The ice cream retail and restaurant sectors have faced several setbacks that led to bankruptcy filings since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The most significant bankruptcy in the ice cream industry that was caused by the pandemic was Friendly’s Restaurants’ bankruptcy filing in November 2020.
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The restaurant chain, which is known for its ice cream desserts, sandwiches and burgers, said it faced a catastrophic impact from the Covid-19 pandemic, which cause a decline in revenue as dine-in operations ceased for months and re-opened with limited capacity.
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The owner FIC Restaurants sold its assets to Amici Partners Group LLC in a bankruptcy sale in January 2021.
Financial distress also led Midwest ice cream retailer Oberweis Ice Cream and Dairy’s to filed for Chapter 11 protection on April 12, 2024, to reorganize its business. Oberweis sold its assets to Hoffmann Family of Companies on June 17, 2024, and exited bankruptcy.
The company, which opened its first ice cream shop in 1951, operated 43 Oberweis Ice Cream and Dairy retail locations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Missouri when it filed for bankruptcy.
Oberweis, which was founded in 1927, was a throwback to the heyday of dairies as it still sold its milk in glass bottles and offered home delivery of its dairy products.
Ice cream manufacturer Totally Cool sold its assets in bankruptcy. (Photo by Frank Hammerschmidt/picture alliance via Getty Images)
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Totally Cool sells ice cream assets in bankruptcy
Finally, defunct ice cream manufacturer Totally Cool Inc., which made products for Friendly’s, Hershey’s Ice Cream, Abilyn’s Frozen Bakery, Jeni’s, and ChipWich, has sold its assets for $650,000 through bankruptcy, Baltimore Business Journal reported.
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Totally Cool filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Aug. 23, 2024, after halting production and distribution and recalling all of its ice cream products two months earlier for potential Listeria monocytogenes contamination.
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The Owings Mills, Md., debtor filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland, listing $2 million in assets and $1.4 million in debts, according to its petition. The company in March 2025 reached an agreement to sell its assets to a company called Chill Ice Cream Solutions, the Baltimore Sun reported.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June 2024 found listeria in Totally Cool products, forcing the closure of the company’s facilities and a layoff of 68 employees.
Ice cream maker shut down operations, recalled products
Totally Cool shut down production and recalled 69 ice cream products across 13 brands after a Food & Drug Administration sampling discovered the presence of Listeria monocytogenes.
The company investigated the contamination and took preventative actions, according to a June 24 company statement. The products subject to recall were distributed nationwide and available in retail locations and direct delivery. No illnesses had been reported as of the statement.
Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
Healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms, such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, however, Listeria infection can cause miscarriage and stillbirths among pregnant women.
The FDA obtained a permanent injunction in March 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, prohibiting Totally Cool and its CEO Michael J. Uhlfelder from directly or indirectly receiving, preparing, processing, packing, holding, and/or distributing any article of food unless and until it meets certain requirements, Food Safety News reported.
The company subsequently reached a settlement with the FDA in March that calls for the company to discontinue all operations related to food processing and preparation.
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