Tervis to lay off 60 of 129 total employees

Venice drinkware manufacturer Tervis will lay off nearly half its employees, the company announced Friday — eight days after filing for bankruptcy. 

It will cut 60 workers, according to a letter its director of human resources sent to the Florida Department of Commerce. Half the layoffs will be at the company’s Venice headquarters, according to the letter.

Tervis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sept. 5 and announced it would be conducting layoffs as part of the reorganization. At the time, Tervis employed 129 people, according to court filings.

By law, companies with over 100 employees must post layoff notices to the Florida Department of Commerce’s Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification website within 60 days of a mass layoff or plant closure. The letter from Tervis was dated Sept. 10 and published to the state website as of Sept. 13.

The layoffs at Tervis will begin Nov. 11 and conclude by Dec. 20, Tervis Director of Human Resources Bethany Chapman says in her letter to the state. Her position is among those being eliminated, the letter states. 

The vice president of IT, director of sales, 15 keyholders, seven store managers, six assistant managers, three account coordinators and three customer care representatives will also be laid off, according to the letter, which lists 29 job titles affected.

"All affected employees have been notified of their separation dates and that their separation from employment will be permanent," Chapman says in her letter, which says 55 will lose their jobs effective Nov. 11; four layoffs will take effect Dec. 14; and one will be Dec. 20.

Of the workers affected, 30 will be from the Venice headquarters, Chapman says; five will lose their jobs in Panama City Beach; four employees will lose their jobs at each of these stores: Ellenton, Key West and St. Augustine; and one will be laid off in Osprey.

Four Tervis employees will lose their jobs in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, according to a WARN letter posted in that state. Tervis also has stores in Frankenmuth, Michigan, and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; neither of those states has updated WARN information as of Sept. 13.

It is unclear whether there have been layoffs since the company filed for bankruptcy that were not posted, as companies are allowed to circumvent WARN letters if there is an immediate business need to cut jobs due to unforeseen circumstances or faltering companies.

The reduction in its workforce comes after a challenging couple of years for the drinkware company. Tervis posted gross revenue of about $90 million in 2022; that fell to $75.8 million in 2023; and as of Aug. 24, it was about $33 million, according to court filings — a decrease of more than 63% in less than two years. The company cites competition, a lawsuit and shifts in consumer behavior as factors in its decline.

Tervis CEO Hosana Fieber and Chairman Rogan Donelly, in the filing, statements and an interview with the Business Observer, have said they believe the layoffs and bankruptcy will better position the company to succeed long-term. “Rogan and I," Fieber says, "are deeply committed to bringing Tervis back even stronger than it was before and leaning on our core roots and strong legacy to make that happen.”