KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Interstate Bakeries Corp., the bankrupt maker of Hostess Twinkies and Wonder Bread, said Thursday it is closing another bakery in the Northeast and cutting 1,400 more jobs in its ongoing effort to cut costs.

The Kansas City-based company said it will close its bakery in New Bedford, Mass., and consolidate production, delivery routes, depots and thrift stores throughout the Northeast.

A company spokesman said it was premature to gauge the impact on the Interstate Bakeries plant in Biddeford, which has 590 employees.

“Some plants might have to take up some of the slack, but I don’t known how this might affect the plant in Maine,” Jason Booth said.

The moves are expected to be complete by mid-August, pending approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Kansas City.

“Our end goal is to greatly reduce the operating weaknesses and redundancies that continue to hurt our business – to save our company and as many jobs as possible,” said chief executive officer Tony Alvarez, who is also co-CEO of Alvarez & Marsal, the New York-based turnaround firm brought in to steer Interstate Bakeries through reorganization.

It was the third plant closing and regional consolidation the company has announced over the last two months, costing a total of about 3,000 jobs. The company also plans to close plants in Miami and Charlotte, N.C., and consolidate operations in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia.

Company officials said they expect the Northeast closing and consolidation to cost about $17 million, including $7 million in severance payments and $7 million in losses to the value of assets.

Interstate Bakeries filed for Chapter 11 protection in September, blaming low sales and high fixed operational costs. Since then, the company has reported monthly losses totaling more than $50 million.

In its most recent monthly report, Interstate Bakeries said it lost $6.35 million during the four weeks ending April 2, its smallest monthly loss since November. Revenue remained flat at $253.7 million.

—

On the Net:

http://www.interstatebakeriescorp.com

AP-ES-05-19-05 1641EDT