Lehigh Valley stores not mourning death of the Twinkies

Years of poor distribution and competition from Tastykake mean area grocery stores aren't exactly frantic over losing Hostess.

Andy Wagar loads Twinkies, Ho-Hos and CupCakes into a van Friday outside the Wonder Bakery Thrift Shop in Bellingham, Wash. Announcing plans Friday to shutter operations, Hostess Brands Inc. had difficulty stocking its product at local stores, representatives of the stores said. AP Photo

The Easton Corner Food Market on Northampton Street doesn’t even sell Twinkies.

The Towne Market on South Main Street in Phillipsburg had a small shelf of Hostess products, but its biggest display was devoted to Tastykake.

Friday, as Hostess Brands Inc. announced it wants to close up shop, area grocery stores were ambivalent, having joined forces with other bakeries after supplies grew unreliable.

The maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread had warned employees it would file a motion with U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Friday seeking permission to shutter its operations and sell its brands if plants hadn’t resumed normal operations by a Thursday night deadline. The deadline passed without a deal.

The closing would mean the loss of about 18,500 jobs from the Irving, Texas-based baking company. The privately held company filed for Chapter 11 protection in January, its second trip through bankruptcy court in less than a decade.

“I don’t know if they thought that was a bluff,” CEO Gregory Rayburn said Friday on CNBC of the warning to union workers. He said the financial impact of the strike makes it “too late” to save the company even if union leaders have a change of heart. That’s because clients, such as retailers, stopped carrying products when supplies became inadequate.

The pending closure follows the failure of Hostess, whose roster of brands dates as far back as 1888, to invest heavily in marketing or innovation in recent years as it struggled with debt and management changes.

Supply concerns

One Giant Food Store representative said Hostess supplies have been inadequate for years and that's why some Giants don’t carry its products.

“We’re about quality selection and savings,” said Giant public relations manager Chris Brand. “If we’re going to promise customers we’re going to carry a brand or a particular item, then it has to be there. But they’ve been in and out of bankruptcy for the last few years.”

In Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other Mid-Atlantic states, Hostess faced “some big players in the bakery market,” including Philadelphia-based Tastykake, Brand said.

“For many Pennsylvania shoppers, it’s just not on the radar,” Brand said. One Giant store in Harrisburg hasn’t carried Hostess products for years because of supply issues, he said.

Others, such as the Tilghman Street location in Allentown, still have some Hostess products left, as does the Trexlertown location. But Brand did admit they’ve sold out of Hostess’ most popular product: Twinkies.

Dennis Curtin, of Weis Markets, said their stores have had similar problems stocking Hostess.

“From our perspective their decision to shut down was a long time coming,” Curtin said in an email. “With one exception -- we sell Wonder Bread in three of our (New Jersey) stores -- we stopped selling Hostess products about eight months ago.”

As Hostess waned, Weis nurtured its relationship with Tastykake.

“In addition to their branded products, (Tastykake) now produces some of our private label snack cakes. We also sell four varieties of Weis Quality Tastykake ice cream,” Curtin said.

Hope for brand rebirth

That doesn’t mean Twinkies are extinct.

“We do not rule out selling Twinkies and Wonder Bread in the future should another company with a proven track record of sales building and solid service buy these brands,” Curtin said.

Some area food stores did see increased sales Friday as word spread of Hostess' pending demise.

Wegmans spokesman Jo Natale said early in the afternoon there were no reports of a run on Hostess products. Later, she sent an email update, saying, “We have had a run on Twinkies and Hostess Cup Cakes in many of our stores. Some shelves are empty.”

Rayburn, the CEO, said he’s hopeful the company will find buyers for its roster of about 30 brands, which include Ho Hos, Dolly Madison, Drake’s and Nature’s Pride snacks. The company booked about $2.5 billion in sales a year.