Conditions were stacked against Tupperware like so many lidded Servalier bowls. The iconic food storage company, bought out of bankruptcy in October 2024 by a pair of hedge funds, entered the current century unprepared for consumers to turn on plastic, parties, and in-person purchasing.
In fact, Tupperware was so pleased with itself in the 1990s—when sales parties were taking place at the astounding global rate of one every 2.5 seconds, and 90 percent of American households had at least one piece of Tupperware in the pantry—that it didn’t bother renewing Earl Tupper’s patents or getting a jump on competing brands. “If they had diversified at that point into all things domestic, I think they’d still be alive today,” Laurie Kahn, director and producer of the documentary “Tupperware!”, said in the wake of the company’s collapse.
