Twinkie maker Hostess to wind down ops, lay off 18,500 workers, put brands up for sale
POSTED BY: Geezer
UPDATED: Saturday, November 24, 2012 18:01
VIEWED: 12327
PAGE 4 of 9
Yet another valid perspective on the issue, in my opinion:Quote:
News reports that Hostess Brands will file for bankruptcy— and plans to sell off iconic American brands like Wonder Bread and Twinkies — have mostly centered around the debilitating fight between the company and one of its largest unions. But there’s a more underlying reason why Hostess is disappearing.
While Hostess Brands makes a host of desserts and snacks – namely Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho-Hos – the company is primarily a bread maker, and its flagship loaf is Wonder Bread.
For decades, Wonder Bread was arguably the most recognizable brand of sliced bread in the country. It’s the only brand that’s ever truly been national. It’s as American as a white picket fence. And in grocery stores throughout the country, it’s ubiquitous. Since the 1950s and ’60s, toast has been a staple of most breakfasts. Bread was on the dinner table in almost every household.
Gradually, though, our diets changed and our consumer preferences shifted. Almost 95% of Americans still eat bread at least once every two weeks, according to food industry analysis firm NPD Group. But instead of just toast in the morning, we now have a multitude of options for breakfast: frozen waffles, toaster pastries, energy bars, and most importantly, yogurt.
Our dinner preferences have changed, too. More and more we’re opting for one-dish meals, says Balzer. Pizza, casseroles, pasta – anything that is quick and simple is what we’re after when we get home from work, and the tradition of bread as a side dish is diminishing. Believe it or not, NPD Group tracks U.S. households that include a side dish of bread at dinner. In 1984, it was 11%. Today, it’s 7%.
Similarly, energy bars have become wildly popular over the last several years, not only as a snack but also part of breakfast or lunch. Tortillas have become the second most popular bread type in the country, according to the Tortilla Industry Association. There’s been a 3.6% increase in tortilla revenues each year on average since 2007.
To a lesser extent, we’ve also become much more health-conscious, which has hurt sales for companies like Hostess that make highly caloric sugary products. Meanwhile, fitness-based industries are bringing in more and more revenue, according to Agata Kaczanowska, an industry analyst at IBIS World.
Hostess appears to have gotten stuck somewhere in the ‘60s and never really recovered. It failed to innovate. It rarely advertised. It didn’t successfully market itself. And it didn’t contemporize its products.
“Commercial bread has become kind of an economy item,” says Goldin. “In-store bakeries have that image of freshness and quality that consumers are looking for.”
It’s possible that some of Hostess’s brands will survive. The company will be selling off those brands in the coming months. But many of them are likely to wither away right along with the ways we used to eat.
“The industry has shifted,” says Goldin. “Some of them have a chance of surviving. But it’s hard to fathom how many will be relevant going forward.”Excerpts from http://business.time.com/2012/11/19/the-real-reason-why-hostess-went-u
nder-the-way-we-eat-has-changed/
To stubbornly continue to blame the unions exclusively is to be deliberately blind to ALL the various reasons behind Hostess' demise.
Aside from which, the idea that the unions wouldn't concede yet again, given the facts presented by the article Mike posts, isn't logical. To see one's salary cut again and again, while forced to accept higher and higher investments on the worker's part (which is essentially a FURTHER pay cut), isn't logical. To say the enormous raises given to CEOs at the same TIME as pay cuts were demanded wouldn't have salvaged the situation, and would have led to almost a less-than-working wage for the workers, is equally short-sighted. They CONTRIBUTED to it, and if one reads the facts and figures pertaining to the company&#
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
They had a liquidation expert on the management team for 8 years. It was always about bleeding the company dry.
Excuse me while I soak in all these sweet, sweet conservative tears.
"We will never have the elite, smart people on our side." -- Rick "Frothy" Santorum
"Goram it kid, let's frak this thing and go home! Engage!"
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:Quote:
I don't know where he got the "Bush" thing tho'...who blamed Bush? C'mon, raise you hand(s), Rap says you blamed Bush so stand up and take your punishment like men!
Actually, as I said from the start, Niki, YOU blamed Bush, though w/ out actually saying him by name.
"... it's been going on all around us since America got driven into the ditch"
"The workers " are only suppose to take pay cuts for as long as they want to work there. If not, they're more than free to seek other employment. Like now, since they killed off the entire company. Bravo, " workers ". The jobs don't belong to the employees, they belong to the company. ( Or did ) If you're not keen with getting paid 30 to 40 K a year watching baked goods fly by you on a conveyor belt, then hey, maybe Hostess wasn't a job for you in the first place. But to completely put an entire company under, because you can't take a small pay cut ? Selfish + greedy.
" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "
Good old Rappy, always sticking up for the rich over the working man.
Excuse me while I soak in all these sweet, sweet conservative tears.
"We will never have the elite, smart people on our side." -- Rick "Frothy" Santorum
"Goram it kid, let's frak this thing and go home! Engage!"
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko: while you fuck them out of their jobs and pensions.
Truly a typical dick move by yet another bunch of greedy vulture capitalists.
Excuse me.. WHOSE jobs ? They're not the worker's jobs, they belong to the company, NOT the employees.
Don't like working for greedy vulture capitalists ? Fine. Go work for the govt. Go work for yourself. But don't for a second buy into the fairy tale that the jobs BELONG to the employees.
" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Excuse me.. WHOSE jobs ? They're not the worker's jobs, they belong to the company, NOT the employees.
Don't like working for greedy vulture capitalists ? Fine. Go work for the govt. Go work for yourself. But don't for a second buy into the fairy tale that the jobs BELONG to the employees.
The employees are the company, or at least the largest part of it. So, they are the employees jobs. Without the employees the company fails. This situation with Hostess proves that.
I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.
A warning to everyone, AURaptor is a known liar.
...and now a Fundie!
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=53359
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The union killed Hostess, not the employees. The company does not exist for the benefit of the unions. No company does.
" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
This is a case where one union took down another union. Most of the 18,500 were Hostess Teamsters who were ready to go back to work, but they got screwed out of their jobs when the Bakers union refused to do the same. I guess they'll all be holding hands in union brotherly love on the unemployment line, or they'll kill each other. Jimmy Hoffa must be rolling over in his cement pillar.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
The union killed Hostess, not the employees. The company does not exist for the benefit of the unions. No company does.
...and who makes up the unions?
I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.
A warning to everyone, AURaptor is a known liar.
...and now a Fundie!
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=53359
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
This is a case where one union took down another union. Most of the 18,500 were Hostess Teamsters who were ready to go back to work, but they got screwed out of their jobs when the Bakers union refused to do the same. I guess they'll all be holding hands in union brotherly love on the unemployment line, or they'll kill each other.
I would guess they are not holding hands.
I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.
A warning to everyone, AURaptor is a known liar.
...and now a Fundie!
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=53359
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
The union killed Hostess, not the employees. The company does not exist for the benefit of the unions. No company does.
Actually, the executives killed Hostess. The unions didn't decide to liquidate the company and sell off all the assets; that was the execs who decided that.
"I supported Bush in 2000 and 2004 and intellegence [sic] had very little to do with that decision." - Hero
"I was wrong" - Hero, 2012
Mitt Romney, introducing his running mate: "Join me in welcoming the next President of the United States, Paul Ryan!"
Rappy's response? "You're lying, gullible ( believing in some BS you heard on msnbc ) or hard of hearing."
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME