Popular regional food brand files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Consumers face the risk of losing some of their favorite products whenever a food manufacturer files for bankruptcy.

Commercial bakeries produce some of the most beloved products, and Hostess Brands is one of the most popular bakery brands, offering Wonder Bread, Twinkies, Ho Hos, Ding Dongs, and their fruit pies for decades.

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Hostess broke a lot of hearts after it filed for bankruptcy in January 2012, shut down operations, and liquidated its products. Luckily for its fans, J.M. Smucker in September 2012 purchased the company for about $5.6 billion and restarted the business.

Another food manufacturer, Hearthside Food Solutions, which made various snack and food products for distributors such as Mondelez Global, Kraft Heinz Foods, and Pepsico, on Nov. 22, 2024, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with a restructuring support agreement to hand 100% ownership of the company to its first-lien lenders.

Hearthside, known as H-Food Holdings, restructured its debt, reorganized, and emerged from bankruptcy on March 31, 2025, as a new company, Maker's Pride LLC.

Food company restructured its debt

Through the restructuring process, H-Food eliminated about $2 billion in funded debt. The company emerged with about $600 million in liquidity, including $200 million in new money through an equity rights offering and another $190 million of additional capital from a new asset-backed loan facility, according to a Maker's Pride statement at the time.

“The swift completion of our financial restructuring process marks a pivotal moment for our company and is a testament to the dedication of our valued team members and committed support of our customers and financial partners,” Darlene Nicosia, chief executive officer of Maker’s Pride, said in a statement.

The Downers Grove, Ill., company manufactures and produces convenience foods, including baked, refrigerated, and frozen foods, sweet and salty snacks, and nutrition bars, as a full-service provider of food packaging services for many of the world’s premier brands through a network of 27 facilities and is the largest private bakery in the industry.

And now, another popular commercial bakery has declared bankruptcy, as the parent company of Phoenix-based artisan bakery Noble Bread has filed a Chapter 11 petition to reorganize its business.

Noble Bread files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Noble Bread

Noble Bread files for bankruptcy protection

The bakery and restaurant owner's parent Noble Goodness LLC and three affiliates filed their Subchapter V petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona on May 29, listing $1 million to $10 million in assets and $1 million to $10 million in liabilities.

The debtor did not indicate a reason for filing for bankruptcy in its petition.

Nobel Bread operates a bakery facility that produces 30 different types of bread, as well as a modern wood-fired deli restaurant, Noble Eats, located in the Biltmore District in Phoenix.

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The bakery says that it uses old-world techniques, “only using organic GMO-free flours, water, sea salt, and organic levain starter, which is a culture of wild yeasts used slowly to leaven the bread,” according to Noble Bread's website.

The company claims that it takes 36 hours to make one loaf of bread.

“Utilizing whole grains, and ancient grains makes the bread far more complex and biologically active than just plain white bread,” Noble Breads said on its website.

The artisan bakery's products are available at Noble Eats, 11 AJ's Fine Foods gourmet markets throughout Arizona, and at a dozen farmers' markets throughout the Grand Canyon State.