Business

PBR Bailout Brings Twinkie Fever to New Extremes

Beleaguered but beloved snack-cake brand Twinkies may have found a solution to its bankruptcy problems that involves joining forces with owner of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer — and, yes, the Twinkie hysteria has returned, this time for good.

By Dashiell Bennett
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Beleaguered but beloved snack-cake brand Twinkies may have found a solution to its bankruptcy problems that involves joining forces with owner of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer—and, yes, the Twinkie hysteria has returned, this time for good. According to The Wall Street Journal, Hostess Brands (which is in the process of shutting down and unloading its assets) is in talks to sell the Twinkies brand to C. Dean Metropoulos, a private equity billionaire who also owns the "value-priced" beverage favorites at PBR, and has previously turned around other pantry staples like Chef Boyardee.

Naturally, this news has led many people to ask if bars in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, will soon be serving Twinkies alongside their $4 tallboys. After all, it was the ironic hipster appeal of the dirt-cheap beer that led to the companies revival in the early 2000s (and made it worth Metropoulos's while to buy it.)

Or perhaps it means a return to the roots of both brands—the down-home working class fun times of middle America. Metropoulos is also reportedly partnering with Apollo Global Management on the deal—they could still lose the eventual bankruptcy auction, but are currently the front-runners—another PE firm with a portfolio that is clearly dedicated to having a good time, calories and consequences be darned. Imagine a cracking open a PBR Twinkie after settling into a Jacuzzi bath and full day of waterslides at Great Wolf Resorts, while you plan our your Norwegian Cruise that paid for with your winning at the Harrah's Casino. Sounds like a (sugar cream) filling day.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.