There have recently been quite a few posts on Comm101 blogs regarding the closing and liquidation of Hostess Brands. People are expressing a variety of views with some claiming this will start a “New Health Era“. Others are exploring the new grey market of Twinkies.
Many people are claiming that Hostess failed because of lacking innovation in an increasingly health conscious customer market. I would beg to differ. While I am not familiar with what products Hostess sells in the Canadian market, in the US market Hostess came out with several variations of products that I would claim are very healthy. Take for example their whole wheat Wonder Bread. Most bread white or whole wheat has some sugar content, however whole wheat Wonder Bread does not.
Instead I would say that Wonder Breads bad relations with employees and union workforce led to the demise of their company. Lets not forget that management clearly expressed to their work force that they had to return to work by last Thursday.
This sad story makes me wonder — what would cause the workers to kill their own company they work for? Were conditions that bad – especially in the current recession the US is experiencing?
sources
http://static.caloriecount.about.com/images/medium/wonder-bread-percent-whole-61167.jpg
http://www.kwch.com/business/kwch-hostess-ceo-gives-striking-workers-thursday-deadline-20121114,0,2860295.story