Tupperware, the iconic American brand known around the world for its plastic food packaging, will close its last factory in the United States.
The 78-year-old company, which initially sold its products at parties hosted by suburban housewives, plans to take advantage of cheaper wages in Mexico.
The factory in the small South Carolina town of Hemingway has produced billions of kitchen cabinet staples since it opened 48 years ago.
The closure, which was announced Thursday and will take effect later this year, is a blow to the 148 workers at the Williamsburg County plant.
Production will move to Lerma in Mexico, where the company says it already makes items for the United States and Canada.
Tupperware was founded in 1946 by chemist Earl Tupper, whose airtight plastic containers helped food last longer for families still struggling after the war and the Great Depression.
An employee at the Tupperware factory in Hemmingway, South Carolina.
The small town of Hemmingway will be affected by the closure of the factory
It opened the South Carolina factory in April 1976 to meet demand east of the Mississippi River as the company grew rapidly.
After Tupperware threatened to move to Tennessee in 1993, the state offered tax breaks and the company stayed.
The company remained and the number of workers increased to 1,300.
By then, the 1000,000-square-foot food plant was producing 173 million tubs and containers made of Tupperware’s signature colorful plastic.
As large retailers offered their own versions, sales fell and there were layoffs: 300 in 1996 and 250 in 2005, according to the local Post & Courier newspaper.
https://www.postandcourier.com/business/tupperware-hemingway-south-carolina-pee-dee-layoffs/article_4531a4a2-29aa-11ef-8301-c7c07b5ac375.html
The layoffs come after a difficult year for the 80-year-old company, based in Orland, Florida.
In April, Tupperware warned it had “substantial doubt” whether it could stay in business due to declining demand for its plastic packaging and mounting debt. in a US Securities and Exchange Commission Filingthe company said it was in a “difficult financial situation.”
That announcement came just days after the New York Stock Exchange said Tupperware stock was at risk of being delisted because the company had not filed a required annual report.
Bosses say they will offer early retirement and pay to eligible staff, as well as trying to find them work at other local businesses.
“It is important to note that this decision is not a reflection of the performance of the Hemingway team,” the company said in a statement to DailyMail.com.
“The company has always been a people-focused business, so we will be taking important steps to look after our Hemingway team.”
Tupperware had sold the Hemmingway plant last fall to a real estate investment company for $15 million and then leased it back.
After Earl Tupper founded the company in 1946Their products gained popularity throughout the 1950s.
This was partly due to their iconic ‘Tupperware parties’, where a salesperson would visit someone’s home to demonstrate and sell the containers.
Those matches have captured the popular imagination ever since.
For example, Dixie Longate is a drag queen known as ‘Tupperware Lady’. She is played by actor Kris Andersson and known for her comedic skits in which she sells plastic items.
Production will move to the Tupperware factory in Mexico
Dixie Longate, also known as the Tupperware Lady, performs in Westwood, California
Tupperware Brands has indicated its business may not survive in a filing with the SEC on Friday.
A group of unspecified women attend a Tupperware party, some wearing hats made from Tupperware products, circa 1955.
The COVID-19 pandemic boosted Tupperware sales as families stayed home and cooked more meals at home.
Since then, the company has suffered poor sales and accumulated increasing debt, causing its stock price to fall to its lowest levels in its history.
It was trading at $1.50 on Friday, down from a high of nearly $100 in 2013.
The company first raised substantial doubts about its ability to continue as a going concern almost a year ago.
It has since named consumer goods industry veteran Laurie Ann Goldman as its CEO.