Hostess Brands Bankruptcy Reorganization Threatens Thousands With Lay-Offs

Twinkies and Ding Dongs may have made you smile, but now Hostess Brands Inc., the company responsible for making Twinkies and Ding Dongs, is making a lot of employees unhappy.

894 workers in California have been warned of lay-offs after the company's bankruptcy reorganization was announced in January. 363 of those employees are based in Los Angeles and work out of three local locations, reports the Orange County Register.

Nationally, nearly 20,000 employees were served WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notices. "The notices were sent to alert employees that a sale or wind down of the company is possible in the future. However, our goal is still to emerge from bankruptcy as a growing company with a strong future," said Hostess in a prepared statement.

Hostess Brands was founded in 1930 and was originally made with banana cream filling. Bananas were rationed in World War II, which forced Continental Baking Company (later Hostess Brands) to switch to vanilla. Hostess Brands has approximately $860 million in debt, repots Reuters. Lay-offs could take place mid-summer.