Ding Dong, Hostess is Dead: Twinkie Maker Files For Bankruptcy

Hostess Brands, which directly and through its subsidiaries produces some of the world's unhealthiest foods that are technically "edible," announced on Friday that it will close all of its plants and lay off 18,000 workers. This is the company's third bankruptcy filing in a decade, and second this year. Unlike those previous instances, this time the company will file for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Whereas a Chapter 11 filing would allow for a restructuring of the company to take place, the Chapter 7 filing means the end of Hostess Brands, as its assets will be liquidated in order to pay off creditors.  

Hostess is the maker of the iconic snacks foods such as, the Twinkie:

And the Ding Dong:

The bankruptcy comes after striking employees refused to return to work after being told the company would have to file a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court this week and liquidate if the strike continued past 5pm on Thursday. Workers were striking because the company had stopped making contributions to its employees' pension fund.

While the fate of the Twinkie and other horrifyingly unhealthy Hostess Brand products remains unclear at this point, at least some of these brands should be snatched up by other companies since after all, the demand for Twinkies and other Hostess snackfoods will live on.

The Twinkie was invented in 1930 by baker James Dewar for the Continental Baking Company, which later became Hostess Brands. Originally, it had a banana cream filling, but during World War II, banana rationing forced the company to find a more ample alternative. Thus, the vanilla cream-filled Twinkie was born. 

In 1979, the Twinkie gained infamous notoriety for its role in the murder trial of Dan White, who shot and killed San Francisco city councilor Harvey Milk and mayor George Moscone. At his trial, White's attorney argued that his client had been suffering from depression at the time of the crime, and that one of the symptoms was excessive consumption of sugary foods, such as Twinkies. White was convicted nonetheless, and the strategy his lawyer employed at the trial subsequently became known facetiously as the "Twinkie Defense."

Hostess Brands is no more, but it would be shocking if another snackfood maker didn't buy the rights to make and market the legendary Twinkie, which contrary to popular belief, does not have an indefinite shelf life. Although it takes longer for Twinkies to go bad than most foods, it probably would not be a good idea to eat a Twinkie that's been sitting in one's cabinet for a year. But if you must, you could always deep-fry it to make it taste better: 

R.I.P. Twinkie? Maybe for a little while, but I suspect that these gross yellow snack cakes will rise from the dead.