It was announced today that Hostess Brands, Inc. has shut down all operations.
No more Twinkies, Wonder Bread, Ho Ho’s, and Sno Balls.
Well, unless there is some change or the brands are purchased and put back on store shelves. Time will tell, that’s for sure.
I’m someone who is saddened by this closure. Mostly because of the people who will be affected. One plant is located right here locally in Henderson, NV.
But I’m also saddened because it’s the loss of an iconic brand. Yes, it’s America’s junk food and I’m there are some who are happy to see it go, but I’m not. While reading and trying to understand about the end of Hostess, I thought back to my own happy memories of the Hostess brand.
My favorite food memory of Hostess brands is about Wonder Bread.
When I was a kid, we trick-or-treated at a house that gave out little loaves of Wonder Bread, instead of candy. They were exactly like the big, regular sized loaves, even down to the wrapper, except they weren’t sliced. And, my own kids went trick-or-treating at a house and they were given the same type of mini loaf of Wonder bread.
I loved it when I got that mini loaf of Wonder Bread — and so did my kids when they got one. Two generations in our house have this memory and it looks like that’s where it ends. Everyone can get candy on Halloween, but that was the “treat” that left a great memory.
I asked my husband if he had a favorite Hostess memory.
He said he did — when he thinks of Hostess, he thinks of the 1970’s, when Hostess bakery items, like Twinkies, would have baseballs cards on the box that you could cut out. He remembers getting those boxes and carefully cutting along the dotted line to cut out the baseball cards to add to his collection. And, luckily, none of his siblings collected baseball cards so they were all his.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t have them anymore, but the memory remains.
So while working on this article, I realized that I didn’t have photos of Hostess brand products, so the kids and I headed out for a search of Twinkies.
We didn’t find a single package. Everything was pretty wiped out, but as we gave up on the Twinkies, my oldest reminded me that we could probably find Twinkies at The Zombie Apocalypse store here in Las Vegas. And then I remembered…I had already taken a photo of Twinkies while visiting the store!
My fellow Zombieland fans will understand the reference:
Oh, and in the end, after 3 stops on our Twinkie hunt, we did come home with a loaf of Wonder Bread, Hostess Donettes, a package of Ho Ho’s and a package of Sno Balls. They’ll stay good forever, right? 😉
Debbie Golden says
I remember the miniature loaves of Wonder Bread! Hard to find any information about them, but I am so glad to find a couple of people who also remember them. It must have been around 1960ish. I loved them!!!
Virginia says
I had the little loaves of bread in school as a treat maybe? I was in kindergarten and still think of them. I am from minneapolis.
Bob Garber says
Anyone else remember chocolate Twinkies? My fave but only offered once a year. Haven’t seen for years…
Glenda says
When I was a very young girl. We didn’t have much money. I would take some change and purchase a pack of gum so I could get one of the free promotional miniature loafs of Hostess white bread. I have no doubt the grocer let me get away with this knowing I probably had no money for a real loaf of bread. My Grandmother and I would make mini sandwiches with the tiny bread slices. I’ll never forget it.
Nattie says
Don’t know if you heard but there’s talk about a compromise between the company and the bakers (the reason why Hostess shut down) so still hope!
They’re our only apocalypse food! Plus I love their Twinkies.
Arlene @FlourOnMyFace says
I hope someone bails out Hostess. Who doesn’t have a memory of Hostess? It is an American Icon and so sad to see them go under!
brandie says
I agree…I’m hoping something turns around, at the very least for all the people affected, so close to Thanksgiving and Christmas too. On a personal, much less important note, I’ve just realized that I never had fried Twinkies on a stick…but I suppose I’ll live. 😉 Thanks for commenting, Arlene.