Iconic grocery brand declares bankruptcy after 138 years

Hold onto your canned peaches, folks — Del Monte Foods, a 138-year-old titan of American grocery shelves, has just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, as the Daily Mail reports.

In a stunning late-night move on Tuesday, this historic producer of canned fruits and veggies announced its financial woes, planning a court-supervised sale while keeping operations afloat with a hefty $912.5 million in financing.

For generations, Del Monte has been synonymous with pantry staples like corn and peaches, not to mention brands like College Inn broths and Joyba bubble tea.

Del Monte’s financial struggles unfold

But let’s not sugarcoat it — shifting consumer habits have left the company in a pickle, with folks turning away from preservative-heavy canned goods in favor of so-called “healthier” options.

“Consumer preferences have shifted away from preservative-laden canned food,” said Sarah Foss, head of legal and restructuring at Debtwire. Well, isn’t that just the progressive foodie agenda at work, dictating what’s “good” for us while a legacy brand suffers?

Declining demand has also saddled Del Monte with surplus inventory costs, a burden that has clearly weighed heavily on a balance sheet listing assets and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion.

Bankruptcy filing shocks industry insiders

“Del Monte says that consumer demand has declined, causing increased costs,” Foss added. Turns out, when you can’t move product, the bills pile up faster than a supermarket checkout line on a holiday weekend.

With up to 25,000 creditors listed in the filing, the scope of this financial mess is staggering, though Del Monte insists it will keep chugging along with normal operations, including non-U.S. sales.

Some global enterprises under the Del Monte umbrella are even exempt from this court filing, a small silver lining in an otherwise cloudy forecast.

CEO defends strategic move

“This is a strategic step forward,” claimed Greg Longstreet, CEO of Del Monte Foods. Strategic? That’s one way to spin a bankruptcy filing, but let’s hope it’s more than just corporate jargon to pacify worried stakeholders.

“After a thorough evaluation, we determined a court-supervised sale process is the most effective way to accelerate our turnaround,” Longstreet continued. If only consumer tastes could be turned around as easily as a press release.

Meanwhile, the broader food and beverage sector isn’t exactly thriving, with Del Monte marking the fourth Chapter 11 filing this year and the fifteenth since early 2024, per Foss’s tally.

Consumer trends hit food sector hard

Elsewhere, Campbell’s, the soup and snack giant, reported a whopping $66 billion profit recently, fueled by a surge in low-cost soup sales as consumers tighten their belts. “Consumers are cooking at home at the highest levels since early 2020,” noted Campbell’s CEO Mick Beekhuizen. Maybe canned soup is the comeback kid, but canned veggies? Not so much.

Campbell’s also pointed out a drop in snack spending, reflecting slumping consumer sentiment and skyrocketing grocery prices that have everyone rethinking their shopping carts.

Back to Del Monte, the company’s struggles mirror a broader cultural shift where traditional brands get squeezed by modern dietary fads and economic pressures. It’s a shame to see a 138-year legacy stumble, especially when it’s partly due to a society obsessed with the latest health trend over tried-and-true staples. But hey, markets don’t care about nostalgia — they care about sales.