Hostess Brands closing

[Hilander]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Hostess Brands -- the maker of such iconic baked goods as Twinkies, Drake's Devil Dogs and Wonder Bread -- announced Friday that it is asking a federal bankruptcy court for permission to close its operations, blaming a strike by bakers protesting a new contract imposed on them.


The closing will result in Hostess' nearly 18,500 workers losing their jobs as the company shuts 33 bakeries and 565 distribution centers nationwide, as well as 570 outlet stores. The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union represents around 5,000 Hostess employees.



Hostess Brands closing for good

I think this is so sad, I love Twinkies, Ding Dongs and whole wheat Wonder Bread. I will miss them. Almost feel like someone I knew died. Will you miss these products?

 

[CaptainObvious]

Yes it is sad, and is to be expected given the demands by this union. More unemployment due to these destructionist policies. This is just the beginning, we should be expecting even more of this as time goes on.

 

[dDave]

I think that they are going to sell as many of the brands as they can. There's simply no way that twinkies are done.

This wasn't a surprise for me, I knew this was a possibility a few days ago. Working at sonic, we use wonder bread. We were all notified about 4 hours ago that we will no longer be using wonder bread unless somebody buys it.

This just goes to show what happens when employees unionize.

 

[CaptainObvious]

Well, to be fair a lot of good has come from unions and without them, in many circumstances workers would be taken advantage of. I would say though this is what happens when unions go too far and expect much much more than what the free market can give. At some point it's not profitable to keep a business going and things are shut down because of the greed of the union.

 

[Crouton]

These products aren't in Australia but it will be sad to see them go. I've only ever heard of twinkies, and I've only heard of them because of movies and TV but they have been mentioned so much that I feel like they are some sort of American icon.

 

[dDave]

These products aren't in Australia but it will be sad to see them go. I've only ever heard of twinkies, and I've only heard of them because of movies and TV but they have been mentioned so much that I feel like they are some sort of American icon.

Twinkies are what one could call "a classic American junk food"

It'll be sad to see Hostess go after such a good run, but honestly, Twinkies are so popular that I'd be surprised if they weren't bought by someone like Nabisco, Kraft, or Nestle.

 

[DarkWingedAngel]

I feel like everyone is going to turn into that guy off zombieland scouring the world for the last twinkie!!!

 

[Babe_Ruth]

What I cannot understand is... how in the world can Hostess not "make a go" of it with $2.5B in sales in America, where morbid obesity has never been higher??

 

[CaptainObvious]

That's not their profit margin, that's just sales. When you through in having to comply with Obamacare, increased taxes, the amount these new contracts this union wanted, amongst other things, it was decided it wasn't worth the financial risk anymore.

 

[Hilander]

I'm kind of wondering that too BR. I think the Union was just a small part of the problem some of the problem probably was with their management. Bet their executives and CEO wasn't taking less of a bonus to help things out or forgoing their raises.