- March 13, 2025
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Tervis Tumbler has emerged from bankruptcy, more than five months after declaring Chapter 11. The Sarasota County drinkware company has a new strategy — including a home goods line of plates and bowls — its leaders say will propel it into a brighter future.
Tervis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sept. 5, 2024, citing industry shifts and ongoing litigation as factors. The company had $15.7 million in assets and owed more than $32 million to creditors when it filed for bankruptcy, according to court documents.
On Feb. 11, a judge in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida’s Tampa Division approved Tervis' Chapter 11 plan to reorganize its debt, and the company announced it had resolved all litigation.
Money Tervis owed its creditors had climbed above $30 million when it filed for bankruptcy — at a time when its revenue had fallen by more than 50% over the last two years, from $90 million in 2022. Its new plan involves a restructuring of its debt and a focus on selling products consumers will use at home, as well as a renewed relationship with Amazon.
“The business decision to reorganize was to better position and strengthen this brand’s legacy for a long and successful future,” CEO Hosana Fieber says in a statement.
Court filings show Tervis employed as many as 131 people in 2024 before declaring bankruptcy. That's down significantly from a peak of 1,000 employees, including seasonal workers, a decade ago. In mid-September, the company announced it was laying off 60 employees and now has 71 workers. The layoffs were the start of a monthslong process of right-sizing the company that also involved closing stores, according to Fieber. (Company officials stress that the 71-employee figure is a bit misleading, because it doesn't count a couple hundred employees who work for a manufacturing partner on Tervis accounts.)
“We started in September with the unfortunate cuts of labor. We closed a lot of our retail stores, so we were able to skinny down the balance sheet by not having those obligations on the books,” Fieber says in an interview with the Business Observer about exiting bankruptcy.
After declaring Chapter 11, Tervis shut down all its retail stores except for the Osprey location, and that will remain the case going forward, Fieber says. Previously, it operated shops in Ellenton; Key West; Panama City Beach; St. Augustine; Frankenmuth, Michigan; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. As it exits bankruptcy, Fieber says the company plans to relocate its headquarters from Venice to the Osprey location on Tamiami Trail, where it will complete renovations to add office space.
While the decisions were neither “nice” nor “sexy,” Fieber says: “Those were necessary things in order to bring our company back to size.”
In recent years, the drinkware company’s revenue had declined “as consumers spent more of their discretionary funds on services and experiences, versus products,” court filings say. Tervis posted gross revenue of about $90 million in 2022; that fell 15.77% to $75.8 million in 2023; and as of August 2024, it was down 56.46% to about $33 million, according to court filings.
The consumer preference for stainless steel products, “struggles to operate in brick-and-mortar stores” and the 2023 closure of Bed, Bath & Beyond “further contributed to Tervis’ declining sales,” court documents say.
Another factor in the revenue decline was an exclusive partnership with global digital sports platform Fanatics, which prevented Tervis from selling some of its products on Amazon. The partnership was “unsuccessful,” court documents say. It was in effect from 2022 to the end of 2023, according to Tervis officials.
Amazon is a “big portion of our business,” Fieber says, accounting for a double-digit percentage of revenue for Tervis, and the ability to sell all of its wares on the platform will help the company financially as it exits bankruptcy.
In 2024, Tervis created a sub-brand called TervisHome focused on items that can be used at the home rather than for on-the-go occasions. In January 2025, the company launched a new category of products made of melamine, a chemical compound found in dinnerware, that it says will meet the trend of blending indoor and outdoor spaces. It has introduced a line of melamine plates and bowls to complement its drinkware collection, which is currently on shelves at stores like Bealls in addition to Amazon, officials say.
“We’re thrilled with the future vision of the company and the leadership and strategies in place to bolster the brand and grow,” Tervis Chairman Rogan Donelly says in the statement. “The board has full confidence in our team’s ability to build back better and stronger than ever before, and we will do that by investing in innovation and our core strengths.”
Part of the comeback for Tervis involves a plan to pay back creditors.
Tervis owes more than $10 million to TMF Plastic Solutions, which has been handling manufacturing for the drinkware company since 2022, court documents say. TMF has a facility in Bradenton where Fieber says more than 200 employees are working to make Tervis products. Under the Chapter 11 reorganization plan, Tervis will pay TMF in full without interest over the course of five years.
The company estimates it also owes $14 million in general unsecured claims, including those by SIC Products LLC and Packsize LLC, and its reorganization plan shows that it will pay out a total of $1.26 million over a five-year period. SIC and Packsize had filed separate lawsuits against Tervis over contract disputes of $11.7 million and $1.08 million, respectively, court documents show. Tervis will pay SIC Products $7.1 million and Packsize $630,000 to settle their claims, according to court filings. Officials say that all claims have now been resolved but weren't able to comment on terms of the settlements due to non-disclosure agreements.
Tervis owes $1.5 million in ongoing operations claims and will pay out a total of $751,000 over five years, the reorganization plan says. Creditors with allowed unsecured claims of $5,000 or less will be paid out 75%, the plan states.
United Community Bank secured a lien on all of Tervis’ accounts receivable and inventory for $4.95 million, according to court filings. Tervis plans to pay the secured claim to United Community Bank within 60 days with an “infusion of cash both from [Tervis] and the holders of equity interests supported by a first mortgage” on property at 928 South Tamiami Trail in Osprey, which is owned by Arand LLC and houses the Tervis store. The members of Arand LLC include principal shareholders of the company who are Donelly family members.
Those principal shareholders/family members loaned nearly $18.88 million to Tervis from 2020 to 2024 to help provide capital for ongoing operations, according to court documents. (Tervis was founded in 1946; Casey Key entrepreneur John Winslow bought the company in the 1950s and moved it from Michigan to Venice. Winslow died in 1989 and his son-in-law, Norbert P. Donelly, took over the business. Fieber was named CEO in October 2023, after Rogan Donelly held the position.)
The family/principal shareholders are still owed “significant unpaid interest” in addition to the remaining principal of $9.88 million, according to court filings, which say they have been paid about 6% interest per year. The owners will not be paid until all obligations of the reorganization plan have been satisfied, court filings say.
While the bankruptcy process spanned less than six months, it “seems like an eternity,” Fieber says. “We were able to go through two hurricanes in the middle of all of it and survive.”
Hurricanes Helene and Milton blew through in late September and early October, toppling the Tervis sign on US 41 in Osprey in the weeks after the company declared Chapter 11.
To celebrate its exit from bankruptcy, Tervis debuted a “Made to Last” tumbler.
“Now we plan to invest in this family-owned brand and its products that are both made to last,” Fieber says in a statement.
“Despite this setback, Tervis remains optimistic about its future," the company says in its reorganization plan. "As Tervis is the original insulated drinkware brand with a long, proven legacy of success, the brand looks forward to reorganizing, shifting gears and leading this brand into its next phase of growth and operations.”
