Posted on 01/09/2012 3:09:57 PM PST by Dysart
Hostess Brands Inc. is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as this week, said people familiar with the matter, a move that would mark the second significant court restructuring for the Twinkie and Wonder Bread baker in the past several years.
The privately held Irving, Texas, company, which employs roughly 19,000 people and carries more than $860 million in debt, has been facing a cash squeeze amid high labor costs and rising prices for sugar, flour and other ingredients, according to people familiar with the matter. Those costs together have proved higher than the company's roughly $2.5 billion in annual sales, creating losses and cash shortfalls, they said.
Hostess also currently owes more than $50 million to vendors, which have been demanding payments on shortened timeframes after delivering goods because of Hostess's financial condition, one of the people said.
Hostess's filing would mark what's known as a "Chapter 22" in restructuring circles, since the company had already sought bankruptcy protection once before. Hostess, before called Interstate Bakeries Corp., slashed debt and costs during a four-year stint in bankruptcy court that began in 2004. The company has struggled since emerging from bankruptcy proceedings in February 2009.
The company's private-equity owner, Ripplewood Holdings, invested $40 million in Hostess last year to no avail. Hedge funds Monarch Alternative Capital, Silver Point Capital and others loaned the company $20 million late last year, but Hostess continues to have cash problems.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
LLS
The snack food eating demo is more hip and more urban. “
Another great idea here on FR! Hostess could make ethic tweaks to their products!!
They could come out with a Hip Hop Ho Ho for example. Or salsa flavored Twinkies (probably not a good idea).
On a serious note however; look what Lays has done to the once mundane potato chip. They have some pretty good flavors available now that were once available just in a higher end chip.
They were made with beef tallow prior to trans fats. THOSE were the best.
LLS
Mt thought exactly - the only product in that brand I love.
Convenience Store Clerk: [Powell with an armload of Twinkies] I thought you guys just ate doughnuts.
Sergeant Al Powell: Heh. They’re for my wife.
Convenience Store Clerk: [sarcastically] Yeah.
Sergeant Al Powell: She’s pregnant.
Convenience Store Clerk: Yeah.
Sergeant Al Powell: Bag it.
Convenience Store Clerk: Big time.
It’s because they’re shipping them from a further distance now.
They have shut down MANY of their bakeries and turned them into trucking distribution points.
01:17:49 Oh, God...
01:17:53 Roy? Roy, you all right?
01:17:57 Just trying to fire down a 1,000-year-old Twinkie.
01:18:00 What do they put in these things, anyway?
Louisiana Lighting!
Why?
Will my computer get fat?.
What? Hostess/Twinkies is bankrupt? Judging by the girth of the average American, I would think Twinkies & Ding Dongs were selling at a record pace!
Post 85 is more likely, that the switch to transfats killed the product. Not a switch away from them.
Yep, they should never have messed with the original formula.
To my knowledge I have never eaten a Twinkie, a Ho ho or a Ding Dong
I was out this morning and bought a pack of Twinkies and of Dingdongs.
It would be a pity for them to disappear and I did not know what they were
L
Ah, the breakfast of champions. Consider washing them down with Mountain Dew. One can never have too much sugar. 100 for the win.
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