Wonder bread's downfall

Not to seem glib about it, but some companies change to accommodate customer demands and some just sit there like beached whales. Interstate Bakeries, which makes Wonder bread and which announced plans to shut down its four Socal bread bakeries, is the beached whale variety. Interstate has been getting hit two ways – at the higher end, where you have the premium, La Brea Bakery-type competitors, and at the lower-end, where competitors put out a Wonder bread-type product at a cheaper price. There was another problem: Interstate is a very complicated operation (more than 500 separate union contracts and 25,000 employees), and as we all know, white bread isn’t all that popular anymore. The company, which has been in bankruptcy protection since 2004, already has shut down 10 bakeries and reduced its work force by 22 percent. “We must stop reinforcing failure and press harder where there is success,” says CEO Craig Jung. (You can still buy it in Vegas and other cities.) The closings will result in the loss of 1,300 jobs. More from AP:

Jung wants to move the company from its current distribution method where delivery drivers also sell products to a "path-to-market" system, in which distribution and sales are more separate. The company said path-to-market gives salespeople more time to work with store managers to merchandise the products instead of simply delivering them. It also would allow some customers to order products over the phone or Internet, cutting down on distribution expenses. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has criticized the plan in a letter to its 10,000 Interstate Bakeries members - many of whom could be affected by changes in delivery policies - saying that other companies have tried and later abandoned similar distribution methods and that it has yet to be tried in the baking industry.