Hostess Brands, Maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies, Prepping Bankruptcy Report

**bijou** · 01-12-2012, 04:40 AM

UNDATED - There's a report that Hostess Brands, the maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies, is preparing to refile for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection just two years after emerging.

A spokesman for the privately held company declined to comment on the Wall Street Journal report.

The newspaper says people familiar with the matter said the company is facing a cash crunch with more than $860 million in debt, high labor expenses and rising ingredient costs.

Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/money/hos...#ixzz1jEAfXNPn

**RobJohnson** · 01-12-2012, 06:15 AM

I remember the smells of fresh bread baking in Davenport, IA at a Wonder Bread plant...

The people that worked there, worked very hard. It was torn down before I moved..

**noonwitch** · 01-12-2012, 11:06 AM

I can live without Wonder Bread and maybe even Twinkies, but I can't imagine a world without Ding Dongs.

My grandpa said that when he and his family first came here after WWI, they ate Wonder Bread for dessert, because it seemed so sweet to them. They had been starving pretty badly along the eastern front.

**marv** · 01-12-2012, 11:11 AM

At least they'll still be making Twinkies and SnoBalls while they reorganize - again. Can't imagine a world without Wonder Bread!

**Novaheart** · 01-12-2012, 01:22 PM

How is it remotely possible for one of these old American companies to be ass deep in debt? Everything should be paid for by now. To blame labor costs and farmers makes me furious. If the equity hadn't been ripped out of the company when it went public, and again when it reorganized, etc... etc.... etc... by these "genius" business men who have ruined every company started by hard working American entrepreneurs then it's hard to imagine any of these companies being in trouble.

Having said that, Hostess products are behind the times. Wonder Bread is synonymous with cheap, chemical, and bad for you. People refer to "real bread" to mean "not Wonder Bread". All that gooey HFCS crap they produce, to the ruination of some actually enjoyable treats of the past, is a disgrace to baking. Have you eaten a Hostess cupcake lately? Between the fake chocolate and the fake sugar, it tastes like something you bought at Stuckey's and you left on the dashboard for three days on the way back from vacation.

**marv** · 01-12-2012, 01:44 PM

I'll blame the unions........
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/11...ankruptcy.html

(snip)

In its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Hostess disclosed that its biggest unsecured creditor is the Bakery & Confectionary Union & Industry International Pension Fund, which it owes approximately $944.2 million.

Its second-largest unsecured creditor, Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Plan is owed far less, about $11.8 million.

Hostess President and CEO Brian Driscoll said in a statement that the company is working to reach a consensual agreement with its unions to modify its collective bargaining agreements. The company said that its current cost structure is not competitive mostly because of legacy pension and medical benefit obligations and restrictive work rules.

(snip)

**Odysseus** · 01-12-2012, 03:29 PM

I blame the Human Computer.

**NJCardFan** · 01-12-2012, 05:29 PM

I was in the bread business for 12 years with 2 different companies(Arnold & Maier's) and can say that this doesn't surprise me. And Nova is correct. Wonder, at one time, used to be the #1 distributor during my time as a bread man. And all that time they refused to evolve with the growing market towards more whole grain products. Sure they had a whole wheat but the difference between regular white bread and whole wheat bread is slight. Whole wheat isn't bleached and has more fiber. But since the latter 80's, consumers were going away from plain white bread and more into the grainy stuff. When I was with Arnold, we had a whole line called "Country" which had a dark wheat, oatmeal, 5 grain, etc. Wonder never delved into this. The closest they ever did was with their whole white bread. In other words, IBC(Interstate Baking Company) didn't get it. IMO Wonder and Hostess began the slow roll down the hill when Continental Baking was bought up by IBC. And just to let you all know, this is the 2nd time in 8 years IBC is filing for chapter 11.

Once upon a time Wonder was the company to work for. Now, not so much. On a side note, I often wonder what my life would have been like had I stayed with Maier's after their buyout by Strohmann. This March I would have been there 20 years.