As Tupperware files for bankruptcy, longtime salesperson says the company gave her unique opportunities

For Myrtle Mitton, a key element of selling Tupperware was being able to teach others.

"I was able to teach young families and young moms how to make meals and how to cook and how to properly store food and how to save money with their groceries," said Mitton, who sold Tupperware for 28 years.

"Really being able to teach what we call homemaking skills — people had no clue."

Last week, the iconic food storage company filed for bankruptcy,after the company's shares tumbled to their lowest level on record.

Tupperware revolutionized the way consumers handled food storage sometime after the Second World War.

They plan to continue operating during the bankruptcy proceedings and will seek court approval for a sale, "in order to protect its iconic brand,"the company said just before midnight last Tuesday.

Mitton started with the company when she lived in Hamilton, and then in 2003 she moved to Kitchener where she became a distributor.

The company also gave Mitton "a social aspect" of her business that she came to appreciate, she said.

"I was with my daughter… at Limeridge Mall on Sunday, and I said to her 'there was a day when I would walk through a mall I couldn't go a few steps without someone knowing who I was,'" she said. "It was pretty awesome."

Amy McCarthy, a reporter forEater.com, says Tupperware's main focus was often just that: "To socialize and earn some income."

Reporter Amy McCarthy said at some point Tupperware "lost its way" — it used to be about functionality and changing the way leftovers can last. Now especially, there are factors like using plastic to store food now, which she says is diminishing people's interest in the company. (Garrett Cheen/The Associated Press)

"I think generally it was a very big opportunity … especially for middle-class women in the United States, because it was such a distinct thing," she told CBC Radio's The Current. "It wasn't necessarily going to be a threat to their husbands, it wasn't going to interrupt their work as a house-wife."

But, she said, at some point Tupperware "lost its way" — it used to be about functionality and changing the way leftovers can last.

Now especially, there are factors like using plastic to store food now, which she says is diminishing people's interest in the company.

And Tupperware's downfall doesn't come out of nowhere, according to managing director of GlobalData Neil Saunders.

He says it may have been a long time coming.

"The reality is that the decline at Tupperware is not new," Saunders said. "It is very difficult to see how the brand can get back to its glory days."

The fun in Tupperware parties

Eventually, the company became infamous for its "Tupperware parties" — where people would gather at a friend's or neighbour's home to view the product line.

For Mitton, who sold Tupperware for 28 years, those parties were ever-changing with the times.

"The key is to make sure you're continually evolving," she said.

In recent years, she said it's been popular to hold meal-prepping events.

"We would do a meal-prep party where you would leave the party with a full slot of meals for an entire week already prepared and ready to go."

"That was an evolution for me anyway, with how I was doing my business."

Mitton would carry out the tradition even around the holidays: "I would do baking-prep events," she said.

"I would have all the equipment you'd need to prepare, baking and hors d'oeuvres for your whole holiday season."

Tupperware parties were a factor that contributed to the company's success.

"Those were kind of the fun things that I think were part of the evolution of the party," she said.