• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, January 11, 2012

Hostess Brands Inc., maker of Twinkies snack cakes and Wonder bread, filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan on Jan. 11.

This would mark the Irving, Tex.-headquartered company’s second bankruptcy/restructuring in recent years. The company, then operating as Interstate Bakeries Corp., filed for Chapter 11 in 2004, exiting in February 2009, when Ripplewood Holdings LLC and lenders took control and renamed it Hostess Brands. The original company dates back to the 1930’s.

Hostess has continued to struggle since emerging from that first restructuring. The company, which has annual sales of about $2.5 billion, is carrying more than $860 million in debt, reports The Wall Street Journal. It is also experiencing a cash squeeze as a result of high labor costs and rising prices of input ingredients such as sugar and flour, and owes more than $50 million to vendors.

Hostess, whose brands also include Hostess Cupcakes, Ding Dongs, Drake’s Devil Dogs and Nature’s Pride breads, has about 19,000 full- and part-time employees in its U.S. bakeries, distribution centers and outlet stores, and more than 80% are union members, according to press reports.

The company has already had rounds of layoffs and has closed or sold some operations. CNNMoney reports that Hostess did not immediately reply to queries about whether the company may need to cut more jobs or cease producing its products.