Their ads were often on TV during the 1970’s. Ronco was known for it’s must have gadgets not unlike JML today. Many readers might have forgotten it also had a record label.
Summary
Ronco was an American company that manufactured and sold a variety of items and devices, most commonly those used in the kitchen.
The company was founded in 1964 by Ron Popeil who was inspired to start the company by the open market hustling he saw on Maxwell Street in Chicago during his youth.
In it’s early days, the company mainly sold inventions developed by Popeil’s father, Samuel “S.J.” Popeil. Those early products included the Veg-O-Matic and the Popeil Pocket Fisherman, a product manufactured by S.J. Popeil’s company.
Moving into the1970’s, Ron Popeil began developing products on his own to sell through Ronco.
Where Did They Go?
As far back as 2005 Ron Popeil announced the sale of Ronco to Fi-Tek VIII for $55 million. Fi-Tek changed it’s company name to Ronco, maintaining first refusal for Popeil’s future inventions. Ron Popeil would continue to develop and market inventions through a successor company, Ron’s Enterprises, selling them on to Ronco.
Sadly there were troubled times ahead for Ronco and it’s new owners.
On June 14, 2007, Ronco filed Chapter 11 in U.S. bankruptcy court. Paperwork filed showed that Ronco creditors, the largest of which was Popeil himself, were owed US$32.7 million.
In 2011, CD3 Holdings, Inc., a consumer products company, became the new owners of the Ronco brand
On April 27, 2018, the new Ronco filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, seeking time to reorganize after failing to secure funding.
On June 13, 2018, Ronco changed its bankruptcy filing from Chapter 11 (reorganization) to Chapter 7 meaning full liquidation and shutdown.
Today the brand has a new owner (HD Schulman International Trading, LLC) who bought the rights to the Ronco brand and its portfolio of products in 2022, thanks to that acquisition you can still buy Ronco products, they are marketed through the ronco.com website.
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