Twinkies HQ Moving to Dallas

The Kansas City-based maker of Hostess Twinkies and Wonder Bread is moving its headquarters to Dallas to improve its recruiting prospects as it emerges from bankruptcy.

Interstate Bakeries Corp. plans to relocate about 20 positions, including about 10 top executives and their support staff, gradually over the next several months, spokesman Lew Phelps said Tuesday.

The move will leave about 600 workers in the Kansas City area, including 200 at IBC's current midtown headquarters. Its other operations in the area include a plant in Lenexa, Kan.

Phelps said the relocation, under study for some time but finalized just last week, is intended to make it easier to recruit experienced senior-level executives.

"There are a lot of corporations in the Dallas area that are in the consumer packaged goods industry," Phelps said. "If you are looking for people with experience in your industry, it's a lot easier to find them in Dallas."

He said the company intends to maintain a strong presence in Kansas City, where its roots extend for decades.

Phelps said the company started in 1930 in Kansas City as a wholesaler, selling bread to local grocery stores, and expanded over the years through a number of acquisitions. Its headquarters were temporarily moved to Hartsdale, N.Y., from 1975 to 1981 after it was acquired by Data Processing Financial & General Corp., a computer leasing company.

Phelps said he expected IBC's overall employment in the Kansas City area to remain unchanged because the emergence from bankruptcy earlier this month allowed the company to lift a hiring freeze.

"That will offset the positions transferred with this move," he said.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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