Can Wonder Bread Rise Again?

Dressed in a rumpled shirt and working on three hours of sleep, Antonio C. "Tony" Alvarez II is in overdrive. On Sept. 22, he was appointed CEO of bankrupt Interstate Bakeries Corp. (IBC ), famous for such iconic brands as Wonder bread and Twinkies. Since then, Alvarez, 56 -- who is co-chief executive of one of the country's biggest turnaround firms, Alvarez & Marsal LLC -- has been at Interstate's Kansas City (Mo.) headquarters, parsing financial statements and pep-talking workers in a bid to save the company.

Back in A&M's Manhattan headquarters, his partner, Bryan P. Marsal, is resting. He's fresh off a stint as chief restructuring officer at HealthSouth Corp. (HLSH.PK ), the embattled Birmingham (Ala.)-based rehabilitation hospital chain that nearly sank into Chapter 11 last year after former CEO Richard M. Scrushy allegedly inflated earnings by $2.7 billion. (Scrushy is contesting the charges.) Marsal, 53, spent 15 months rebuilding HealthSouth. He slashed 250 jobs. Then he sold assets such as Doctors Hospital in Coral Gables, Fla. -- not to mention 10 planes and one helicopter from Scrushy's fleet -- helping to pay down $3.3 billion in debt. As a result, HealthSouth is expected to generate $650 million in cash this year. Alvarez intends to work the same magic on Interstate as his partner did on HealthSouth. "We come to companies at their worst moments in life, and we save them," says Alvarez.