By Hilary Russ and Katherine Masters
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Tupperware's financial woes follow a proliferation of free restaurant to-go boxes after a pandemic-era surge in delivery and carryout orders, and an onslaught of competition from cheaper food storage containers like Clorox (NYSE:CLX)'s GladWare.
Popularized by suburban housewives hawking plastic tubs at private parties in the 1950s, Tupperware (NYSE:TUP) has lost its edge to rivals making cheaper, hipper and more environmentally friendly containers, analysts told Reuters.
On Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), GladWare sells three-packs of 8-cup plastic containers with lids for $8.99 or more, compared with a single Tupperware Heritage Collection bowl and lid of the same size priced at $10.99.
Tupperware did not reply to a request for comment.
Investors dumped Tupperware Brands Corp stock this week after it said late on Friday that it had "substantial doubt" about its ability to stay in business without a cash infusion or relief from creditors of its $705 million in debt, which it is struggling to repay due to higher interest rates.
Shares touched a three-year low of $1.21 on Monday. The Orlando, Florida-based company said it was looking at ways to "right-size" and monetize fixed assets.
On Thursday, shares surged as much as 42% to $1.87, after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company had brought in advisers from Moelis (NYSE:MC) & Co, Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Alvarez & Marsal ahead of a potential bankruptcy.
The parties involved did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on the report.
National rivals like Newell Brands Inc - which makes Rubbermaid, FoodSaver and Ball (NYSE:BALL) glass jars - and a "proliferation of private brand alternatives have chipped away at Tupperware's market share over the years," retail consultant Carol Spiekerman said.
Even amid a rise in home cooking and associated kitchen gadgets during the pandemic, "the main problem for Tupperware is that there are lot more competing brands that shoppers can select from," said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData.
At a February consumer conference, Newell Chief Executive Ravi Saligram said the company was growing Rubbermaid's distribution in the grocery sector and launching new products, including DuraLite, a line of glass bakeware with snap-on lids.
In 2022, Rubbermaid gained market share in each of its subcategories, Saligram said. Newell Brands has a market cap of $5.2 billion compared with Tupperware's $112.6 million.
Other competitors include Pyrex maker Instant Brands and Reynolds Consumer Products (NASDAQ:REYN) Inc, maker of Presto.
Hitha Herzog, chief retail analyst for H Squared Research, said Tupperware's challenges in appealing to younger consumers also hurt the brand's ability to raise revenue. And Tupperware was slow to pivot from its direct sales force, largely made up of women who sold products at parties.
Tupperware Chief Executive Miguel Fernandez said in a March earnings call that the brand was working to expand ecommerce sales. Late last year it started selling bowls and other products at Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT)
"It was just too little too late at that point," Herzog said.
GladWare, owned by Clorox Co , is sold at big box retailers including Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Inc and Target and grocery stores including Kroger (NYSE:KR). Clorox licenses the Glad brand.
But some food storage comes right to customers - for free.
As delivery and carryout orders soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers were able to hoard reusable polypropylene takeout boxes from restaurant orders, said Barry Friends, a partner at food industry consultant Pentallect.
His wife has stuffed their kitchen cupboard full of salvaged heavy-duty plastic boxes - which he said can cost restaurants as much as $1 apiece - as well as a growing number of glass containers, though she also still has 35-year-old Tupperware plastic cups, he said.
In 2022, demand for food containers was so high and supply chains still so snarled that restaurants, hotels and supermarkets suffered packaging shortages.
Four out of five consumers want to store restaurant leftovers in their original takeout packages and more than a third want to reheat food in their original to-go containers, Albert Salama, chief executive of food packaging supplier Sabert Corp, told NJ Advance Media last year.