Thanksgiving this year will be celebrated by most people from a relatively different angle. Although there will still be turkey, many people will celebrate the day with a heavy heart. This is because the tradition of nipping into the pantry will have to be overlooked. For those who missed the how-could-you-possibly-be-hungry snack, then you must have missed the ultimate Thanksgiving celebration in your teenage years.

The announcement of a strike by the workers of the Hostess Brands of Irving was made because of the refusal by the management to approve a contract. This completely crippled the operations of the company. This has cast doubts as to whether the tradition of breaking out the dancing shoes for the Twinkie funeral will be fulfilled this time round.

The workers strike was a result of the intentions of the management to reduce the pension benefits of the workers. This amount totaled approximately $950 million. The total unfunded benefits came to a total of approximately $2 billion. Most of the accusations concerning the liquidation of Hostess were directed to the various unions and the strike was perceived as a way of driving the point home.

Hostess has had a bad financial record since January; this has been their second slump over the last ten years. The market composition for the company’s products has changed over the years and many customers are growing more dissatisfied with the quality of the products. All though the company is still valued at $68 million, the revenue from the sales of Hostess has been on a steady decline over the past few years.

The Hostess management board also bears some blame over the failure of the company. Their suspicious acts have been seen to have contributed to the fall of the company. The management was accused of padding the paychecks of most of the executives before the filing of bankruptcy proceedings. Though these paychecks were later revoked, it did not portray a positive image of the company and thus contributed in tarnishing the image of the company in the eyes of the creditors and the workers. This also brought out the lack of innovation on the part of the company and the over reliance on the already established factors, such as brand popularity while they overlooked emerging factors, such as the emergence of new competitors.

As much as many may blame the internal stakeholder of the company for the decline, Congress also had a hand in the fall of the company, as well. With the passing of sugar tariffs, companies had to pay double the price of sugar. This also spread into the fuel production through ethanol, which was inhibited by the high import tariffs imposed on sugar.

There will be many excuses given for the failure of Hostess, and blame may easily be shifted from one group to another. Hostess plans to sell its brands and recipes to another company that will help in keeping the tradition of snack eating alive. This will also assist the company in the liquidation process.