SPOTLIGHT
The iconic Orlando-based Tupperware Brands company, which revolutionized food storage in homes with its airtight colorful plastic containers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September. Founded by chemist Earl Tupper in 1946, the company moved its headquarters in 1953 from Massachusetts to what was then a farming community just south of Orlando, Tupperware Brands says. Famed for its independent sales reps’ Tupperware parties, the company claims it “empowered female entrepreneurship through social selling.” Tupperware has entered the popular lexicon as shorthand for storage containers in home kitchens and a certain retro lifestyle aesthetic.
Tupperware faced financial headwinds in 2019 as its direct sales business model struggled amidst increasing online and retail options, the company says in an SEC filing. It announced the sale of its remaining undeveloped land in Orlando in 2021 but kept its executive offices there. According to bankruptcy filings, Tupperware carries $1.2 billion in debt and holds $679.5 million in assets. It has more than 7,500 patents for home products, employs 5,450 people in 41 countries and partners with more than 465,000 independent sales reps who distribute products in nearly 70 countries. Tupperware says it’s planning a “transformation into a digital-first, technology-led company.”
TOURISM
- A report by advisory firm Tourism Economics found that Central Florida’s tourism industry — in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties — scored an all-time high economic impact of $92.5 billion in 2023, a 5.6% increase from 2022, driven by 74
- million visitors spending $58.5 billion or about $790 per person, 85% of that in Orange County. The Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, a still-active 155-yearold navigational aid, was awarded a $775,000 grant from Brevard County’s tourist tax collections. It will pay for the reconstruction of two lighthouse keeper’s cottages that were destroyed in 1966. Expected to be complete in late 2025, the cottages will be an exhibit portraying the lives of the keepers, early settlers and Indigenous people.
IMPACT FEES
- Osceola County hiked impact fees that developers pay for roads and infrastructure, especially for businesses that create the most traffic — making them among the highest in the state. A stand-alone fast-food restaurant with a drive-through could see more than a 1,000% increase, from $14,802 to $166,448. Exact fees will vary by location. A fee to build a single-family home rose from $9,999 to $21,710; for multifamily buildings from $7,754 to $14,040 per unit; for office space $4,405 to $10,056 per 1,000 square feet; for a hotel $7,491 to $12,243 per room; and for a new golf course a fee swung from $10,009 to $21,366 per hole. The rules take effect in June 2025.
SPACE INDUSTRY
- Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM) moved its Space Delta 10 unit to Patrick Space Force Base from its temporary location in Colorado Springs. The unit develops tactics and war games that could be used in space. STARCOM plans to bring about 450 people to work at the base through 2026.
HOSPITALS
- Hospital operator AdventHealth’s Central Florida Division began construction on a 13,300-sq.-ft., 12-bed emergency room in Sanford that will offer respiratory therapy, diagnostic imaging, ultrasound and a full-service laboratory. Expected to open in 2025, the ER will bring 50 high-paying jobs to the area.
PHILANTHROPY
- Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida received $561,776 in state funding to support its Food Cost Mitigation Project, which will help provide more than 2.2 million meals over the next year to residents over a seven-county service area.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
- The U.S. Department of Commerce awarded the Kissimmee Utility Authority a $6.2-million grant for infrastructure improvements that support the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The investment is set to be matched by $7.5 million in local funds. The grant was funded by the 2023 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act for communities affected by Hurricane Ian and other disasters.
- Duke Energy Foundation announced $200,000 worth of grants distributed to 15 city and county economic development organizations for marketing efforts. DeLand will use $20,000 to attract investors, and the Orlando Economic Partnership will use $20,000 to create a tool comparing its business advantages to other large metro areas. Organizations in Orange, Polk, Citrus, Volusia, Lake, Hernando, Highlands, Levy, Pasco and Pinellas counties received funds.
JOBS
- Amazon’s order fulfillment center in Cocoa, which sat empty for two years, has sprung back to life. The company began hiring for hundreds of positions at the more than 200,000-sq.-ft. warehouse with pay starting at $17 per hour, while on average, Amazon center workers make $20.50 per hour. New employees are offered full health, vision and dental benefits. Amazon says it has created 52,000 full- and part-time jobs in Florida since 2010.