Rebel Creamery has sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Utah, as it grapples with a $23.785 million judgment in favor of rival Van Leeuwen Ice Cream over a trade-dress dispute.
Rebel Creamery, whose products are sold in major grocery stores like Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT), Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR), and Safeway, filed for bankruptcy on August 14. The filing reveals Rebel’s assets to be approximately $13.78 million, while its liabilities stand at $23.85 million, reported Fox News.
The judgment accounts for nearly all of Rebel’s unsecured liabilities, while its assets include $5.22 million in cash, $2.59 million in accounts receivable and $5.65 million in inventory.
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream is listed among Rebel’s unsecured creditors, with a claim of $23.785 million, a claim that Rebel disputes.
Court filings, however, do not show that the Van Leeuwen judgment alone caused Rebel to file for bankruptcy.
Packaging Fight Ends in $23.8 Million Award
Rebel’s bankruptcy filing came less than a month after a federal judge ruled for Van Leeuwen, ordering Rebel to stop selling products with potentially confusing packaging and redesign its packaging.
Van Leeuwen sued Rebel in 2021, alleging its ice cream packaging copied Van Leeuwen’s distinctive trade dress, including pastel, minimalist pints with matching lids and black script lettering. Van Leeuwen initially sought $36.4 million in Rebel’s profits, but the court cut the award by 33%, finding that some sales were driven by demand for keto and better-for-you ice cream rather than the packaging. The final award was $23.785 million in Rebel’s profits from infringing ice cream pint sales.
Van Leeuwen hired Pentagram in 2016 to develop packaging for its nationwide grocery expansion, ultimately choosing one of seven designs. In contrast, Rebel founders Austin and Courtney Archibald created their packaging themselves in Adobe Illustrator in 2017–18, despite having no formal graphic-design training. Austin told the court they kept only the final design file, with no earlier versions.
US Bankruptcies Hit 16-Year High
The bankruptcy filing by Rebel Creamery is part of a larger trend, with U.S. corporate bankruptcies reaching a 16-year high in the first half of 2026. Large-company bankruptcies accelerated in the first half of 2026, reaching their highest January-to-June level since 2010 and surpassing the 317 filings recorded for all of 2022. May and June each saw 72 filings, among the highest monthly totals since July 2020. Industrials led sectors with 50 filings, followed by consumer discretionary (35) and healthcare (26).
The food industry has been particularly affected, with pizza chains also feeling the squeeze due to weaker consumer spending and slowing restaurant traffic. In May, Washington-based wood-fired pizza chain Smoking Monkey Pizza filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it looks to restructure debt and reorganize amid weaker consumer spending and slowing restaurant traffic.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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