The fat police won’t have Twinkies to kick around any more. Hostess Brands, Inc. closed shop last week. They said it was because of a prolonged strike. Those in the know refused to blame labor. The problem was in the product, they said. THIS ISN’T ALL of the story. The hole on grocery shelves left by the end of Hostess Twinkies will be filled. Maybe by Twinkies from another baker. Hostess is trying to recoup some of its losses by selling its brand names. Perhaps another firm will quickly market compressible white bread, too. Even a major business collapse such as this one won’t stop Americans from craving — and buying — extra-sweet, extra-gooey, extra-soft desserts in handy packages.
Register readers can decide for themselves. Hostess had many brands: in addition to Twinkies, it baked cup cakes, Ding Dongs, Donnettes, Funny Bones, Ho Ho’s, Sno Balls and Yodels — all extra sweet desserts with extra high calories and a scary set of chemicals that prolonged their shelf lives. Hostess also made six kinds of bread: Beefsteak, Butternut, Home Pride, Merita, Nature’s Pride and Wonder Bread.
The chances are good that most Iola homes have one of those loaves of bread on their pantry shelves today. Maybe some Twinkies or Hostess Cup Cakes, as well.
Wonder Bread sandwiches filled lunch boxes for many years before the time of the school cafeteria. It was the biggest selling bread on grocery shelves for decades. White Wonder bread was particularly appealing to boys of a certain age and disposition because it could be rolled into a ball with a little finger kneading and became a projectile in a rubber-band sling-shot.
That was a quality which warned some mothers that the soft, airy, sweetish bread was not all that nutritious. In those households, whole wheat bread, ryes and pumpernickels took its place.
Twinkies and their sweet, calorie-laden partners in the Hostess line of desserts also fell victim to the anti-obesity movement. Mom offers the kids apples for after-school snacks now. And Hostess felt the change of values. Rather than reacting by changing recipes and baking better products, they cut retail costs to keep sales up.
Lower prices reduced the profit margin, which made Hostess particularly vulnerable to the strike which shut it down. When the union refused to accept big wage and benefit cuts, Hostess went out of business.
Entrepreneurs will materialize to satisfy the nation’s sweet tooth before the cheers from country’s diet community quit echoing.
Still, the nation’s food industry should pay close attention. Twinkies, Hostess Cup Cakes, Ho Ho’s and the rest of the Hostess sweet parade aren’t good for you. They are too heavy on sugar and fat, too light on body-building nutrition.
Enough consumers learned those facts and stopping buying to break Hostess.
The lesson to be learned is that the community of scientists which focuses on human health packs a wallop with the purchasing public. Mass producers of packaged things to eat should hire expert nutritionists and take their advice. Not only because it would be the moral thing to do, but also because they will stay in business longer and make more money.
Consider it a win-win.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
