Corporate Espionage Case Hinges on Muffin Secrets

If Twinkies start showing up with nooks and crannies someday, blame corporate espionage. As this New York Times story explains, an executive with the company that makes Thomas' English muffins tried to jump ship to Hostess, but the muffin maker blocked him in court because he is supposedly one of only seven people on God's green earth who knows the ultra-secret baking process. They accused him of stocking up on that and other company secrets in his final days at the company.

If the seven-people thing sounds like a marketing ploy, the Times speaks with an industry consultant who swears she spent parts of two decades (including a stint with Hostess) trying to crack the muffin code to no avail. “I could get nooks and crannies, but I couldn’t get them consistently all day, every day.” Meantime, the executive who left is out of a job—Hostess is no longer holding a position for him—and contemplating his next legal step.
(More Thomas' English Muffiins stories.)