() -- No more Twinkies. No more Ho-Hos. No more Wonder Bread. No more Ding Dongs.

 

Hostess is dead.

 

The company plans to go out of business, lay off its 18,500 workers, and sell
its snack cake and bread brands. Hostess claims a nationwide strike crippled its
ability to make and deliver its products.

 

The Irving, Texas, company suspended bakery operations at all its factories
and said its stores will remain open for several days to sell already-baked
products.

 

The company had warned employees that it would file a motion in U.S.
Bankruptcy Court to unwind its business and sell assets if plant operations
didn’t return to normal levels by Thursday evening. The privately held company
filed for Chapter 11 protection in January, its second trip through bankruptcy
court in less than a decade.

 

“Many people have worked incredibly long and hard to keep this from
happening, but now Hostess Brands has no other alternative than to begin the
process of winding down and preparing for the sale of our iconic brands,” CEO
Gregory F. Rayburn said in a letter to employees posted on the company
website.

 

He added that all employees will eventually lose their jobs, “some sooner
than others.”

 

“Unfortunately, because we are in bankruptcy, there are severe limits on the
assistance the (company) can offer you at this time,” Rayburn wrote.

 

Thousands of members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain
Millers International Union went on strike last week after rejecting in
September a contract offer that cut wages and benefits. Hostess said Friday the
company is unprofitable “under its current cost structure, much of which is
determined by union wages and pension costs.”

 

Hostess has said that production at about a dozen of the company’s 33 plants
has been seriously affected by the strike. Three plants were closed earlier this
week.

 

Hostess had already reached a contract agreement with its largest union, the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

 

The company, founded in 1930, was fighting battles beyond labor costs.
Competition is increasing in the snack space and Americans are increasingly
conscious about healthy eating. Hostess also makes Dolly Madison, Drake’s and,
Nature’s Pride snacks.