Fading Foods

Hi,

I know this is purely emotional. A food production company files for bankruptcy or threatens to close and instant nostalgia erupts!

Since International Brands Companies filed for Chapter 11 reorganization, I have had a hankering for Hostess Ho Ho's, Twinkies, Snowballs, Suzy Q's, Donuts, Pies, Cupcake (with the cute squiggle down the middle) and Ding Dongs. Oh, let's not forget Wonder Bread, which goes so well with BBQ, just calls out to me to buy. Fun food I haven't thought about in years, looks so desireable because I don't know if it will be my last. So far I have only caved for one piece of Snowball, perhaps my least favorite. Just don't let me near the Ho-Ho or Ding Dongs as I used to adore those. I was an eat the creamy stuff first and the cake last type consumer.

I went through this with Coca-Cola switching to Coke II almost 20 years ago. Oh that one was quite painful, though of short duration, but who knew? I had a very minor one last year with Fannie Mae candies, which was mostly directed at the Turtles, Toffee and Trinidads. The first two I can make but the last, oh that was special.

I know it is entirely silly. So far I am not giving in too much this time. Just keep the Ho Ho's out of my reach!

Geez. There really should be a listing in the DSM for the over-inclination in craving food one cannot have, is expensive or difficult to make, involves much travel and rigamarole, or is an endangered species. There aught to be a support group too.



Oh yeah!

It is INTERSTATE BAKERIES CORPORATION that filed Chapter 11. Most of their problems came about due to their failed efforts to market bread with a longer shelf life. They believed that it would significantly reduce their labor costs as routeman could reduce their trips into customers from 5 per week to two. However, what it did was to leave their shelf space in shambles.

That article has at least one inaccuracy. IBC **BOUGHT** Continental Baking several years ago. They had been competitors for years.

Hi,

Actually, I think they have some labor contractual problems, as well. When this story hit the airwaves, a 7-11 type store owner called in. Rather than one truck delivering all the products from this firm, they had multiple specialized deliveries: wonderbread, hostess and all had seperate trucks. If they combined product deliveries, this would already be a substantial savings.

Like everything else, there is never just one reason why something fails.

The day after they filed there was a front page WSJ article outlining a lot of operational and quality issues with the bread. There were a lot of interviews with grocery managers pointing out all the delivery issues.

I will eventually download the filing documents from the US Bankruptcy Courts as it is a case that I am interested in.

What is troublesome to me is that the predecessor company - Campbell Taggart - was one of the best managed companies around.

I was surprised that the debt load was not cited as a cause for the issues.