Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

  • RedShirt77

    I am sure Tastykake will buy up the rights to the products.

    http://youtu.be/rW2psN1EHSU

    • Antinous / Moderator

      Will they also start sponsoring Peanuts holiday specials?  Dolly Madison was a Hostess brand, too.

  • xzzy

    Twinkies ain’t going anywhere. The brand will be bought up by some other company and soggy cake filled with mystery goo will continue to fester on the shelves of convenience stores.

    I think the real story is about the 18,000 unionized workers losing their jobs, and how their jobs will be replaced by non-unionized workers who are given no benefits whatsoever.

    • http://twitter.com/ShirtNinja K. Williams

      I have little sympathy for them.  If they wanted to keep their jobs they should’ve played ball with the company.  Instead they played chicken, and Hostess wound up winning.

      • Lexicat

         You have a strange notion of “winning.”

      • Tarliman

        Are you willing to reduce your pay to a starvation wage and lose medical insurance for your children to keep your job? Your reply shows a failure to grasp the situation. Hostess also lost, in case you missed the part about bankruptcy and ceasing operations. Hostess should have trimmed their executives’ salaries and bonus structures. There’s plenty of fat there in most corporations. Not every CEO is Lee Iacocca.

        • Brainspore

          Are you willing to reduce your pay to a starvation wage and lose medical insurance for your children to keep your job?

          What do you mean, “starvation wage?” Those lucky bastards were allowed to have all the sugary cake-like product they could eat!

          • SomeGuyNamedMark

             Plus a free annual angioplasty!

          • niktemadur

            Nope, that angioplasty fringe benefit obligation is what made the poor CEO decide between keeping the company afloat or selling his $30 million yacht.  It seems he went for Romney and the yacht.

        • TacoChuck

          To keep your job? You mean keep the 1 percenters in yachts and mansions.

          They intended to close this place down after they extracted every ounce of cash they could regardless of if the workers capitulated or not.

          And do not forget the unions already capitulated once when the corporate scum filed bankruptcy to screw the creditors and suppliers the first time. This is time number two of that game.

      • ChicagoD

        No. Whether they played ball or not the company had more fundamental issues. It was going to pay its executives a few more times on the workers’ backs, that’s all.

        • Navin_Johnson

           Yep. 300% pay raise for the CEO while preparing to file bankruptcy…  plus numerous other insane raises for top executives.

          • Navin_Johnson

             Love the way the market rewards failure and incompetence.

          • SumAnon

            Yup.
            That’s from a WSJ article, for any doubters. Evidently their creditors were pissed that they gave their CEO an almost 2M boost while the company was still in debt.

            http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304072004577323993512506050.html

          • whiznat

            I couldn’t read the article because it is behind a paywall. However, I did find this statistic in the article from SocialistWorker posted below. It said those raises were in 2002, ten years ago. A number that old doesn’t really support the case to blame management. 

            I will say that if I were given a choice between 92% of my wages and 0%, I would take 92%. On the other hand, perhaps the problem is the union leadership. The only way they get to stay in power is if they get a better deal. So they are out regardless if the workers get 92% or 0%. They only win if they get >92%. So as far as I can see, they are the only ones who benefit by refusing to deal.

          • wysinwyg

            A number that old doesn’t really support the case to blame management.

            It gives some indication of the motivation, here.  It suggests that Hostess executives have been in the process of gutting the company and making themselves as much money as possible in the process.

            I will say that if I were given a choice between 92% of my wages and 0%, I would take 92%.

            How many times?  Do it twice and you’re at 84%.  Three times and you’re at 78%.  Five times and you’re down to about 65%.  This is what people mean when they insist unions need to “compromise”.

          • SumAnon

            I think you replied to the wrong person, but good points!

          • wysinwyg

            Disqus configuration here prevents replies after 5 nested comments.  I just replied to the last comment with a reply button.

          • Navin_Johnson

            @boingboing-a499e4f422ca5221dc841c2b82014598:disqus

            It was last year: July 2011

            Last July, the court documents said, the compensation committee of Hostess’s board approved an increase in then-chief executive Brian Driscoll’s salary from to $2.55 million from around $750,000. The company had hired restructuring lawyers in March 2011, the creditors said, and filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 11.

            The court papers also cited the report of a Hostess compensation consultant saying that after a bankruptcy filing the company should tie payments to company performance and wrap them into an incentive plan.

            Hostess “disregarded” the suggestion, the creditors said, and also failed to disclose the modifications. The creditors learned of the changes during a February deposition of the human resources executive.

            At that point, the creditors said, they sought more information about the compensation questions but Hostess “refused to cooperate.”

            I guess this is the same link but I was able to find a cached version

            Creditors Say Hostess Pay Is Questionable”

            Ok, Teamsters have a copy of the same WSJ article:

            http://www.teamster.org/content/dow-jones-uncovers-alleged-looting-hostess-amid-talk-%E2%80%98shared-sacrifice%E2%80%99-execs

          • SumAnon

            Taken from a screen cap of the WSJ article.

        • Substance McGravitas

           Quite right.

          Even as it played the numbers game, Hostess had to face chaos in the corner office at the worst possible time. Driscoll, the CEO, departed suddenly and without explanation in March. It may have been that the Teamsters no longer felt it could trust him. In early February, Hostess had asked the bankruptcy judge to approve a sweet new employment deal for Driscoll. Its terms guaranteed him a base annual salary of $1.5 million, plus cash incentives and “long-term incentive” compensation of up to $2 million. If Hostess liquidated or Driscoll were fired without cause, he’d still get severance pay of $1.95 million as long as he honored a noncompete agreement.

      • Jed Stevens

        Earlier this year, while they were in negotiations with the unions, Hostess filed for permission to reject a lot of labor contracts to avoid bankruptcy… and the federal judge actually denied them permission, saying that the workers had identified legit issues with how the company is run. From everything I’ve heard, the execs had recently gotten bonuses that outweighed the pay cuts they were trying to stick the workers with, but I can’t find confirmation of that bit. The settlement was oversaw by Judge Robert Drain, if you want to Google around for it.

      • http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

        The company never negotiated with the intent to stay in business or operate its bakeries. For the workers the negotiation was about operating bakeries, for the company execs it was about limiting liability in an upcoming liquidation of assets and profiting via brand licensing sans workforce.

      • Michael Langford

        No, they shouldn’t have kept their job and lost their medical benefits on these terms. Look at the remarks of judges in the case. Hostess is trying to pull a fast one here and protect their ass. Not really negotiate a real contract.

      • http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher

        Are you interested in discussing this intelligently, or are you just going to repeat what the Tea Party told you to say?

      • hanslucas

        Those workers knew what they were doing. Here’s a short article about their situation and the fight they were waging against a very greedy company. 

        http://socialistworker.org/2012/11/15/hostess-workers-draw-a-line

        • RedShirt77

           Thank you

      • RedShirt77

         Yeah, If you can’t pay a living wage, you should be put out of business.  Its not like this was some start-up just trying to get out of the gate.

        • Purple-Stater

           According to the government, a living wage is $7.25/hour.

          Not arguing with you, just saying…

          • Jason Wood

            No, that’s just as far below a living wage as they’ll let a company pay.

      • TacoChuck

         This is just typical vulture capitalism.

        Hedge funds bought the company, loaded it with debt to repay the 1 percenters and are now selling off the corpse and union busting all in one smooth move.

        Please read and learn instead of playing into the hands of those that would pit workers against workers.

        http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/26/hostess-twinkies-bankrupt/

        http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/16/1162235/-Private-equity-owned-Hostess-blames-striking-workers-as-it-liquidates

        • Cowicide

          Wow, TacoChuck.  You nailed it.  Thank you for the links as well.

      • rrgrqr
      • Cowicide

        If they wanted to keep their jobs they should’ve played ball with the company.

        You might want to expand your monolithic info diet beyond the mainstream, corporatist media that wants Americans (who can’t critically think their way out of a wet paper bag) to believe this was purely the fault of dreaded unions.

        Hostess was wrecked by corporatists like Mitt Romney who came in during the 90′s and it went downhill from there.

      • blueelm

        Yes. That poor company. Won’t somebody think of them! It’s not like it isn’t the job of other people in the company to manage and budget, or to set the climate of the workplace. Oh no! NO! GOD NO THAT SOUNDS LIKE WOOOOORK! Only poor slobs on a shop floor do work! 

        I have no sympathy for people who can’t run their companies. How’s that?

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Morey/1536698715 Mark Morey

        Sorry about the election, pal.

        • princeminski

          Secede!

      • Martijn

        If your boss said: “I’m going to give myself a 70% raise, and you all need to accept 8% less pay”, would you play ball to save your job?

        From what I heard, that’s pretty much what happened.

  • bzishi

    This finally explains why it was so hard to find a Twinkie in the Zombieland movie.

  • sisyphus321

    This news just makes Woody Harrelson’s role in Zombieland seem so much more poignant. 

  • capnmarrrrk

    What are obese hillbillies going to deep-fat fry now? Oh wait, everything.

    • plyx

       Nice stereotypical bigotry. I’ll bet you’re a emaciated urbanite that steam-cooks everything.

      • capnmarrrrk

        I’ve had deep fried Twinkie’s once. They were delicious. But I will admit to making a cheap shot at Hillbillies and the deep fat-fried food state fairs. There is a connection between, obesity, diabetes, and eating habits in the South where said Hillbillies live. http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2012/11/16/diabetes-rates-skyrocket-in-south-reveals-cdc-study/ I’m sorry if you were offended.

        • Cowicide

          I’m sorry if you were offended.

          Some people are just uncomfortable with facts they don’t like.  I liked your comment.

        • blueelm

          It’s ok. I’m pretty sure hillbillies don’t eat that way. It’s hard to get down out of the holler to go to the state fair. You’re thinking of rednecks and people from Dallas.

      • niktemadur

        My mind is still stuck with an outdated stereotype where emaciated urbanites go for nouvelle cuisine and fruit-flavored Chardonnays.

        • Gilbert Wham

          Is that a thing?  Isn’t wine already intrinsically fruit-flavoured? Gah.

    • SomeGuyNamedMark

      Even my 14 yr old niece from Mississippi when asked who would eat a deep fried twinkie said without a moment’s pause, “fat people” (fill in her very cute southern accent).

  • dnebdal

    I seem to remember that twinkies actually have a fairly short shelf-life, on the order of a couple of weeks at most?
    (And I’ve never seen one; not even the box. Wrong continent etc.)

    • ChicagoD

      The short shelf-life thing could not possibly be more wrong.

      • http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns

        They do expire though, they get clarified like bad mayo. 

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Robert-Drop/100000929402049 Robert Drop

      They have a “sell-by” date of 25 days after production, but since they lack dairy, they’d remain edible, even if hard and brittle, for quite some time afterwards.  (People have eaten decades-old Twinkies, but I suspect the shortening was more than a little rancid by that point.)

      • cdh1971

        I don’t think the particular shortening used in these goes rancid.

    • cdh1971

      IIRC – they don’t have a shelf-life, it’s more like a half-life. Twinkies deserve waaay more respect ;)

    • franko

      true story: in college, we left an unwrapped twinkie on top of our fridge to see how long it would remain soft. turned out to be MONTHS.

  • rocketpjs

    They will reappear, without the unionized workers but with some or all of the same owners/managers in another company that will make most of the same products.

    Looks more like a union breaking move to me. 

    • Antinous / Moderator

      Yeah, it rode in on the wave of Obama-won-so-I’m-punishing-everybody hissy fits.

      • niktemadur

        The 1% throwing a destructive and truly cruel temper tantrum.  Next up, that Papa John’s idiot.

      • Robert

        Luckily, there’s now a DSM diagnosis for that.

      • class_enemy

         Michelle Obama’s childhood obesity initiative could well benefit by the disappearance of Twinkies.

  • moop2000
    • ChicagoD

      Ha ha ha ha. Yeah. That’s totally the rotation of Twinkies at the average off-brand convenience store. Ha ha ha ha ha.

  • archanoid

    Here’s an interesting article from Fortune Magazine about the company’s woes since the first bankruptcy in 2004…

    http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/26/hostess-twinkies-bankrupt/?iid=EL

  • Lexicat

    The list of Hostess’ product names reminds me of the Hot Head Paisan Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist cartoon in which a display shelf lists off:

    Twinkies!
    Snowballs!
    Ho-Hos!
    Ding-Dongs!
    Vaginas!

    • Ashley Yakeley

      Well it’s 9th & Hennepin…

  • knoxblox

    Well, until somebody buys the label, I’m stocking up on Ding Dongs.

    • Cowicide

      I’m stocking up on Ding Dongs.

      Too late.  Most of the top executive ding dongs have already scurried out the back door with any money they could grab.

  • http://twitter.com/cicadamania Cicada Mania

    My guess is that Groupo Bimbo will buy the brand. They already own brands like Entenmann’s and they manufacture Wonderbread in Mexico.

    • xzzy

      Instant comedy too. I find it impossible to avoid snickering whenever I see a Bimbo truck on the road.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/W5NEPSSARKV4CRL4UR2THIPVHA itchycoo parka

      It is only fitting and just that Twinkies(TM) be acquired by Groupo Bimbo.  If it does so happen I will buy a case and give them out as stocking stuffers.

      • nixiebunny

        I know a guy who refers to pretty yet vapid TV news reporters as news-Twinkies. You can see where this is leading.

        • That_Anonymous_Coward

          *waits for his fav mod to show up and explain his experiences with twinks*

          • Antinous / Moderator

            Never touched one.

          • That_Anonymous_Coward

            *stares*
            Did you just have an I didn’t inhale moment? :)

    • Henry Pootel

      It would make more (comedic) sense if Groupo Bimbo were to buy up the Ho Ho brand.

      • cdh1971

        Oh, my. The Schwartz is strong with this one.

    • niktemadur

      Groupo Bimbo

      That should be Grupo Bimbo.
      For a silly giggle, translate Pan Bimbo to English:  Bimbo Bread.

  • http://factoidlabs.com mack

    Dammitall, now I can’t enjoy my beloved Orange Cupcakes any longer – not because they won’t be available, but because they’ll only be available from union-busting opportunists.

    Politics or delicacies? Decisions, decisions …

    • http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns

      Just let ‘em go, it’ll be better for you and everyone in the long run. 

  • That_Anonymous_Coward

    They sell sugary crap in ‘Merika… and couldn’t be profitable?
    How does that work?

  • chgoliz

    One of the snootiest cupcake boutiques in downtown Chicago offers a signature cupcake with their name on it; when asked to describe it, they’ll tell you it’s basically a Hostess cupcake, except with with perishable ingredients.

    • http://twitter.com/mjlonsda Matt L

      Cupcake boutique? Pheh. Liz Lemon taught me that when it comes to cupcakes, don’t overthink it. Sara Lee. Frozen. Unbelievable!

      After typing that, I had a moment of panic where I realized it’s possible that Hostess might own Sara Lee. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. Phew.

  • t3kna2007

    And just when we were making good progress on the cannabinoid front, we take a serious hit to the munchies.  What a world.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OAUXAA362EXWLYVMPJOKLFB5JQ Incipient Madness

    This was the greatest hour in the history of twinkies:
    http://www.twinkiesproject.com/

  • SomeGuyNamedMark

    I am shocked (shocked I tells ya!) that a company owned by a group of investors with a strong background in baking and the food industry, such as the hedge funds Silver Point Capital and Monarch Alternative Capital, would end up driving the company into the ground.

  • oschene

    If the number of Twinkies is finite and shrinking, could we use them like Bitcoins?

  • regeya

    I live in the Land of Lincoln, in an area that used to be heavily dependent upon coal, and it’s amazing how much herp and derp about unions and Obama are on the local TV station’s news item about Hostess.

    I worked at a fairly conservative newspaper that was right next to a Hostess distributor.  I remember them being closed in 2007, and I don’t remember any of their workers looking all that well-to-do.  Well, that, and we shared a parking lot, and I remember there was a semi driver that would, no matter where I would park my Insight, would come within a foot of my car.  Every time.  I never did get a chance to ask him why he had a gripe with me saving money on gas.

  • acerplatanoides

    Someone call Twinkie the Kid!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Shawn-Goldwater/806673997 Shawn Goldwater

    If I understand correctly, they’ll still be available in Canada, where they’re made by Saputo (formerly Vachon Cakes), who make such made-in-Canada snack cakes as Mae West and Jos. Louis. So  come north. 

    • ashypete

      I believe that is correct but I don’t think we have as near the Hostess snack penetration as we do with the Vachon cakes. But I’ll admit bias as my house was a staunch Vachon stronghold.We call them Grandpa’s medicine (along with Map-o-spread and those peanut butter Pirate cookies) and my son only sees them when we go to my parent’s place.

      • Navin_Johnson

         Hostess snack penetration

        Rule 34

        • That_Anonymous_Coward

          Rule 35

          Now you get right on that Navin

  • franko

    i won’t miss most of their products, but i shed tears for their fruit pies. :’ (

    • ChicagoD

      “Fruit” pies. I’m more partial to the “custard” versions myself, but hey, variety is the spice of life.

  • amuseamuse

    Here’s the contact information for the three vulture companies that killed Hostess and ruined the lives of 18000 employees for short-term gain, in case anyone is interested.

    Ripplewood Holdings:
    Address: 1 Rockefeller Plaza, 32nd. Fl.New York, NY 10020
    Phone: 212-582-6700
    Fax: 212-582-4110

    Silver Point Capital:Two Greenwich Plaza
    Greenwich, CT 06830
    Tel: 203-542-4230
    Email: info@silverpointcapital.com
    Monarch Alternative Capital:
    535 Madison Avenue

    New York, NY 10022

    T. 212.554.1700
    F. 212.554.1701
    E. info@monarchlp.com

  • http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty

    Aaggh. I don’t want to link to it directly, because spam, but in my podcast (4 episodes in) I’ve been reviewing Hostess cakes. What can I do now? If only there were other snacks to review.
    (I never said it was original btw)

    • ashypete

       As was mentioned above, they still make them in Canada. I’m sure there will be people who would be happy to ship them to you.

  • BunnyShank

    so glad I caved into that craving for a twinkie last year

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=605791538 Stephen Dennis

    Damn you Dr. Atkins

  • ntsteflonnts

    Unfortunately the writing was on the wall in 2004 when they filed bankruptcy the first time.  

    “a matrix of 372 collective-bargaining agreements, a dozen separate unions, 5,500 delivery routes, and no fewer than 40 multi-employer pension plans that are despised by management.”

    With a corporate structure like that, the only real way to overhaul the company would be to blow it up.  Hostess got what it asked for when it agreed to the deals that set up this patch-work.

    My sympathy to the employees who could only watch the whole thing melt around them, and who are now left holding the bag.  Too sad.

  • BarBarSeven

    This will liberate Drake’s cakes! Back to independent Yodels, Ring Dings & Coffee Cakes! 

  • That_Anonymous_Coward

    And now… twinkies are trading for serious amounts on the bay of e…
    WTF is wrong with people.

  • Al_Packer

    Time for Murkins to rediscover the lost art of baking.