Tupperware files for bankruptcy

Tupperware, the plastic storage container company that once dominated the market, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. With the proliferation of cheaper, and frankly better, storage options, it’s a wonder the 70-year-old company made it this far before entering bankruptcy. Its sales model, once an innovative concept that empowered millions of women to earn money outside of the home, seems dated, as do some of its products.

In the company’s heyday, Tupperware parties were ubiquitous, especially in suburban and rural America. I can recall my mother and grandmother attending the parties, usually coming home with a new item. In our house, Jell-O instant pudding found a home in small footed dishes with tight-fitting lids, breakfast usually consisted of cereal eaten from a Tupperware bowl, A set of plastic canisters housed sugar, flour, and other baking ingredients, and the refrigerator always contained several pieces from a set of large nesting bowls with lids. Unique products, like the pickle keeper with a pull-up insert to make it easier to retrieve the slippery pickles, drew oohs and ahs when they debuted at a party.

However, the company didn’t keep up with consumer preferences. Most of their products were not microwave safe during the time when that appliance became a standard feature in homes. Direct sales and the multi-level-marketing model declined in general, hitting the company hard because it did not offer products in retail stores until 2022, when Tupperware partnered with Target for a line of storage containers. As Eater’s Amy McCarthy notes, the once unique and clever offerings became downright strange in recent years.

The company faces huge obstacles to reorganization and a return to profitability. The Chapter 11 filing offers a glimpse of hope because it is not a liquidation bankruptcy, but unless Tupperware can revitalize its offerings and make products that can compete with the leaders in the market such as Rubbermaid, it will be difficult for them to weather this storm.