American multinational company Tupperware, globally popular for its trademark plastic food storage containers, might be losing its lid, with a recent regulatory filing warning of “substantial doubt” about its ability to keep operating in light of its poor financial position.
Shares of the company plunged 50 percent around mid-April and lingered at the depressed level for successive days, before gradually staging a partial rebound, rising about 25 percent.
Tupperware had its origins in 1946 in Massachusetts when Earl Silas Tupper “had a spark of inspiration while creating molds at a plastics factory shortly after the Great Depression.” It came at a time when saving leftovers had become a household necessity given the economic hardships of the post-War years.
Over the time, Tupper’s hermetically-sealed plastic containers became aspirational, mostly with self-employed women, hosting Tupperware “parties” at homes, where friends would gather with food and drinks as a company representative demonstrated the items for sale, in what came to be known as “party plan” marketing.
Despite having a workforce of around 10,000 employees in December 2021, the Orlando, Florida-based company saw the brand’s reach dwindle. Over the last decade, the company’s annual sales fell by half to $1.3 billion in 2022, reporting a loss of $14 million.
The company, which used to be a hotbed of innovation with problem-solving kitchen gadgets, slowly lost its edge. “Tupperware is being hit by a number of forces including a sharp decline in the number of sellers, a consumer pullback on home products, and a brand that still does not fully connect with younger consumers,” explains Neil Saunders, Managing Director and Retail Analyst at GlobalData Retail. Tupperware’s initiative to gain distribution through big-box chain retailer Target failed to bring about a change due to its limited reach as compared to other brands.
As per a recent press release, Tupperware is said to have enlisted the assistance of financial advisors to secure supplemental financing, and engage in discussions with potential investors or financing partners. The company is also evaluating its real estate portfolio and other assets that could be tapped “to preserve or deliver additional liquidity,” the filing says.
