So Long And Thanks For All The Snacks: Hostess Closes Down

Sad day in Snack Town, or more fuel for anti-unionists?

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_220098...

Hostess, based in Irving, Texas, said it was saddled with costs related to its unionized workforce. The company had been contributing $100 million a year in pension costs for workers; the new contract offer would've slashed that to $25 million a year, in addition to wage cuts and a 17 percent reduction in health benefits.

Management missteps were another problem. Hostess came under fire this spring after it was revealed that nearly a dozen executives received pay hikes of up to 80 percent last year even as the company was struggling. Although some of those executives later agree to reduced salaries, others—including former CEO Brian Driscoll—had left the company by the time the pay hikes came to light.

*cough*
Doesn't have Hostess in the title though.

When I heard the news I kinda went, "meh... I don't eat that crap anyway." But then the news listed all the brands that Hostess owns and one of them are Drakes Cakes.

No more Funny Bones. Nooooo!!!

I kind of felt the same way. Hostess is tightly tied to my childhood, but it's been decades since I've had a twinkie. Nostalgia is the only reason this news has any currency with me.

Stengah wrote:

*cough*
Doesn't have Hostess in the title though.

AAAAUUUUUGH!!! You made me go into P&C you bastard!

I'll be the one to spoil most of the jokes and remind everyone that the brand is valuable enough that it's relatively unlikely that Twinkies will remain permanently gone--though there will always be people who claim it tasted better before. (More obscure snacks in the Hostess brand may be disappearing for good, though.)

Also, the shelf life of Twinkies is about a month at the outside, so there is going to be a world Twinkie shortage come January.

Stengah wrote:

*cough*
Doesn't have Hostess in the title though.

Yeah P&C. In this thread we can just mourn the loss of Twinkies or make funny jokes about Zombieland and not argue about whether it was the union or company's fault.

Stele wrote:
Stengah wrote:

*cough*
Doesn't have Hostess in the title though.

Yeah P&C. In this thread we can just mourn the loss of Twinkies or make funny jokes about Zombieland and not argue about whether it was the union or company's fault. ;)

Clearly, it's your fault, for not eating enough Twinkies.

Stengah wrote:

*cough*
Doesn't have Hostess in the title though.

AAAAUUUUUGH!!! You made me go into P&C you bastard!

Next time I should cough and link to the spider thread instead, got it.

Stengah wrote:
Stengah wrote:

*cough*
Doesn't have Hostess in the title though.

AAAAUUUUUGH!!! You made me go into P&C you bastard!

Next time I should cough and link to the spider thread instead, got it. ;)

Far far preferable.

IMAGE(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/Thin_J/thetwinkiesohnoes.jpg)

When I heard that these ubiquitous purveyors of cheap corn syrup and starch treats where having financial troubles, the words Cheese Wagstaff shared with Fat Face Rick came to mind: "We selling dope and coke in Baltimore! Any y'all aint got that kind of money need be ashamed!"

I will miss the idea of Twinkies, but not so much the physical experience of eating one.

Pfftt Twinkies. Ding Dongs are where it's at.

Twinkies, like Bolckbuster, are a vestige of another era. We are talking about the death throws of the industrial food era we got from the war and post war era.

But considering each grocery store has a bakery now, that Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Dunkin Doughnuts, etc are everywhere and open long hours or 24 hours, what is the point of heavily processed and preserved pastries that do not taste very good? Hell most gas stations and Convenience stores near me get fresh pastries trucked in 2-3 times a day from Krispy Kream or other Bakeries.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Pfftt Twinkies. Ding Dongs are where it's at.

Don't you lay a hand on my Ho Hos.

KingGorilla wrote:

But considering each grocery store has a bakery now, that Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Dunkin Doughnuts, etc are everywhere and open long hours or 24 hours, what is the point of heavily processed and preserved pastries that do not taste very good? Hell most gas stations and Convenience stores near me get fresh pastries trucked in 2-3 times a day from Krispy Kream or other Bakeries.

Do you want to live in a world where children watching Ghostbusters with their parents have to ask "What's a Twinkie?"

Though you know, Bimbo may save the Twinkie.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Pfftt Twinkies. Ding Dongs are where it's at.

Frozen Ding Dongs FTW!

KingGorilla wrote:

Twinkies, like Bolckbuster, are a vestige of another era. We are talking about the death throws of the industrial food era we got from the war and post war era.

But considering each grocery store has a bakery now, that Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Dunkin Doughnuts, etc are everywhere and open long hours or 24 hours, what is the point of heavily processed and preserved pastries that do not taste very good? Hell most gas stations and Convenience stores near me get fresh pastries trucked in 2-3 times a day from Krispy Kream or other Bakeries.

For the record, Ding Dongs, Twinkies and the like may be processed crap, but you are taking a huge leap when you say they don't taste good. Methinks you are mistaking snobbery for taste.

What if I said that cigars smell like crap, so why would we want to keep those harbingers of doom in a world that has shed so much of the disgusting nuisance of tobacco. Or is maybe just my opinion that cigars are disgusting?

Tannhauser wrote:

Do you want to live in a world where children watching Ghostbusters with their parents have to ask "What's a Twinkie?"

Though you know, Bimbo may save the Twinkie.

Dr. Who seems to do fine with a London Police box still. And you already need to explain why Kirk is pressing buttons on the Enterprise, and what that thing Superman runs into is.

Sorry What Jayhawker? Sorry, there was a haze and I could not read.

IMAGE(https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-ash4/c0.30.180.180/s160x160/420834_371067672982346_306633518_a.jpg)

I was not so much saying that Wonderbread and Twinkies taste bad. I am saying that in the current world we live in you have access to better and fresher stuff. I think I just said that Tim Horton's doughnuts are good. Ritual suicide it is. What you are saying is that canned ham is fine, even if there is a perfectly good deli in the same room.

Don't you know that mildly-worded statements of personal preference are apparently blasphemy now?

Some past and long lost civilizations are known today only through small shards of pottery. I always took comfort, however, that if nothing else of our culture survived, Twinkies and Ding Dongs would withstand the centuries, moist and bursting with artificial flavors, as testament to humanity's achievements. Alas, Hostess! Our legacy is lost. *sniff*

Oh, well... now where did I leave the Tastykakes and Little Debbies?

Somebody will buy that sh*t up, just hope it's not turned into a Target*Snack or Wal*Cakes.

In most of my local area grocery stores, Hostess was being squeezed out of shelf space by "Bimbo" branded snack cakes, Entenmann's, and Krispy Kreme. Whoever buys the brand should let it rest a few years and then reintroduce it to cash in on the nostalgia factor.

IMAGE(https://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/11/16/7sW5wYzXjEmMS1sAA78NUw2.jpg)

MeatMan wrote:

IMAGE(https://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/11/16/7sW5wYzXjEmMS1sAA78NUw2.jpg)

Spoiler:

Twinkie --> Butt?

When I moved back to the Grand Ole US of A in 2007, nominally for good, I decided that in the interests of immersing myself in American culture, I ought to eat a Twinkie.

To this day, the total number of Twinkies I've eaten numbers one. The closure of Hostess affects my future not one iota.

Jonman wrote:

When I moved back to the Grand Ole US of A in 2007, nominally for good, I decided that in the interests of immersing myself in American culture, I ought to eat a Twinkie.

To this day, the total number of Twinkies I've eaten numbers one. The closure of Hostess affects my future not one iota.

You, good sir, should have tried that Twinkie after it had been battered and deep fried. A cold Twinkie, like a cold Krispy Kreme donut, is a sub-optimal experience.

The best Twinkie was actually a Chocodile

Tannhauser wrote:
KingGorilla wrote:

But considering each grocery store has a bakery now, that Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Dunkin Doughnuts, etc are everywhere and open long hours or 24 hours, what is the point of heavily processed and preserved pastries that do not taste very good? Hell most gas stations and Convenience stores near me get fresh pastries trucked in 2-3 times a day from Krispy Kream or other Bakeries.

Do you want to live in a world where children watching Ghostbusters with their parents have to ask "What's a Twinkie?"

Though you know, Bimbo may save the Twinkie.

I htink KG nails it right on the head. Why have a "pastry replacement" experience when the real experience is readily attainable?

And your Ghostbusters example just goes on to reinforce KG's observation. Ghostbusters is a product of same Cold War era as Twinkies. What cool kids are going to watch it now? Especially with their parents? There are enough TVs, computers, and personal devices in an average home that allow everyone to watch what they want, when they want.