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End of an era

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Illinois

Yelloh, formerly known as Schwan’s Home Delivery, announced last month it’s closing its delivery service this November. The company cited multiple insurmountable business challenges for the decision, including economic and market forces, as well as changing consumer lifestyles.

In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN act, filed to the state of Illinois on Sept. 30 by parent group Cygnus Home Service, LLC, 119 Illinoisians will be affected across the state from the layoff. The final day of work for employees will be Nov. 22 of this year. […]

Founded in 1952, the Minnesota-based frozen food delivery giant has grown to nationwide size as a leader of the country’s largest fleet of yellow freezer trucks. The business operates as a direct-to-consumer frozen food service, with 1,100 employees nationwide. The company changed its name from Schwan’s to Yelloh in 2023 after their yellow-colored vehicles.

Yelloh Board Member Micahel Ziebell said in a statement the food supply chain disruption during the pandemic affected the business, alongside other challenges to maintain operation in a digital landscape.

I grew up eating Schwan’s. My Uncle Bill was a Schwan’s driver. We lived in rural Iroquois County, so deliveries were always appreciated. Plus, its butter brickle ice cream was heaven. Seriously. Heaven.

Several years ago, I saw a Schwan’s truck go by and chased the driver down and got a menu. It wasn’t good. Lots of meh frozen food and no butter brickle. I didn’t realize that they’d since upgraded their menu, or I would’ve given them another go.

Anyway, just a little story about a very unique part of rural Illinois life that is now gone.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 3:17 am

Comments

I remember my mom giving my brother and I the Schwan’s book and letting us pick a treat. Someone would see the truck coming down the street or at a neighbor’s house, which triggered the mad dash to find the order list before he got there. It was definitely a unique and memorable experience.

Comment by 'lectric guitar Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 7:17 am
I grew up in Schaumburg during the 80s & 90s. Not rural by any means, but I would see their trucks and I always viewed and admired them as a luxurious commodity. Recently, I found myself wondering if they were still around. Weird to hear they changed their name to Yelloh and melloncholy to hear they lost their touch and are closing their doors.

Comment by lloyd Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 8:21 am
Not just rural. I’ve been enjoying it for years too. Their menu the past few years went through some changes but was still pretty good. It was cheaper than the other options like Factor/Hello Fresh, and it was fun having a friendly delivery guy who would stop by on his bi-weekly runs and ask if you had everything you needed even if you didn’t order anything.

The stuffed salmon was great.

Since I heard they are closing, I’ve debated ordering a small deep freezer and just stocking up with one last final order of about a thousand bucks. I still might.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 8:26 am
One of my high school classmates has been a long term route driver. A friend has a delivery truck stop by because his wife loves the thick cut pork chops. COVID was designed to cause problems according to Dr. David Martin, sorry they got Schwan’s also known as Yelloh. Good products, helpful and happy Route drivers.

Comment by Ken Dean Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 8:29 am
I guess this is their Schwann song. (Somebody had to say it)

Comment by Joand315 Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 8:32 am
I am 66 now, and grew up in Tidewater Virginia. I remember Schwan’s from my childhood there, and always being envious of the neighbors who received deliveries. I just knew they were getting ice cream delivered to their houses. Those yellow trucks have been around forever it seems.

Comment by H-W Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 8:36 am
Best days were waiting for the Schwan man to pull up. Miss it.

Comment by Percy Plantagenet Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 8:38 am
I never knew Schwan’s (local dairy did similar service where I grew up) but listened to a great podcast over the summer about their challenges. And now I can’t find which pod it was, but this article has most of the same info on their recent struggles.

https://www.modernretail.co/operations/how-schwans-frozen-food-delivery-service-rebranded-as-yelloh-and-struggled-to-evolve-leading-to-its-closure/

Comment by ChicagoBars Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 8:40 am
I really enjoyed the Schwan’s brand of ice cream. Another memory of a better time.

Comment by Gravitas Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 8:43 am
I always felt a little sorry for the drivers. They were often making calls on homes until 9 or 10 in the evening.

Admired the company for having switched all vehicles to operating on propane. On an equivalent basis, a gallon of propane is approximately $2.30/gallon at today’s prices. Obviously, too many other factors led to their demise.

Comment by Downstate Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 8:44 am
We used Schwans quite a bit when we first moved to Spfld in the 1990s. I loved it because we could get great food not generally found in the local grocery stores. The drivers were knowledgeable and weren’t pushy. By about 2010, the food wasn’t as good, it seemed to be more expensive, and the drivers became more aggressive in sales tactics. We canceled our Schwans service around 2014. I miss the good food, but I don’t miss the later corporate profit-driven sales approach.

Comment by Steve Rogers Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 8:51 am
I used to LOVE the Schwan root beer float ice cream bars.

Comment by JoeMaddon Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 9:00 am
We had this set up for my Mom and Dad after my Dad had some issues and they moved to their new house. It was good at that time. The neighbor across the street had it delivered until about two years ago. That is a highly competitive space now with all the other services that deliver meals or meal kits. Large corporations like Kroger and Walmart and others are competing for that now.

Comment by dtownresident Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 9:02 am
I have fond memories of Schwan’s as a kid, but not going to lie I haven’t ordered anything from it in over twenty years, so not too surprising.

Comment by TJ Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 9:06 am
Just placed an order for old times sake… it’s been years, but it is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.

Comment by Lincoln Lad Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 9:14 am
They were a staple of rural Iowa too. Dreamcicles and push-up pops are synonymous with Schwan’s in my mind. And for some reason we bought their laundry detergent too.

I hadn’t thought about them much in years, but it occurred to me that they might be well positioned for a resurgence in the era of everything-gets-delivered. Clearly, I was wrong.

Comment by Montrose Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 9:17 am
We saw the Schwan’s truck growing up in rural Henry County in the 70s and 80s, but didn’t often buy much outside of the icecream treats. I was always jealous of my friends who got “exotic” dinners from them, while we were stuck with my mom’s meat and potatoes

Comment by Steve M Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 9:59 am
The early nineties were a magical time to be a child. Dean-o was our Schwann man. He was one of the nicest, coolest people ever. Push-up Pops, as Montrose pointed out, an absolute staple. Pot pies, corn dogs… man I can hardly remember what else. In an era before the PC and cell phones, the Schwann man was like a superhero.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 9:59 am
Laughing pretty hard at the idea of a wild-eyed Rich chasing down the ice cream truck driver and demanding a menu.

Comment by George Ryan Reynolds Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 10:10 am
We briefly had Schwan’s at our house.

That Golden Age came to an end when my parents decided that the price, coupled with their sons’ heroic pre-teen gluttony, broke the family budget.

But it was a good time while it lasted.

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 10:26 am
Hadn’t thought about Schwan’s since my childhood until about 2 years ago when my neighbor signed up for “Yelloh” and I realized they were one in the same. May have to break this news to him next time I see him.

Comment by Treefiddy Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 10:41 am
My Mom was a regular Schwann’s customer when I was a kid. We used to buy their ice cream all the time. Kind of sad to hear it’s going away.

Comment by Stones Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 10:45 am
I remember in the late 60s early 70s we usually had Schwan’s potato chips in the large tin on top of our refrigerator.

Comment by Steve Polite Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 10:46 am
I’m a bit confused at the conflicting data in my Google search but I think they will still have Schwan’s products in stores after the November closing. But, like Rich, we stopped after the quality went down. If anyone knows if a Red Baron (Schwan’s) pizza is edible or a Mrs Smith’s pie went back to being good, I’d be interested.

Comment by Lurker Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 10:47 am
@Lurker

Schwans branded food is still around, it’s just the delivery service that is shutting down.

Comment by ChrisB Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 10:54 am
Grew up in rural Peotone in the 1980s on a farm. Nothing like the Schwan’s man. Everything was good from the ice cream to the frozen pizzas. The driver never changed and knew what you usually ordered. We sometimes threw him a curveball. He knew your family and you knew personally about him. Then my brothers and I became teenagers and couldn’t afford the premium price for those items.

Comment by will county Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 11:02 am
This is sad to hear, but not terribly surprising. I do have fond memories of my kids being little and they’d see the yellow truck coming down the road. They’d run through the house saying the duck truck is coming.

Comment by anonymoose Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 11:59 am
==COVID was designed to cause problems according to Dr. David Martin==

Wut?

Comment by Big Dipper Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 12:29 pm
Growing up in Edgar Co in the ’70’s, with a mom going back to school at EIU & a dad who craved ice cream, we were lucky enough to have Schwan’s delivery to our house.

I remember the big 2.5 gal cans of ice cream - mint choco- chip for the girls, butter brickle for the boys. Orange push-ups, frozen pizzas that I swear we lived on. Living in dread of that 2.5 gal metal can of ice cream falling on your foot as you lifted it out of the deep freeze.

So convenient for folks in rural communities & Mom’s with no time to grocery shop.
I still see the truck go down the highway here in Pope Co.

Comment by Little pond Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 12:59 pm
My in-laws loved Schwan’s ice cream. Our family had been Schwan’s customers for 29 years and because my kids were picky eaters, they always had their favorites from Schwan’s - fried rice, cheesy tater-tots, etc. During COVID they were wonderful, selling out to folks and bringing their products to the houses. The driver told me his sales were through the roof. But then a few years ago, they decided to change things - delivery on demand and kept moving our delivery day. They often were not stocked and the move to Yelloh just didn’t seem logical to me to give up a recognizable brand. The driver said corporate changes in the way they did things never made sense and the company had changed. We enjoyed our driver and will miss Schwan’s.

Comment by Stephanie Kifowit Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 2:20 pm
Our house was the last stop for our Schwan’s man back in the 70’s. My father and he had a deal for getting rid of slightly damaged product. I lived on the frozen sandwiches and pizza’s as a teen. Best Chocolate Almond ice cream ever.

Comment by Papa2008 Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 3:30 pm
My father-in-law worked for them for 25 or so years basically doing environmental & safety compliance. He had a really good experience until the last few years after it passed out of the family’s direct management. They really moved from customer service to bottom line and the truck business suffered from that.

Comment by ArchPundit Wednesday, Oct 9, 24 @ 6:49 pm