The Hostess bakery strike and subsequent bankruptcy was fascinating to watch develop and I found myself conflicted as to what the real story was behind the scenes. My response was, “Twinkies, Ho Hos and Wonder bread in trouble? Say it ain’t so.” The mega-bakery company had filed for bankruptcy and re-organized a few years ago but this seemed more serious. Then the unthinkable happened when two sides seemed determined to destroy each other and compromise was simply not an option. Even the movie Zombieland, where Woody Harrelson, the hardcore zombie killer with a quest for the last Twinkie on earth, could not save the cream-filled sponge cake that had become an American institution. Even as I watched the news, the company was in trouble again—but I simply refused to believe it. They would survive, I thought, and they just had to as a salute to overweight Americans everywhere.
Then it happened: I awakened to the morning news that the workers for Hostess were on strike. The workers refused the last and final offer made by management to save the company. Within days, the company filed bankruptcy and announced they were closing the doors to Hostess for good. What? No more Twinkies, no more Wonder bread to build bodies stronger in twelve ways? The next day, the CEO of Hostess went on air to admit both sides had made mistakes. But regardless, it was truly over.