Hostess, maker of the iconic Twinkie cake, will have a hearing before a bankruptcy judge on Monday to begin the work of shutting down and selling off its assets. Meanwhile, many loyal customers are rushing to snatch up what may be the last of its products. NBC's Mara Schiavocampo reports.
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By Ben Popken, TODAY contributor
As Twinkies maker Hostess heads to bankruptcy court today at 2 p.m. ET to ask the judge for official permission to liquidate, what's next for the iconic brand?
Court filings show that the company is asking for permission to pay $1.75 million in retention bonuses to 19 different managers as an incentive for sticking around during the liquidation process. Hostess Brands CEO Gregory Rayburn has publicly blamed the unions for the company's demise.
In their joinder filed today, the?Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union said that?"blaming the BCTGM for the Company?s liquidation is no more credible than blaming an isolated gust of?wind for blowing over a tree, when it was the tree?s shallow, rotted root structure that was actually responsible."
But kids, both young and old, don't care about the blame game. They want to know whether they'll still be able to find their favorite creme-filled yellow cake treat on the shelves.
The decades-old brand is legendary in consumers' minds and evokes strong feelings of nostalgia in every bite. Some still remember the brand's signature character "Twinkie The Kid" lassoing it up on early television commercials and proclaiming "Big Delight in Every Bite!" The foodstuff has even entered the legal canon. "The Twinkie Defense" was famously, and successfully, used to argue that a suspect on trial for murder suffered from depression and that his high-sugar diet was a symptom of this mental state.
In advance of the interim hearing, Hostess Brands spokesman Tom Becker told TODAY he "wasn't going to comment on what could happen" or speculate on the proceeding's outcome.
While today's results are likely to be minimal, in the coming months several different scenarios could play out, depending on who the buyer is, or if there is a buyer at all.
"There's a huge amount of goodwill with the commercial brand name," John Pottow, a bankruptcy professor at the University of Michigan, told the AP. "It's quite conceivable that they can sell the name and recipe for?Twinkies?to a company that wants to make them."
Twinkies get absorbed by a big American conglomerate
Some of the likely suitors include ConAgra, Tastycakes maker Flowers Food, or McKeeFoods, makers of Little Debbie. These companies would likely seek to attach the Twinkies to a more efficient delivery system. For instance, does it really make sense to deliver Twinkies in their own special Twinkies trucks?
"Twinkie The Kid" trades his cowboy hat for a sombrero...
A Mexican firm, like?Grupo Bimbo, which Forbes reports put in a bid for Hostess several years ago, could move production south of the border. A South American company could get access to lower sugar prices and a cheaper non-unionized workforce. Or, they could keep product in the US, but made in a non-unionized factory.
...or develops a Canadian accent.
A Canadian company called Saputo has the Canadian rights to Hostess brand products. They're not affected at all by the Hostess liquidation and they could conceivably arrange it to sell Twinkies in America.?
Twinkies dies
Pure speculation: No one buys the Twinkies recipe. Fans are forced to make their own at home. Prices for unopened boxes of Twinkies skyrocket on eBay. An "Occupy Twinkies" movement launches to build an unauthorized Twinkies knockoff factory with no leaders and online-only sales... and is surprisingly profitable.
Now that Hostess' Twinkies may be going away after the company shut down production after a workers' strike, NBC's Mara Schiavocampo ? a Twinkie fanatic herself ? takes a look at the mad rush to get a last taste of the iconic cream-filled American snack cake.
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