HOW SWEET! Gabriella Evola beams at a Brooklyn Key Food yesterday after mom Eva lets her stockpile four boxes of beloved Twinkies. (
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They said Twinkies could survive a nuclear blast, but they couldn’t survive bankruptcy.
The company that makes the iconic American snack hit junk- food fans yesterday with news that could only be a sign the Mayan Apocalypse is at hand — they are going out of business.
Hostess Brands, which also makes Ho Hos, Ding Dongs, Drake’s cakes and Wonder Bread, says it no longer has the dough to operate, and it will close all its factories as it lays off more than 18,000 workers.
The news sent people flocking to stores in hopes of grabbing one last taste of fattening badness before Twinkie the Kid rides off into the sunset for good.
“This is what I had when I was a little kid; I still love it,” said Marvis Andrews, 60, who went to a Hostess outlet store in Jamaica, Queens, only to find bare shelves stocked with just a few snacks such as Sno-balls.
“I really don’t eat lots of this today,” he said as he left with an armload of CupCakes. “But the store’s going out of business. It’s nostalgia for me.”
Jason Diaz, 35, was disappointed he couldn’t get his hands on any Twinkies; they were all gone.
“Who didn’t grow up on Twinkies?” he said. “My dad used to eat the whole box. Its an American thing. I’m sad it’s closing.”
Liz Evola rushed with her 7-year-old daughter, Gabriella, to a Key Food in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, to grab as many boxes of Twinkies as she could before they vanished.
“They’re my favorite. I’ll be sad if I can’t get them anymore,” the 7-year-old said. “I love the way they taste!”
Hostess put the blame on their bakers union for refusing contract changes.
“Hostess Brands is unprofitable under its current cost structure, much of which is determined by union wages and pension costs,” the company said in a press release.
The union disagreed.
“I don’t think it’s fair, because I think they could have come up with a better deal,” said Charles Feaster, 60, a union member, and one of more than 300 employees axed at a Hostess plant in Wayne, NJ. “I think they could have come up with a better deal for 18,500 people.”
There is some hope for fans of Twinkies and other gut-busting Hostess brands. The company expects to sell off their top brand names and recipes.
In the meantime Twinkie fans can still go to eBay to get their fix. People are putting the confection up for sale, with some trying to get $1,000 for a single box.
Fans better get them while their hot. Contrary to popular myth, the company says Twinkies only have a shelf life of 25 days. Additional reporting by Natalie O’Neill