Strikers manning a picket line at the Hostess bakery facility in Oakland were stunned early Friday when the maker of the iconic American snack Twinkies announced it was closing.

Dave Morgan, a union shop steward from Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 125 who was manning the picket line in Oakland, said he and his fellow workers would take it “one day at a time.”

“I’m at a loss of words because I did not expect them to go this far, but they didn’t expect us (the union) to go this far,” he said. “We told them when they imposed these cuts in our checks that we would strike.”

Morgan said the picket lines would remain in place until a bankruptcy judge gave Hostess the approval to close the company.

CEO Gregory F. Rayburn said on CNBC Friday that the company’s threat to go out of business and lay off all of its 18,500 workers was not just a negotiation ploy.

"I don't know if they thought that was a bluff," Rayburn said.

He said the financial impact of the strike makes it "too late" to save the company even if workers have a change of heart. That's because the clients such as retailers decide to stop carrying products when supplies aren't adequate.

The company, founded in 1930, was fighting battles beyond labor costs. Competition is increasing in the snack space, and Americans are increasingly conscious about healthy eating.

The cakelike Twinkies had gained a cultural reputation in recent years for being nearly indestructible, documented in playful videos and blogs.

Hostess Brands had warned employees that it would file a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to unwind its business and sell assets if plant operations didn't return to normal levels by Thursday evening.

The privately held Texas company filed for protection in January, its second trip through bankruptcy court in less than a decade.

"Many people have worked incredibly long and hard to keep this from happening, but now Hostess Brands has no other alternative than to begin the process of winding down and preparing for the sale of our iconic brands," Rayburn said in a letter to employees posted on the company website.

He added that all employees will eventually lose their jobs, "some sooner than others."

Rayburn said he's hopeful that the company will find buyers for its roster of about 30 brands, which include Ho Hos, Dolly Madison, Drake's and Nature's Pride snacks. The company books about $2.5 billion in sales a year.

Thousands of members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union went on strike last week after rejecting in September a contract offer that cut wages and benefits.

Rayburn said the union's leadership had misled members into believing there was a buyer in the wings who would rescue the company. He said the union hadn't returned the company's calls for the past month.

Hostess had already reached a contract agreement with its largest union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Hostess has said that production at about a dozen of the company's 33 plants had been seriously affected by the strike. Three plants were closed earlier this week.