Hostess Declares Bankruptcy, Sells Off Assets

[Redstar]

I'm sure most, if not all, of you have heard the news of Hostess (makers of such popular snack cakes as Twinkies, Ho-Hos and Sno Balls) declaring bankruptcy. All 33 factories were shut down, forcing nearly 19,000 people to be sent home and laid-odd. The recipes for their snack cakes are now being sold to other companies, meaning we may soon have "Little Debbie Twinkies," etc.

What are everyone's thoughts on this situation? Any snack cake childhood memories to share?

[ultimateemail5000]

I would have rather it been the bakery I worked for to be honest. I'd be mad if my friends their lost their jobs, but I hated bakery work, it's the worst ever.

[Prime Evil]

Last I heard, the Mexican breadmaker Bimbo Bread has the strongest chance at getting the Hostess name.

It declared bankruptcy a couple of times before, once in 2004 and, if I'm not mistaken, once again in 2009.

[ultimateemail5000]

Last I heard, the Mexican breadmaker Bimbo Bread has the strongest chance at getting the Hostess name.

The bakery I worked at actually made stuff for Bimbo. Dunno what they made for them though.

[Serum]

This makes me sad on so many levels... Hostess has been making yummy treats for ages, and now they can't make goodies anymore because of the declining economy. If TastyCakes ever goes out of business, I think I'll lose all connection with this world.

[Redstar]

The funny thing is that there are already so many generic versions of the Twinkie out there that it will be interesting to see which takes dominance to fill the void. I've already seen Little Debbie overstocked on shelves.

Also, since Hostess is selling off the rights to their products, who's to say that one of the companies behind those generic brand Twinkies might just buy the name rights and rename their own version without changing the recipe? That would be crazy!

[billbot85]

It's pretty upsetting, considering I love Hostess cupcakes. I may pick some up soon. Tastycake is awesome, btw. I always loved their Butterscotch Krimpets, which were referenced a lot in a childhood novel I liked called Maniac Magee. Little Debbie is also great, especially their Swiss Cake Rolls and Devil Cremes.

[Prime Evil]

I would venture to say that Cloud Cakes are, on the whole, better than Twinkies proper. It's the texture, I think.

[Redstar]

I've been craving Twinkies for the last week. Funny when you want something that you can't have, especially when it was within your means to get it for years but you never did.