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The newly-revived Hostess snack cake company created a stir late last week when it indicated it wouldn’t be allowing any unions. As the Wall Street Journal reported:  Chief Executive C. Dean Metropoulos (of Metropoulos & Co, one of the two companies reviving the brand) said the company will pump $60 million in capital investments into the plants between now and September and aims to hire at least 1,500 workers. But they won’t be represented by unions, including the one whose nationwide strike sparked the 86-year-old company’s decision to shut down in November.“We do not expect to be involved in the union...

Today's fun story is the return of Twinkies, due in stores this summer. Less fun for Pres. Obama's labor agenda is that Hostess's new owner is not hiring union labor to bake and deliver its products. Because the former Hostess liquidated in bankruptcy several months ago, no labor contracts exist between Hostess and powerful unions such as the Teamsters. The steady decline of private sector unions is nothing new, but the Hostess restructuring is a test case for unions and Obama's ability to repay them for their support. Pres. Obama's latest nemesis –Twinkie The Kid Obama is a union man,...

Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) issued a statement today, responding to the sale of the iconic Twinkies brand.  In response to Metropoulos & Co. CEO C. Dean Metropoulos' statement to The Wall Street Journal that the company will not hire union workers when reopening four former Hostess Brands bakeries, BCTGM International President David B. Durkee issued the following statement on behalf of all BCTGM members:The BCTGM is pleased to see that Hostess Brands LLC, the newly formed snack cake company created by Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co, has announced that it will be reopening four Hostess...

The company that bought the Twinkie, HoHo and Ding Dong brands out of bankruptcy is gearing up to reopen plants and hire workers, but it won't be using union labor. Hostess Brands new incarnation of the baking company that liquidated in Chapter 11—is reopening four bakeries in the next eight to 10 weeks, aiming to get Twinkie-deprived consumers the classic snack cake starting in July. Chief Executive C. Dean Metropoulos said the company will pump $60 million in capital investments into the plants between now and September and aims to hire at least 1,500 workers. But they won't be represented...

The bankrupt assets of Hostess Brands, Inc., the company responsible for Twinkies, Ho Ho's, Sno Balls and Ding Dongs, are being put back to work by a buyout firm. What's not being put back to work are the former Hostess unionized employees. The unionized workers had been on strike when the company folded late last year. The company had imposed a contract that would cut its 19,000 workers' wages — 15,000 of whom belonged to the workers from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) — by 8 percent. (The Teamsters was Hostess' largest union, followed...

The new owners of Hostess are starting up production again. But there's no mention of labor unions. The maker of Twinkies and Ding Dongs was involved in a crippling labor dispute last year, ultimately leading to the company shutting down and selling its assets. Roughly 15,000 of 18,500 employees lost their jobs.

Reuters) - Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread may soon be back in stores after a bankruptcy court judge on Tuesday approved sales of several iconic brands that had been owned by the failed Hostess Brands Inc. Buyout firms Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co teamed up for Hostess's snack cake brands, paying $410 million for Twinkies, Ho Hos, Ding Dongs and Donnettes. Flowers Food Inc, which makes Tastykakes snacks, picked up most of Hostess's bread business, including its Wonder and Nature's Pride brands for $360 million. The No. 2 U.S. baking company also bought 20 bakeries and other...

Hostess Brands Inc. on Thursday named McKee Foods Corp. the winning bidder for its Drake's brand of coffee cakes and other treats, as no other bidder topped McKee's $27.5 million offer. Hostess said a planned Friday auction for Drake's, which makes Ring Dings, Yodels, Devil Dogs and its namesake Drake's coffee cake, will be canceled. Hostess will ask a bankruptcy judge to approve the transaction at an April 9 hearing. McKee, the maker of Little Debbie snack cakes, in January was named the lead bidder for Drake's. The company will get Drake's brands and equipment if the judge approves the...

Hostess Brands Selects Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co. as Winning Bidder for Majority of Snack Cake Business, Including Twinkies® Agreement Includes Both Hostess® and Dolly Madison® Brands Company to Seek Court Approval of Sale on March 19 KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 12, 2013 - Hostess Brands Inc. ("Hostess Brands" or "the Company") announced that the stalking horse bid submitted by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO) (collectively with its subsidiaries "Apollo") and Metropoulos & Co. ("Metropoulos") for the majority of the Company's snack cake business, which includes both Hostess® and Dolly Madison® branded products, will be...

The winning bid is a joint venture by private equity firms Apollo Global Management (APO) and Metropoulos & Co. A statement from Dean Metropoulos, founder of one of the firms, confirmed they are the winning bidder. "Our family is thrilled to have the opportunity to reestablish these iconic brands with new creative marketing ideas and renewed sales efforts and investment," said Metropoulos. "We look forward to having America's favorite snacks back on the shelf by this summer. We are also ecstatic to bring jobs back to many cities across the country." The bankruptcy court had been set to have an...

Labor: Who says intransigence doesn't pay? After driving Hostess out of business by refusing to negotiate, union bakers have been rewarded by the White House with Trade Adjustment Assistance. It's all the foreigners' fault. Politics: Who says intransigence doesn't pay? After driving Hostess out of business by refusing to negotiate, the White House has decided to reward the union bakers with Trade Adjustment Assistence, blaming foreigners. What a sweet deal. ... the AFL-CIO-affiliated Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International (BCTGM). It refused to deal, taking the entire company, including fellow workers, down with it. Turns out the union...

NEW YORK — Hostess has picked a lead bidder for its famous Twinkies. The bankrupt Irving company said late Wednesday that it has selected a joint offer from two investment firms — C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management LLC — as the lead bid for its Twinkies and other snack cakes. Hostess says the two are offering to pay $410 million for the snack-cake business and five bakeries. The "stalking horse" bid would set the floor for an auction process that lets competitors make better offers. A judge would have to approve any final sale. After years...

The iconic Wonderbread, once in jeopardy after Hostess declared bankruptcy, seems likely to return to store shelves under a new brand. A $390 million bid from Flower Foods Inc., for six of the Twinkie maker’s bread brands, was the leading bid on Friday. Flower Foods, which is based in Thomasville, Ga., is best known for making Tastykakes, which are cream filled chocolate cupcakes. The company also makes breads, including Nature’s Own and Cobblestone Mill. Higher competing bids can still be made before the final deal is approved in bankruptcy court. Flower Foods made a $360 million bid for Wonder Bread,...

Planned layoffs at U.S. firms rose for the third month in a row in November, partly driven by the bankruptcy of Hostess Brands, a report showed on Thursday. Employers announced 57,081 job cuts last month, the highest level since May and up nearly 20 percent from 47,724 in October, according to the report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. November's job cuts were also up 34.4 percent from the 42,474 seen a year ago. Employers have announced 490,806 cuts in 2012, lower than 2011's total of 606,082 layoffs. The recent surge in layoffs is at least partly attributed to...

Who's looking to snatch up Hostess Brands following the company's plans to liquidate? According to Bloomberg, Walmart and Kroger are among the two dozen bidders interested in the maker of Twinkies, Ho Hos and Wonder Bread. Citing a person familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports the two companies, along with Grupo Bimbo and Alpha Baking, have placed bids on Hostess' assets. The source says some of the bids are for all of the assets, while others are just for the cakes or breads businesses. Some bidders, meanwhile, are only seeking to acquire Hostess' plants. Should the liquidation sale go through,...

FARGO, N.D. — Their ranks thinned by a 16-month lockout, American Crystal Sugar Co. workers on Saturday rejected a contract for the fourth time. Contract opponents say the sugar beet processor’s five-year contract offer would cut health care benefits and weaken job security and seniority protections. The company says the offer would raise worker pay by 17 percent over five years when a $2,000 signing bonus is taken into account. Leaders of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International union said in a news release that the workers voted 55 percent to reject management’s contract offer. “By now...

New York - Hostess Brands got final approval for its wind-down plans in bankruptcy court Thursday, setting the stage for its roster of snack cakes to find a second life with new owners - even as 18,000 jobs will be wiped out. The company said in court that it's in talks with 110 potential buyers for its iconic brands, which also include Ding Dongs and Ho Hos. The suitors include at least five national retailers, such as supermarkets, according to a financial adviser for the company. The process has been "so fast and furious," Hostess hasn't been able to make...

Five years ago while driving my son Sam to The University of Kansas, we stopped to get gas off the I-70 in the western part of the state. There was a rather large market adjacent to the gas pumps which we entered to buy some drinks. There was a massive display of Hostess products. The entire family of delicious treats was on there – Twinkies, Cupcakes, Ding-Dongs, Fruits Pies and Snowballs. I knew I was no longer in California as I never see them in health-obsessed Los Angeles. Now they will all be gone unless someone buys them out of...

Some of the company’s $2 billion in unfunded liabilities could get dumped on the federally sponsored Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), raising premiums for the many solvent companies that are obliged to participate. Worse yet, a lot of Hostess’s liability is to union “multiemployer” plans, which under a peculiarly onerous federal law follow a “last-man-standing” rule of liability under which companies still operating are made to pick up the obligations of those no longer in business. David Kaplan at Fortune quotes a Credit Suisse report to the effect that multiemployer plans “are now underfunded by $369 billion.” [Ivan Osorio, CEI]

Let's get a few things clear. Hostess didn't fail for any of the reasons you've been fed. It didn't fail because Americans demanded more healthful food than its Twinkies and Ho-Hos snack cakes. It didn't fail because its unions wanted it to die. It failed because the people that ran it had no idea what they were doing. Every other excuse is just an attempt by the guilty to blame someone else. Take the notion that Hostess was out of step with America's healthful-food craze. You'd almost think that Hostess failed because it didn't convert its product line into one...

The fake “reporters and journalists” we are forced to put up with have destroyed our sacred freedom of the press. Their lies and half-truths lead trusting readers to only the conclusions they want Americans to reach. The truth about the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers Union (BCTW&GMU) is a good example of the kind of information the fake media hides from us. The leadership of the BCTW&GMU is a gang of greedy crooks who are only concerned with filling up the trough they push their snouts into. That trough is constantly refilled with the dues money of workers...

Drat! I’m bummed—saddened by the news that the Hostess company, home of the Twinkie and other venerable sugary snacks, is shutting down. I’ll bet I haven’t eaten more than three or four Twinkies in the last 30 years, so the demise of Hostess doesn’t adversely impact my lifestyle. It’s just that, for baby boomers like me, the Twinkie has historic significance in popular culture. Being a kid in the ‘50s meant watching “The Mickey Mouse Club” and “The Lone Ranger” and snacking on Twinkies and Tootsie Rolls. Twinkies were as American as baseball. Now the company that makes them is...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:Nothing in my youth was more ubiquitous than Wonder Bread, Twinkies and the Hostess chocolate cupcake with its signature white frosting swirl on top. These cultural icons will soon go the way of the Dodo Bird thanks to Americas' contracting economy and union entitlements. According to the Teamsters Union, which represents 6,700 Hostess workers, the company demanded a 30% cut in worker's wages and benefits. The union responded by telling their members to strike."... We do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike," said Hostess Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn in a statement released to...

Everyone loses: •HOSTESS JUDGE APPROVES MOTION TO WIND DOWN COMPANY•HOSTESS WINS APPROVAL TO CLOSE AND BEGIN SELLING ASSETS Next up: the Twinkie economy. Fom Leveraged Loan: U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain this afternoon approved Hostess Brands’ emergency wind-down plan, as well as an amendment to its debtor-in-possession credit agreement that will allow Hostess to access the full amount of its $75 million DIP loan during its liquidation. Drain also denied a motion filed by the U.S. Trustee to convert the case to Chapter 7, though he did not rule out the prospect of a conversion at a later date. Hostess...

A corporate bankruptcy is a paper death. The underlying assets live on. Killers of paper structures, in this light, are devalued villains, but a cry has gone up to identify the villain behind the pending liquidation of Hostess Brands, maker of Twinkies, Devil Dogs, Wonder Bread and other déclassé delights. Everyone knows the answer: It was the bakers—i.e., the branch of the AFL-CIO formally known as the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. The bakers are guilty of a perfectly justifiable attempted homicide. Don't believe any guff about how chubby Americans are gnawing on carrot sticks. Forget...

In the aftermath of the fall of Hostess, I thought it would be appropriate to spotlight America's most prolific Union thug, Richard Trumka. Caption this photo!: Trumka: "Hey you idiot, I'VE got the dibs on that last case of Twinkies."

<p>And that, economists say, may come down to one sweet little word: sugar.</p> <p>Since 1934, Congress has supported tariffs that benefit primarily a few handful of powerful Florida families while forcing US confectioners to pay nearly twice the global market price for sugar.</p>

Last week, when discussing the next steps for the company, and specifically the hope that mediation may resolve the epic animosity between management and workers, we stated that "What makes a mediation improbable is that the antagonism between the feuding sides has certainly hit a level of no return: "Several unions also objected to the company's plans, saying they made "a mockery" of laws protecting collective bargaining agreements in bankruptcy. The Teamsters, which represents 7,900 Hostess workers, said the company's plan would improperly cut the ability of remaining workers to use sick days and vacation." Sure enough, moments ago we...

Hostess Brands Inc. lived to die another day. The maker of Twinkies and Ding Dongs said late Tuesday that it failed to reach an agreement with its second biggest union. As a result, Hostess plans to continue with a hearing on Wednesday in which a bankruptcy court judge will decide if the company can shutter its operations. The renewed talks between Hostess and The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union came after the company declared last week that it would move to wind down its business and start selling off its assets in bankruptcy court. The company...

It will be ironic but fitting if the rights to the Twinkie and other treats end up being bought by Mexican bakery El Grupo Bimbo through bankruptcy liquidation. Growing up in Pittsburgh, union people are the greediest,entitlement minded people I have known in my lifetime. The only EXCEPTIONS I have personally known just happen to HATE being in the union and despise the lazy idiots more than anyone... (video) The union people who are actually WORTH the money they are paid - resent - that they have to pick up the slack for the idiots!

Hostess Brands Inc. said Tuesday night that mediation talks with its bakers union failed and the company will proceed with plans to close down and sell its assets.

Killing the goose that lays the golden egg is one of those old fairy tales for children which has a heavy message that a lot of adults should listen to. The labor unions which have driven the makers of Twinkies into bankruptcy, potentially destroying 18,500 jobs, could have learned a lot from that old children's fairy tale. Many people think of labor unions as organizations to benefit workers, and think of employers who are opposed to unions as just people who don't want to pay their employees more money. But some employers have made it a point to pay their...

Dow Jones is reporting that a bankruptcy judge is urging mediation to save Hostess from liquidation. WSJ will have more to come as it comes out of the courtroom. Here’s an update from bankruptcy reporters Jacqueline Palank and Rachel Feintzeig A bankruptcy judge Monday asked whether he should preside over mediation between Hostess Brands Inc. and its striking union to avoid pulling the plug on the baker of Ho Hos, Twinkies and Wonder Bread.

Hostess Brands, the maker of the iconic Twinkies snack cakes, may find a buyer when it heads to bankruptcy court today to liquidate the 82-year-old company, the company’s CEO says. “I think we’ll find buyers,” CEO Gregory F. Rayburn told ABC News on Sunday. ”A few have surfaced already since Friday expressing interest in the brand to acquire them.” Con Agra and Flowers Foods are among the companies that have expressed interest in Hostess, but Mexican company El Grupo Bimbo may have an edge, the Christian Science Monitor reported Saturday. Grupo Bimbo, headed by Mexican billionaire Daniel Servitje Montull, is...

Could Mitt Romney save Hostess? Like him or not, if you have ever shopped at a Staples and/or Sports Authority, you have Mitt Romney and his Bain Capital buddies to thank. And now that Mr. Romney is not running — well anything, maybe he can shift his energy towards an endeavor greater than saving the nation from the “looming fiscal cliff” … and rescue my favorite cakes from extinction. Sure President Obama may have saved the auto-industry, but bring back Ho Ho’s, Sno-Balls and Wonder Bread and Virginia, Minnesota & Michigan become easy wins in the next presidential election. Wanna...

It is said that people get the government they deserve. As the election of 2012 proves, this is woefully inaccurate in politics, because even if those who consciously voted for the destructive Democratic Party do deserve it, those who wisely voted against it certainly do not. The same saying is often said of the economy, particularly when something disastrous happens – a large-scale layoff, a manufacturer fleeing burdensome taxes or regulations for the welcoming shores of China or India, a company collapsing under the weight of an unreasonable union. But there too, the saying is inaccurate. Even if some deserve...

A Sarasota company may be to thank for saving Twinkies. Hurst Capital, LLLP on Monday filed a letter of intent to acquire the assets of Hostess Brands Inc. with the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York becoming the latest company to step forward to save Twinkies from extinction. "Hostess has over the past 80 years created several of the most recognizable and powerful brands in the United States,” said Hurst Capital, LLLP Managing General Partner Austin Hurst in a statement. "They have undeniable value and when combined with the other existing assets of the company...

This morning’s news that Hostess Brands, Inc. was shutting its doors after 82 years of operation (originally under the name International Bakeries Corporation) has elicited a lot of commentary from various sources. Culturally, I’m seeing a lot of people lament the fact that some of their favorite brands of snack food or bread — from Twinkies to Ho-Hos to Wonder Bread to Beefsteak Rye Bread — will no longer be available. Politically, there’s been a definite theme on the right blaming the Baker’s Union for the company’s collapse since they would not agree to a modification of their contract notwithstanding...

The demise of Hostess and Twinkies is not a national emergency, but it is certainly sad when a major business goes under and thousands of people lose their jobs. If federal and state policymakers want to play a useful role here, they should study why Hostess couldn’t make a go of it. Were there tax or regulatory factors that stood in the way of the company earning a decent rate of return?Unions were an important factor that pushed up the firm’s costs and reduced its operational efficiency. The policy reform here is obvious for people who appreciate market economics: repeal America’s coercive union laws. If policymakers don’t kill so-called collective bargaining,...

The news about the bankruptcy of Hostess, maker of the Twinkie and other legendary junk foods, touched off some memories of growing up in a mid-sized Midwestern town in the 1970s and '80s. No, not that kind of memory, though come to think of it, the 1980s was the last time I actually ate a Hostess snack. What I'm recalling has a lot less nostalgic charm: the whole phenomenon of a kamikaze labor union that keeps demanding more for workers--who end up getting nothing when their employer goes belly-up. That's pretty much what the unions did, or tried to do,...

Union plague devours another company and more jobs. Wait until the kids and single women who re-elected our would-be despot experience how the misery of Marxism actually affects their lifestyles... (video linked)

Politics: Union intransigence and unrealistic expectations at Hostess Brands have forced the bakery to shut its doors permanently and throw 18,500 people out of work. So much for Big Labor caring about the little guy. A down economy and two restructurings in three years left Hostess, maker of Twinkies and Sno Balls, in dire fiscal straits. The company warned its workers, union and nonunion, to make concessions or everyone would go down in a liquidation. Instead, one union, the AFL-CIO-affiliated Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International (BCTGM), imagined the company was bluffing and went on strike.

RADIO TRANSCRIPT. Joe Label has bakers' union boss Frank Hurt on the show HOST: "Welcome back to Union Talk Radio, I'm your host Joe Label, our guest this hour is Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union President Frank Hurt. First I want to congratulate you guys are a major victory this week, taking down Hostess all the way to liqudation! Brilliant job" FRANK HURT: "Thank you Joe, yes, it was a magnificient victory indeed for the workers of this country. A great victory for organized labor! A god day for America and our future." HOST: "What does the demise...

The Recipe is at the site. Also a link for the Twinkie cake recipe. If you got to have your Twinkie fix, this link is dedicated to you. Don't Panic! 2 Teaspoons very hot water Rounded 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 cups marshmallow cream (1 7-oz jar) 1/2 cup shortening 1/3 cup powdered sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

I went to buy some Ho Ho’s but they were gone, and so was a part of America. When I heard that Hostess was declaring bankruptcy it made me sad. Probably not as sad at the 18,000 people that used to work for them but it did affect me. Oh, I knew that I was partly to blame. When I was a child I would gobble down Ho Ho’s and chocolate cupcakes with abandon. I could burn through a half of a box of Ho Ho’s and a half gallon of Vitamin D milk in about 15 minutes. My elementary...

Labor leaders in Maine say the resilience of the Hostess workers on the picket line at the company’s Biddeford plant, which is in the process of being shut down after the company on Friday said it would liquidate the business, gives them inspiration in the face of what they believe have been ongoing efforts — by politicians, including Gov. Paul LePage, and corporate investors — to reduce union influence. Bakers’ union officials and their supporters say also that the demise of Hostess Brands Inc., which failed to convince striking workers to return to their jobs, is a warning sign for...

Top Secret Recipes Version of the Hostess Twinkie The Twinkie was invented in 1930 by the late James A. Dewar, then the Chicago-area regional manager of Continental Baking Company, the parent corporation behind the Hostess trademark. At the time, Continental made "Little Short Cake Fingers" only during the six-week strawberry season, and Dewar realized that the aluminum pans in which the cakes were baked sat idle the rest of the year. He came up with the idea of injecting the little cakes with a creamy filling to make them a year-round product and decided to charge a nickel for a...

The news is bad:it’s not just Twinkies.It’s the whole line of Hostess bread and treats. (snip)Let’s review:a few years back the Health Police declared Wonder bread,while basically nutritious,not healthy enough(snip)Hostess felt compelled to mix it up a bit. What else can you do when Health Police edicts give preference to other breads that aren’t as white?(snip) (snip)They began offering everything from plain old white to 100% Whole Wheat and every shade in between. (snip)What started out on the bread line moved quickly into every other division of Hostess. First to be “improved” in the delicious snacks division was the...

I guess there was a time when unions did some good. I know my great grandfather was a big supporter of them, but frankly I can't see where they do anything good at all anymore. From the time I was a kid, all I've ever understood about them was that they're associated with organized crime, and they're physically violent and proud of it. But over the last couple of years I've learned a little bit more, and I have to say I'm not at all enthusiastic about what I've seen. First it was SEIU union thugs tossing beatdowns at...

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