DUCK DYNASTY ICED TEA MAKER FILES BANKRUPTCY

Duck Dynasty iced tea maker files bankruptcy. Duck Dynasty became a hit reality show with millions of fans. As in most things that become a hit, products started popping up built on the show. Companies hoped to make a bundle from the fans buying their products. One of the products that revolved around the show was iced tea. Chinook USA LLC made a deal with Duck Commander Inc., the reality show family’s business. The tea product never really took off. Chinook spent more than $4.5 million on the project. The bottles were put out on sale in 10 states. Chinook blamed the reality stars for the failure of tea sales. The family signed a contract to promote the tea on television and other media. Chinook claims the family never lived up to the contract. Chinook has filed a lawsuit against the family business. Because of the bad sales of tea, Chinook has ran into money problems. The company consulted with a bankruptcy lawyer. After consulting with the bankruptcy attorney and exploring their options, the company made the only choice they could. The company has filed bankruptcy in order to survive.  About one dozen of the company’s employees have been laid off. Chinook hopes to turn this around. The lawsuit against the family combined with the bankruptcy case filing are part of the turn around plan. The company alleges the family just made too many production deals with companies. There was no way to honor the appearances that were promised. Chinook hopes the lawsuit will give them the promotion that was promised. If that takes place, maybe customers will try the tea, like the tea, and become long term customers. The goal of the bankruptcy lawyers is clear. Get the debt under control. Put the company under firm footing. Save the jobs of the employees.