known as hostess brands from 2009 2013 . for the company which acquired the hostess name from old hb see hostess brands . old hb former type private industry food bakery fate bankruptcy successor hostess brands founded 1930 1930 defunct november 21 2012 2012 11 21 headquarters irving texas united states key people gregory f. rayburn ceo products brands such as wonder bread us only hostess nature s pride merita breads home pride and dolly madison revenue 2.8 billion 2008 1 net income 144 million 2008 total equity 462 million 2008 website hostesscakes.com old hb known as hostess brands from 2009 to 2013 and established in 1930 as interstate bakeries corporation was a wholesale baker and distributor of bakery products in the united states . 2 before its 2012 closure and liquidation it owned the hostess wonder bread nature s pride dolly madison butternut breads and drake s brands . for many years the company was based at 12 east armour boulevard kansas city missouri . in 2009 after it emerged from a 2004 bankruptcy its name was changed to hostess brands and its headquarters moved to irving texas . 3 hostess brands sought bankruptcy protection again in january 2012 . 4 on november 16 2012 the company filed a motion in united states bankruptcy court for the southern district of new york in white plains to close its business and sell its assets . on november 21 the motion was accepted 5 and a judge agreed to sell the hostess brands . 6 7 the hostess and dolly madison brands are now produced by kansas city missouri based hostess brands . contents 1 history 1.1 interstate bakeries and interstate brands 1.2 dpf 1975 1.3 interstate bakeries and ibc holdings 1.4 continental baking merger 1995 1.5 bankruptcy 2004 1.6 hostess brands 2009 1.7 bankruptcy and liquidation 1.8 buyers 1.9 hostess brands 2 brands 2.1 sold to apollo and metropoulos 2.2 sold to bimbo bakeries usa 2.3 sold to flowers foods 2.4 sold to lewis brothers bakeries 2.5 sold to mckee foods 2.6 sold to united states bakery 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit former headquarters on armour boulevard in kansas city later the operations center . former interstate bakeries logo interstate bakeries and interstate brands edit the company has its roots in nafziger bakeries founded by ralph leroy nafziger in a church basement at 6th and prospect avenue in kansas city in 1905 . nafziger expanded the bakeries and bought out competitors . in 1925 he sold nafziger to purity bakeries 8 which became american bakeries and acquired a controlling interest in schulze baking company and its butternut bread brand . 9 in 1930 nafziger announced the formation of the interstate bakeries corporation ibc with the merger of schulze bakery and the seven bakers of western bakeries of los angeles to become the fifth largest baker in the united states . 10 11 the company sold butternut bread wrapped in gingham to grocery stores . 9 schulze and western continued to operate separately under the interstate umbrella until 1937 when they merged with interstate bakeries . 12 13 in 1943 interstate acquired the supreme baking company of los angeles and in 1950 it bought the o rourke baking company of buffalo new york . butter nut bread package 1930 1945 acquisitions during the 1950s and early 1960s included the ambrosia remar butter cream campbell sell and schall tasty baking companies the kingston cake and cobb s sunlit bakeries sweetheart bread company and hart s bakeries . 13 in the late 1960s ibc acquired millbrook bread shawano farms and the baker and shawano canning companies . 13 in 1969 ibc changed its name to interstate brands with its signature brands butternut and blue seal breads and dolly madison cakes ; butternut breads had been in business since 1902 . 13 dpf 1975 edit in 1975 interstate was acquired by the data processing financial and general corporation dpf a computer leasing company that had encountered difficulties during the ibm antitrust battles which changed the pricing of ibm hardware . to change its business model dpf used its cash to buy a low tech company . the merged company headquartered in hartsdale new york kept the dpf acronym while continuing to divest its remaining technology assets . investing heavily in its plants it acquired the silver loaf baking company eddy bakeries and mrs. cubbison s foods . 13 interstate bakeries and ibc holdings edit in 1981 dpf completed the sale of its remaining computer systems and changed the company name back to the original interstate bakeries moving its headquarters back to kansas city . 13 in 1986 interstate acquired purity baking company and stewart sandwiches followed in 1987 by landshire food products . 13 the following year interstate became a privately held company and its name changed to ibc holdings . ibc bought the merita cotton s bakeries division of the american bakeries company . 13 in 1991 ibc again became a public company and changed its name back to interstate bakeries . 13 continental baking merger 1995 edit in january 1995 interstate acquired the continental baking company from ralston purina for 330 million and 16.9 million shares of interstate stock . continental had acquired taggart bakeries of indianapolis in 1925 14 and the deal brought taggart s creations including wonder bread and the hostess brand to interstate . taggart had created hostess in 1921 and the brand focused on cakes like twinkies cupcakes ding dongs and ho hos created during continental s ownership . 15 at this time the merged company also bought the san francisco french bread company john j. nissen baking company drake s and my bread company . 13 with the merger interstate held two national bread divisions butternut and wonder bread . the divisions had different cultures butternut was unregimented with each bakery a self contained profit center and wonder bread was structured ; this caused early problems . in both divisions snack cakes were more profitable due to economy of scale and logistics . when extended shelf life enzymes were developed for bread it was hoped to convert small less efficient bakeries into a network of large bakeries like their snack cakes operations . the new enzymes gave the bread a different taste and texture 16 and market forces reduced prices and sales . bankruptcy 2004 edit on september 22 2004 interstate bakeries filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy . the company named a new chief executive tony alvarez . interstate bakery s stock which had been 34 per share fell to 2.05 with the bankruptcy . during the bankruptcy proceedings at the time the longest running in u.s. history interstate fought a 2007 bid from mexican baker grupo bimbo and ron burkle of the yucaipa companies . 17 under craig jung interstate bakeries emerged from bankruptcy as a private company on february 3 2009 . 18 the plan included a 50 percent equity stake by ripplewood holdings and credit lines from general electric capital and ge capital markets silver point finance and monarch master funding . interstate s unionized workers made contract concessions in exchange for equity in the company . 19 during the 2004 2009 bankruptcy period interstate closed nine of its 54 bakeries and more than 300 outlet stores and its workforce declined from 32 000 to 22 000 . the company dropped regional brands and operating agreements such as an agreement to produce sunbeam bread for the northeastern u.s. 19 hostess brands 2009 edit on november 2 2009 ibc became hostess brands named for its twinkies and cupcakes cake division . hostess brands continued its bread lines including wonder bread . 20 the company s subsidiaries such as interstate brands corporation and ibc sales corporation continued displaying their name and logo on hostess brands products . bankruptcy and liquidation edit in december 2011 it was reported that hostess brands was on the verge of filing for bankruptcy a second time . the company stopped paying future pension benefits after august breaking its union contracts . 21 according to a hostess employee we understand that should we pursue some form of legal action to require the company to live up to the terms of the contract they may close but we have come to believe that they will close anyway . we believe the company is poorly managed and the only hope is a complete change in management . 21 on january 10 2012 hostess brands filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time . in its filing the company said it is not competitive primarily due to legacy pension and medical benefit obligations and restrictive work rules . according to hostess it employed 19 000 people and was more than 860 million in debt . the company said it would continue to operate with 75 million of debtor in possession financing from monarch alternative capital silver point capital and other investors . 4 in march brian driscoll resigned as ceo 22 and was replaced by gregory f. rayburn who had been hired as chief restructuring officer nine days earlier . fortune reported that unions in the company were unhappy with driscoll s proposed compensation package of 1.5 million plus cash incentives and 1.95 million in long term compensation . the court had discovered that hostess executives received raises of up to 80 percent the previous year . rayburn cut the salaries of the four top hostess executives to 1 to be restored by january 1 of the following year or earlier . 23 in july 2012 the new york post reported that negotiations with the teamsters union led by silver point capital were close to an agreement allowing hostess brands to cut employee pay and benefits if the company continued funding its pension plans . 24 in may as required by the worker adjustment and retraining notification act the company s 19 000 workers were warned of a possible layoff . in an email to the marysville california appeal democrat hostess spokesman erik halvorson wrote that the may notices were to alert employees to a possible sale of the company but our goal is still to emerge from bankruptcy as a growing company with a strong future . 25 although the layoff notices listed july 7 21 as dates on july 5 another company spokesman told the financial news & daily record that there were no immediate plans to lay off hostess employees . 26 in november 2012 hostess employees nationwide went on strike . the bakery confectionery tobacco workers and grain millers international union bctgm representing 6 600 hostess employees took action after a contract proposal from hostess brands was rejected by 92 percent of its members . 27 on november 16 hostess announced that it was ceasing its plant operations and laying off most of its 18 500 employees . the company said that it intended to sell off its assets including its well known brand names and liquidate . 28 29 according to ceo gregory rayburn hostess brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18 500 member workforce and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders . 30 31 a bctgm press release issued that day read in part when a highly respected financial consultant hired by hostess determined earlier this year that the company s business plan to exit bankruptcy was guaranteed to fail because it left the company with unsustainable debt levels our members knew that the massive wage and benefit concessions the company was demanding would go straight to wall street investors and not back into the company . 32 according to rayburn potential buyers expressed interest in acquiring the hostess brand . 33 on november 21 judge robert drain cleared hostess to close . 5 in approving the plan drain ruled against u.s. trustee for the southern district tracy hope davis motion to convert the bankruptcy to a chapter 7 bankruptcy with an appointed trustee to oversee