Yelloh, Formerly Schwan’s Home Delivery, Is Shutting Down

The last remaining vestige of Schwan’s food delivery empire is shutting down.

Yelloh, formerly known as Schwan’s Home Delivery, on Monday announced that it will cease all operations in November. In a news release, the company said it’s facing “multiple insurmountable business challenges, including economic and market forces, as well as changing consumer lifestyles.”

A WARN letter filed with the state said that 176 people will lose their jobs in Minnesota as a result of the closure. The company employs about 1,100 across the country. The WARN letter also said that eight Minnesota facilities will shutter.

“The current Yelloh team has worked hard against external headwinds such as the nationwide staffing challenges and crushing food supply chain disruption caused by the pandemic,” said Yelloh board member Michael Ziebell in the news release. “These challenges, combined with changing consumer lifestyles and competitive pressures that have been building for over 20 years, made success very difficult. Digital shopping has replaced the personal, at-the-door customer interaction that was the hallmark of the company.”

Schwan’s delivery service started in Marshall back in 1952. Over the years, the company expanded beyond delivery and began selling several products in grocery stores, including Red Baron brand pizzas.

In late 2018, the Schwan family reached a deal to sell its majority stake in the company to South Korean food distributor CJ CheilJedang for $1.8 billion. But the family held onto the frozen food delivery arm of the business, which would go on to rebrand as “Yelloh” in 2022. The name is a nod to the company’s fleet of yellow vehicles that deliver frozen food and ice cream to consumers’ doors.

But Yelloh apparently struggled to get traction in the marketplace. In October 2023, the company announced that it was laying off 750 employees and significantly cutting down on its national footprint, shrinking its offerings to just 18 states. Earlier that same year, Yelloh took a “significant” investment from a New York-based private equity firm.

“It’s with heavy hearts that we made the difficult decision to cease operations of Yelloh,” said CEO Bernardo Santana in the release. “We are thankful to our many loyal customers and hard-working employees for everything they have done to support us. I am deeply grateful for our employees’ tireless and bold efforts, and our customers’ dedication. It has been our utmost pleasure and honor to serve our customers their favorite meals and frozen treats.”