Hold onto Your Twinkies! Hostess Can’t Go out of Business Yet

Nov 20, 2012

Bankruptcy Judge Tells Hostess to Mediate with the Union

Hostess Brands Inc. was ordered by a bankruptcy judge to go through the mediation process with one of its biggest unions. The judge noted that the parties hadn’t gone through the private mediation process and needed to do so in order to move forward.

Hostess, the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread is in mediation talks today to try and save 18,500 jobs. If the two sides don’t come to an agreement, Hostess will likely sell its brands, resulting in thousands of workers being without jobs. The liquidation hearing is scheduled to resume on Wednesday if an agreement isn’t reached.

The company’s announcement on Friday prompted many consumers to stock up on their favourite Hostess brands, with many stores reporting they sold out of Twinkies.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.