The Popular Juice Brand That Could Face Bankruptcy In 2025

While there are plenty of brands that have filed for bankruptcy so far in 2025 – from fashion retailers to major alcohol brands – even more could be on the way. In fact, according to a report from the United States Courts, bankruptcy filings rose an astonishing 13.1% during the 12-month period that ended on March 31, 2025. Business filings, specifically, rose 14.7% during the same period bringing the total to 23,309 businesses. It's also worth mentioning that bankruptcy rates have steadily risen every quarter since June 2022, showcasing a much longer term trend than 2025 alone.

A grocery staple that might soon be joining the list of business bankruptcies in 2025 is Tropicana. With deteriorating sales and profits over the last several years, the company could be facing bankruptcy sooner rather than later. Tropicana's owner even provided an emergency $30 million loan to the company in February 2025, a troubling sign for the once-ubiquitous orange juice brand. Ongoing climate-related issues with orange production, coupled with ongoing inflationary influences continue to push the company to its financial edge. As Tim Hynes, the head of credit research at Debtwire, explained to CNN, "Tropicana's financial difficulties have raised concerns about how the company will manage its balance sheet." Ultimately, Hynes explained, "Tropicana faces an uphill battle."

Tropicana's problems are not necessarily new ones. Shifting consumer tastes — mainly away from sugary drinks to seemingly healthier alternatives — even led beverage behemoth, PepsiCo, to sell controlling stake in its juice brands in 2021. Specifically, this meant PepsiCo sold the Tropicana Brands Group — which also owns beverage brands like Naked, KeVita, and Izze — to European private equity firm PAI Partners, for $3.3 billion while retaining a minority 39% stake. However, PepsiCo has already stated that it wrote down — or reduced its recorded value of — the company's investment by $135 million during the last quarter of 2024.

Those that saw PepsiCo's 2021 sell-off as the proverbial writing on the wall for the Tropicana brand might have been correct. In fact, things have only proved worse for Tropicana in the years since this sale. According to data from Debtwire, per CNN, Tropicana's revenue dropped 4% in the last quarter of 2024, with its income dropping 10%. Many industry experts see Tropicana's brand losing at both ends of the price spectrum — with affordable options like Coca-Cola owned Minute Maid attracting consumers at the low end, and higher end brands like Simply taking market share — 4% of Tropicana's market share in mid-2024 alone to be exact, according to Circana data, per CNN.

Not to mention how price increases in the beverage market have further turned off consumers. In fact, according to a 2023 market report from Mintel, only 19% of U.S. consumers thought orange juice was considered a good value.

Another significant factor in Tropicana's recent decline has to do with the brand's recent packaging debacle. During the summer of 2024, the brand launched a redesign of its iconic orange juice carafe shaped bottle – much to the horror of Tropicana fans. In addition to the fact that customers accused the brand of engaging in shrinkflation -– the new bottle design was a downsized 46 ounces compared to the previous bottle's 52 -– loyal customers also disliked the new look. While Tropicana originally stated that it intended to drop the suggested retail price for a bottle of orange juice from $4.69 to $3.99 to compensate for the smaller product amount, they quickly raised the price back to its previous amount. The Tropicana website instead argues that, "Crop scarcity due to weather and disease coupled with macroeconomic inflation" drove the company to move the price back up. There is some truth to this, as the Department of Agriculture's Citrus: World Markets and Trade report projects 2025's U.S. based orange production to be the lowest in 88 years.

However, according to market research data from Circana, as reported by CNN, the backlash against Tropicana's new bottle was swift, with Tropicana sale's plummeting 19% by October 2024. Despite the lack of consumer support, Tropicana appears to be doubling down on the redesign with a Tropicana Brands Group spokesperson telling CNN in November 2024 that, "Changes can take time, and after just a few months, we're continuing to do what we can to help shoppers get accustomed to our new look."