Yelloh, formerly known as Schwan’s, will cease operations

The frozen food company that helped keep chest freezers stocked to the brim is closing.

Yelloh, the company formerly known as Schwan’s, will cease operations later this year.

The 72-year-old company announced the closing on Monday, citing “insurmountable” business challenges and customers’ lifestyles, USA Today reported.

Some of the challenges were staffing and food supply chain issues from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These challenges, combined with changing consumer lifestyles and competitive pressures that have been building for over 20 years, made success very difficult,” board member Michael Ziebell said, in a news release. “Digital shopping has replaced the personal, at-the-door customer interaction that was the hallmark of the company.”

Yelloh had already closed delivery depots and had laid off hundreds of employees over the past year, the Star Tribune reported.

The company started as Schwan’s Home Delivery in 1952 but rebranded itself in 2022 to Yelloh. It was based in Minnesota but had trucks in nearly every state in the U.S.

Yelloh currently employs 1,100 across the country.

The last day items can be purchased is Nov. 8, WCCO reported.

The frozen food production portion of the company that kept the name Schwan’s was sold to a South Korean company in 2019 for $1.8 billion, the Star Tribune reported. That will remain in operation. It produces products under the Red Baron, Freschetta, Mrs. Smith’s and other brands.

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