Hostess Crisis

 

I know this is going to sound crazy, but I have spent the last two and a half days distressed that I will never again be able to buy and eat my very favorite Hostess powdered donettes.  So before you read on, be prepared that this blog post to most of you will seem ridiculous!  Believe me, my husband thinks I'm crazy for all my drama over the news of this company closing!  But seriously, this donettes are SO delicious.  And you have to understand that I am pregnant right now and these need to be apart of my diet.  In fact, I have been holding out on buying lots of these until the very end of my pregnancy so I don't turn into a house.  With my other two pregnancies I ate a six pack of these scrumptious donuts almost everyday!  It is the only time I really eat like this.  So you can imagine my reaction when I learned that there would be NO more of these donettes made and that I had actually been resisting buying and eating them.....what a BIG mistake!

 

Friday night Sheldon watched the depressing evening news and informed me that Hostess went bankrupt. (Pretty sure he wishes he wouldn't have told me!) I immediately told him we needed to go out and buy one of the last bags of powered donettes in town.  Which then started this crazy search for these delicious 'party in your mouth' donettes!  After several stops around town on Friday, I soon realized that they were all gone.  I would be lying if I didn't say I was even a little agitated over the thought of never eating them again.  The poor workers at these gas stations and stores even tried to console me by offering me the Little Debbie brand. NO PEOPLE, THAT BRAND DOESN'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO MAKE A DECENT DONUT!  Finally Sheldon called off the search and we went home Friday night empty handed. 

 

Then Saturday at work my brilliant coworkers mentioned that I should order them off of Amazon.  Oh I wish you could have seen my excitement.  I quickly placed my order online for one bag for $14, against my husbands will!  Oh my mouth was watering at the thought of one last bag showing up at my doorstep in a few days.  THEN, Sheldon texted me and told me my order had been cancelled.  I thought he was just joking, but he really wasn't.  I read the annoying email informing me of my order being cancelled.  Real funny game Amazon....you people must think its great fun to mess with the pregnant chick who just wants ONE more powdered donette! 

 

Then today after church I got such a fun text message from a friend at work.  It was a picture of THREE bags of Hostess Donettes!  Was she joking I thought?  Nope, this dear friend risked her life and went to a small supermarket in the ghetto near the hospital we work at.  And to her surprise they still have Hostess products on their shelves.  She bought me three bags!!!! Who would have thought that a bag of donettes would make me so happy!  How will I ever repay her?!  She didn't even charge me $14 a bag! I work with some of the nicest people:)

 

I'm so glad this search for donettes is over!  I think I was making my husband crazy:)  But he didn't turn down my offer of 4 donettes when we got home!  He joined me and we loved them!  I plan to eat these every morning for breakfast until they are gone.  I can hardly wait to have 6 of them in the morning with a nice cold diet Pepsi!!  Yummo! 

I even shared one donette with Nathan:)

 

 

I can't end this post without sharing my opinion about why this company closed their doors.  It can be summed up in one word......and it starts with a 'U'......any guesses?  UNION!  Isn't it just a little crazy that the union in the end was responsible for this company closing its doors, leaving 18,000 people without a job?!  Its simply dumb that union workers were greedy for more money and in the end didn't get their way.....and even more dumb is that they are all out of jobs now.  I go to work everyday happy to have a job in this economy and don't expect a raise because times are tough and don't even expect my employer to pay for my insurance!   So the moral of the story is that greedy people are without jobs now, Hostess is closed, and pregnant people won't eat anymore Hostess donettes!  I'm thinking this post might be a little over the top, but it sure feels great to write it:)

 

Here is an article I found on the Hostess website about their closing......

Hostess Brands is Closed.

We are sorry to announce that Hostess Brands, Inc. has been forced by a Bakers Union strike to shut down all operations and sell all company assets. For more information, go to hostessbrands.info. Thank you for all of your loyalty and support over the years.

HOSTESS BRANDS TO WIND DOWN COMPANY AFTER BCTGM UNION STRIKE CRIPPLES OPERATIONS
Friday, November 16, 2012 at 7:00AM
Irving, TX – November 16, 2012 – Hostess Brands Inc. today announced that it is winding down operations and has filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court seeking permission to close its business and sell its assets, including its iconic brands and facilities. Bakery operations have been suspended at all plants. Delivery of products will continue and Hostess Brands retail stores will remain open for several days in order to sell already-baked products.
The Board of Directors authorized the wind down of Hostess Brands to preserve and maximize the value of the estate after one of the Company’s largest unions, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), initiated a nationwide strike that crippled the Company’s ability to produce and deliver products at multiple facilities.
On Nov. 12, Hostess Brands permanently closed three plants as a result of the work stoppage. On Nov. 14, the Company announced it would be forced to liquidate if sufficient employees did not return to work to restore normal operations by 5 p.m., EST p.m., Nov. 15. The Company determined on the night of Nov. 15 that an insufficient number of employees had returned to work to enable the restoration of normal operations.
The BCTGM in September rejected a last, best and final offer from Hostess Brands designed to lower costs so that the Company could attract new financing and emerge from Chapter 11. Hostess Brands then received Court authority on Oct. 3 to unilaterally impose changes to the BCTGM’s collective bargaining agreements.
Hostess Brands is unprofitable under its current cost structure, much of which is determined by union wages and pension costs. The offer to the BCTGM included wage, benefit and work rule concessions but also gave Hostess Brands’ 12 unions a 25 percent ownership stake in the company, representation on its Board of Directors and $100 million in reorganized Hostess Brands’ debt.
“We deeply regret the necessity of today’s decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike,” said Gregory F. Rayburn, chief executive officer. “Hostess Brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders.”
In addition to dozens of baking and distribution facilities around the country, Hostess Brands will sell its popular brands, including Hostess®, Drakes® and Dolly Madison®, which make iconic cake products such as Twinkies®, CupCakes, Ding Dongs®, Ho Ho’s®, Sno Balls® and Donettes®. Bread brands to be sold include Wonder®, Nature’s Pride ®, Merita®, Home Pride®, Butternut®, and Beefsteak®, among others.
The wind down means the closure of 33 bakeries, 565 distribution centers, approximately 5,500 delivery routes and 570 bakery outlet stores throughout the United States.
The Company said its debtor-in-possession lenders have agreed to allow the Company to continue to have access to the $75 million financing facility put in place at the start of the bankruptcy cases to fund the sale and wind down process, subject to U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval.
The Company’s motion asks the Court for authority to continue to pay employees whose services are required during the wind-down period.
For employees whose jobs will be eliminated, additional information can be found at hostessbrands.info . The website also contains information for customers and vendors. Most employees who lose their jobs should be eligible for government-provided unemployment benefits.