Goodbye Hostess?

It’s been all over the news, Hostess is filing bankruptcy! People are spreading the word that Hostess is going out of business, and that we will no longer be able to buy Twinkies and Ho Hos. How sad I would be if the Hostess with the Mostess must remain only in my memories. I personally consider Hostess Products to be a traditional American food, though very sweet, and I just can’t picture the same intensity of smiles from all those sweet little kids faces eating nothing but, Little Debbie products. Of course there are other sources of happiness, yet Hostess has brought itself into the homes and memories of so many, and in such a sweet way.

Hostess has been baking yummies since the 1930s, though they used to be known as, “Interstate Bakeries.” They made the beloved, Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, and Sno-Balls, and my personal favorite, wa..wa..wa..wWonder Bread. I remember being that eager five-year-old coming home from kindergarten, going straight to the kitchen counter to see if we had any Wonder Bread. It was that big white back with red and blue dots all over it. My mom would try to buy Wonder if she could. She couldn’t always afford it, and a lot of times she just made bread herself. I’ve never been a big bread fan, but my love for bread thrived when Wonder was on our countertop. I always enjoyed eating a slice of it plain with nothing on it. It was the only bread I would ever consider doing such a thing with. It was always so fluffy and sweet, it was honest-to-goodness, melt-in-your mouth, appetite pleasing nourishment. What would happen to all the wonderful products that I have come to love and enjoy? Will we really now live in a Hostess Free World?

Are melancholy and feelings of loss and gloom justified or just needless worry? Must we stress about such a legendary American enterprise? I don’t have television in my house, but I do get news by word of mouth and via the internet. It certainly didn’t make sense to me that a company so huge in the eyes of American People would, or could even, just go away. On top of that I received a Monster.com email this morning with a listing for a Hostess sales manager in the Missoula area. So I did a little research. I had a few questions regarding this, one being what then would grocery stores fill their shelves with, and in addition, what the heck? There was no way Twinkies and Wonder Bread are going anywhere! I found that, indeed, Hostess is filing bankruptcy. But all that worrying people are doing about Hostess disappearing is utter hogwash.

According to thestreet.com, a financial media content company, Hostess filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday January 11^th. Hostess had failed at renegotiating their pension and employee benefit plans; therefore, causing financial shortages. This is the second time that Hostess has filed for bankruptcy, that being in 2004. MSN.com is reporting a similar story, suggesting Hostess, will go on! I began to explain this to someone and was told to go check CNN.com if I didn’t believe it. So I did, and apparently CNN.com has either updated their information or many many people are misinterpreting what’s going on. Like the title of cnn.com’s article says, “Refrain From Freaking out, You’ll Still Get Your Gosh darned Ding-Dongs and Twinkies” (eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/01/11/refrain-from-freaking-out-youll-still-get-your-goshdarned-ding-dongs-and-twinkies/?hpt=ea_bn7&hpt=hp_c2).

The CEO Brian Driscoll is quoted as saying, “…We remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement that will allow us to amend our labor contracts so that we can emerge from Chapter 11 as a highly competitive company that provides secure jobs for our employees,"(http://www.thestreet.com/story/11372755/1/twinkie-maker-hostess-files-for-bankruptcy.html), and Dennis Raymond the Directory of the Teamsters Bakery Union was quoted saying, “…to restructure Hostess into a viable enterprise that is well-positioned for future growth,".

After my research today, I am 100% satisfied that I can still purchase my occasional loaf of Wonder Bread, and that Hostess products will still remain a part of the American sweet-tooth.

Rumors from confused people

www.thestreet.com/story/11372755/1/twinkie-maker-hostess-files-for-bankruptcy.html

money.msn.com/top-stocks/post.aspx?post=511e317c-d97b-49c3-95c4-d5d2257b7594

eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/01/11/refrain-from-freaking-out-youll-still-get-your-goshdarned-ding-dongs-and-twinkies/?hpt=ea_bn7&hpt=hp_c2