could deliver a store two different division's of Hostess products. They were forced to have seperate trucks deliver different Hostess brand products to the same store. Redundant union workers pay dues but kill a company.
James R Hoffa
4:34 pm on Saturday, November 17, 2012
This situation exemplifies the problems with today's labor unions. Hoffa's namesake never would have allowed this to happen.
Congratulations to the baker's union, as they got exactly what they wanted - 18,500 pink slips.
BTW - Hoffa didn't once see Obama marching on the picket line with the Hostess' Bakers.
Greg
10:48 pm on Saturday, November 17, 2012
Michelle would poop a brick if Barry supported the makers of this poison.