Twinkies. Hostess Cupcakes. Wonder Bread. Ding-dongs.
They will be gone forever, with reports Friday that Hostess Brands, Inc., will sell off or close down its renown business. Done in, the CEO claims, by labor union action.
Twinkies, an 82-year-old American tradition, began in Chicago at a bakery in Schiller Park. The cakes were originally stuffed with banana-flavored cream, but after banana rationing in World War II, the filling switched to vanilla.
Chicago became the “Twinkie Capital of the World” when its residents were named as the highest per capita consumers of the treat, The Huffington Post reports.
But Hostess filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this past January.
The company has been challenged by not only by snarly labor relations, and a national strike by its second-largest labor union, but also by consumers switching to healthier foods and high ingredient costs, posits the Wall Street Journal.
One caveat—The Journal says that Hostess has threatened liquidation before, and not followed through. The move would put 18,500 workers out of their jobs, CNN reports.
The Twinkie brand is officially for sale, but some local bakeries are determined to keep the snack alive.
Redeye said Chicago’s Angel Food Bakery in Ravenswood has its own version of the Twinkie, called the “airstream.”
At-home chefs can also try to make their own, pending a sugar shortage from the desperate Twinkie fans.
What do you think about this end to a junk-food kingdom? Will you buy some Ding-dongs and Twinkies just for old times' sake? Stock up on them for the future?
