July 20, 2016 – Eustis, FL, USA – Beau Byrne arranges her Tupperware display in a vendor’s area during the National African- American RV’ers Association’s National Camp Rally at Southern Palms RV Resort in Eustis on Wednesday. (Credit Image: © Stephen M. Dowell/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire)
The iconic plastic box brand Tupperware, which once revolutionized the household art of food preservation, announced this week that it was filing for bankruptcy. With more than $700 million in debt, it seems complicated to redress the situation. Tupperware’s decline has been dizzying: in 2022, its turnover fell to $1.3 billion, or 42% less than five years earlier. E-commerce, home-delivered meals and single-use plastics may explain the Tupperware debacle. Also a management which will not have succeeded in avoiding the outdatedness or even the anachronism of the company. Today, neither the product, nor the brand, nor the sales channels are yet truly combined in the present. Who still has the time – or inclination – to attend a Tupperware meeting? The world has changed since the company’s founding in 1946, and in terms of sales channels, Tupperware has not invested enough in online sales for a product that lends itself perfectly to it.
Moulinex
The announced death of Tupperware evokes that of Moulinex. This other superstar of yesteryear’s kitchens. It was in 1932 that Jean Mantelet appropriated the Belgian invention of the Passe-vite which he renamed with the name Moulin-légumes, a food processor which reduced vegetables to puree. In 1957 the company took the name Moulinex and became one of the giants of small household appliances. In 2001, Moulinex filed for bankruptcy and the company was liquidated. The brand will then be reborn thanks to the SEB group.
The rotisserie
One of the pieces of equipment that revolutionized – for a time – kitchen life was the electric rotisserie. Marketed, among others, also by Moulinex, it enjoyed a certain success in the early 1970s, notably thanks to a timer which allowed the cook to be absent while the chicken was roasting. The rotisserie often went hand in hand with another novelty of the time: the electric knife.
The yogurt maker
At the end of the 70s, the latest trend among families who wanted to be up to date – the fashion of the time prescribed a “return to the land” – was to produce their own yogurts. Yogurt makers of all sizes are appearing in kitchens.
The dishwasher
What changed the life of the kitchen was the gradual appearance, in the 1980s, of the dishwasher. No more bickering over who was going to wash and who was going to dry. The discussion now revolves around this question: who will empty the dishwasher?
The microwave
Last great revolution: reheating a dish in a few minutes. If the refrigerator had invaded kitchens in the 60s, the freezer in the 70s, being able to eat hot food in record time was, without doubt, the latest conquest of progress in our increasingly hurried lifestyles.
