In difficulty for years, the American manufacturer of the famous plastic food containers Tupperware announced this Wednesday that it had launched a bankruptcy procedure. “For several years, the company’s financial situation has been severely affected by a difficult macroeconomic environment”said Laurie Ann Goldman, the company’s CEO, which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
“Therefore we explored several strategic options and estimated” that placing oneself under the bankruptcy protection law was “the best way out”. She hopes this will bring “essential flexibility“to the digital and technological transformation of our society,” explains the CEO in the bankruptcy proceedings documents.
On Tuesday, trading in Tupperware shares was suspended on the New York Stock Exchange. In mid-August, the group explained that it was still “facing significant liquidity problems” and have “doubts about his ability to continue his activity”. Tupperware has been weighed down for several years by several hundred million dollars of debt and had already had to restructure its financial commitments for the first time, in 2020. The group has not published its accounts since 2022, a year in which its turnover fell to 1.3 billion dollars, or 42% less than five years earlier.
A model called into question
Launched in 1946, Tupperware has become a social phenomenonentering millions of American homes and beyond through the efficiency of its sales force. Initially launched in stores, its plastic containers with airtight lids to preserve food longer did not sell well. The company then imagined the principle of “Tupperware meetings”demonstrations carried out at the home of a representative for a group of potential buyers. In 2017, the company founded by American inventor Earl Tupper still had more than three million of these ambassadors worldwide.
Tupperware has been weakened by the emergence of online commerce, meal delivery and single-use plasticwho have called into question its model.
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