Why I Love To Blog: Reason #10 -- Twinkies and Mr Buffett

Earlier today I posted a link to a WSJ op-ed piece on the Twinkie debacle. Here are the facts and the dots connecting them to a most interesting "rest of the story."

• Hostess makes a brand that a lot of folks like
• in fact, so many folks like Twinkies that other bakeries are now lining up to bid for Hostess
• they will bid for Hostess bakeries, Hostess brands, but NOT the Hostess delivery system
• the Hostess delivery system is the chokepoint
• Wal-Mart had its own distribution system -- i.e., just like Hostess
• Wal-Mart sold its distribution system to Berkshire Hathaway (fairly recently, interestingly enough, in 2003)

McLane Company, and here's the rest of the story:

McLane Company, according to wiki, is a $34 billion supply chain services company, providing grocery and food service supply chain solutions for thousands of convenience stores, mass merchants, drug stores and military locations, as well as thousands of chain restaurants throughout the United States. McLane is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and is its single largest non-insurance business. 

The pieces are starting to come together: a) Hostess bakers and brands will re-surface; b) Hostess bakery and Hostess distribution will split; c) Warren Buffett will pick up another distribution system on the cheap, incorporating it into McLane. Maybe this would be a good time to convert the Hostess trucks to CNG trucks. 

As noted before, if the EPA shuts down the Bakken, I will end the Bakken blog and start blogging on Berkshire Hathaway: MillionDollarWay: All Berkshire, All The Time.

By the way, Williston's Super Wal-Mart is located on the north side of Williton, on the west side of the Million Dollar Way (US Highways 2 & 85 into and out of Williston).

Note: at the link above, when you get there, you will have to scroll down a ways for the story (another link).