RIP, Twinkies . . .

[DGoddess]

Life as we know it has ended, folks.

It's the end of the line for the Hostess Twinkies, Ding-Dongs, Suzy-Q's and other snack cakes after Hostess Brands shut down the company and has begun liquidation.

http://www.digtriad.com/news/nationa...le-Bankruptcy-

18,500 people nationwide and all their baking facilities are now unemployed after 5000 went on strike late last week. Over 200 here in NC are now without jobs after the bakery in Rocky Mount has shut down as of this morning. The people who drove the trucks who brought products to the grocery and convenience stores and schools are now without jobs too.

The Bakery Outlet Stores are still open but not for much longer. They're selling out of products fast - the one near me had no Twinkies but I got a couple of bags of Sweet Sixteen donuts, a box of Coffee Cakes and I managed to score the last 3 boxes of Suzy-Q's and last 2 boxes of Raspberry Zingers while I was there.

Now eBay has gotten in on the action and people are selling single Twinkies for a small fortune!!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hostess-Twin...item2c69ef7a58

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trks...at=0&_from=R40

[Nekojin]

That's okay. The Twinkies that they've already produced will last centuries.

[ngc_7331]

That's okay. The Twinkies that they've already produced will last centuries.

And they can survive a nuclear war.

ETA: Damn, they owned Wonder Bread too? What will it be like to live in a world without Wonder Bread?

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Zebra Cakes are better. :P Little Debbie is still going!

Anyway, though I do have sympathy for all those people who lost their jobs... I really don't have much sympathy for the company itself. Why?

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/201...esss-downfall/

Yup. Even when filing for bankruptcy they were still increasing the CEO's pay and other executive compensation. They pretty much drained the rest of the coffers dry to make sure the CEO and other execs could get out rich.

[Andara Bledin]

It's the end of the line for Hostess (and it's many brands, such as Home Price, etc), but it is not necessarily the end for the products themselves, as the various different divisions are going to be sold off.

And I would be shocked to learn that Twinkies and Ding Dongs and Hostess Cupcakes weren't profitable with the right management.

^-.-^

[DGoddess]

And they can survive a nuclear war.

ETA: Damn, they owned Wonder Bread too? What will it be like to live in a world without Wonder Bread?

They also produced Merita Old Fashioned Bread, which is very popular here in NC.

What product Grandpa Grump was able to bring us this morning is all we'll get - Naitch and I are planning already to re-allocate the shelf space as the products sell through so our other bread vendors can have more space.

And I had just gotten an email this morning from Kitty Corporate advising us that our commercial bread section is being reset in mid December. I don't know if those planogram changes they approved will be affected by the closing, but we'll see.

Still a sad state of affairs. The actions of 5000 who didn't want to give in and take a cut in pay to keep their jobs cost so many others theirs.

I hope those 5000 can sleep good tonight knowing that they've not only put themselves out of work, but also another 13,500 across the country.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Still a sad state of affairs. The actions of 5000 who didn't want to give in and take a cut in pay to keep their jobs cost so many others theirs.

I hope those 5000 can sleep good tonight knowing that they've not only put themselves out of work, but also another 13,500 across the country.

I don't blame them at all. It's not their fault they were tired of being abused and forced to take pay cuts when the CEOs and Executives were getting more bonuses and their pay constantly tripled.

Might want to check this out too:




Who's to say that this whole thing wouldn't just repeat itself if they agreed to take pay cuts... AGAIN. The first time around, the company learned that the people will take pay cuts, so they didn't do anything to fix the problem. 110 million that was NOT reinvested. Now that they're struggling again, they figured, "Oh, well we can just make them take pay cuts again and be fine!"

Wrong.

They only voted to strike after the CEO and executives gave themselves massive (up to 300%) pay raises while at the same time demanding the workers make "concessions to help keep the company afloat!"

Yeah. Right. It's their fault they were unwilling to be taken advantage of by people who were looting the company for all it was worth (AGAIN).

[ngc_7331]

It took me 11 stores and 3 hours to find a pack of Twinkies. That was the most epic journey for junk food ever. The guy working behind the counter at one gas station I stopped at said that some guy came in and completely emptied their Hostess rack, all 5 shelves worth.

[Duelist925]

Still a sad state of affairs. The actions of 5000 who didn't want to give in and take a cut in pay to keep their jobs cost so many others theirs.

I hope those 5000 can sleep good tonight knowing that they've not only put themselves out of work, but also another 13,500 across the country.

As others have pointed out...

I don't doubt some of those 5000 will blame themselves...for wanting to keep earning a decent wage, and not get their wages slashes...AGAIN by a corporation that proved last time they did this that the money's just gonna wind up in a CEO's bank account.

Maybe if those CEO's had been willing to take a decent pay cut along with their workers, maybe these people wouldn't have striked, and maybe the company would still be afloat.

[Gravekeeper]

To Hell with Twinkies, up here we have sweet sweet Jos Louis.

Oh yes.

[Ginger Tea]

Never had a twinkie, don't thing they made it to the UK, took a whlle to see oreo cookies in shops.

but for the love of god and all that is holy

DON'T LET WOODY HARLSON KNOW

[Gravekeeper]

Never had a twinkie, don't thing they made it to the UK, took a whlle to see oreo cookies in shops.

You aren't missing anything. They're pretty gross to be bluntly honest. They're a sort of indestructable chemical foam full of dollar store icing. Take every alarming stereotype about American cousine and condense it into a snack cake and you'd have a Twinkie. -.-

Here, the ingredient list should help comprehend the terror that is a Twinkie:

Enriched wheat flour, sugar, corn syrup, niacin, water, high fructose corn syrup, vegetable and/or animal shortening – containing one or more of partially hydrogenated soybean, cottonseed and canola oil, and beef fat, dextrose, whole eggs, modified corn starch, cellulose gum, whey, leavenings (sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, monocalcium phosphate), salt, cornstarch, corn flour, corn syrup, solids, mono and diglycerides, soy lecithin, polysorbate 60, dextrin, calcium caseinate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, wheat gluten, calcium sulphate, natural and artificial flavors, caramel color, yellow No. 5, red #40.

Mhmmmmm.

[fireheart17]

Wonder how long it'll be before the "import sweet" shops down here are Twinkie-free (both of the ones I see on a regular basis seem to have them)

Also, I prefer Eclairs and cream puffs

[Gravekeeper]

All about the Jos Louis up here. Especially in Eastern Canada. They're basically two little red velvet cakes, with cream in the middle, dipped in milk chocolate. Colder it is, the better they are as the chocolate gets nice and crisp.

They're just as old as Twinkies too come to think of it. 1930s.

[Aethian]

I used to have a pretty good faux Twinkie recipe.