Hallmark Truck Camper Company files for bankruptcy

TGK

Active member
From Business Insider;

A Colorado camper manufacturer has filed for bankruptcy.

Hallmark RV, which operates in Fort Lupton at 12524 Weld County Road, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week.
The company said it has 50 to 99 creditors with unsecured claims. The top 20 creditors were listed in the filings, totaling $47,000 in debt. Hallmark said it has less than $50,000 in assets.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a business to restructure and keep operating while paying creditors over time.
Hubert Ward started making RVs in 1958, but founded Hallmark with his son William in 1969. William Ward is now president and owner, and signed the bankruptcy filing on behalf of the company. He declined to comment.

Hallmark makes pop-up truck campers, meaning the campers are built in and around truck beds. According to the company’s website, all camper exterior frames and roofs are made with fiberglass, but clients can customize the flooring, cabinets or skylights, for example. Campers range from $34,000 to $108,000.
The company’s creditors include outdoor manufacturing companies Dometic Corp. and Torklift International.
Hallmark is involved in one active lawsuit. In October 2022, the company was sued by CF Maier Composites, which said Hallmark failed to pay $1,750,000 for fiberglass composites it ordered. The case was set for trial in November, but will be paused due to the bankruptcy filing.
In summer 2020, Ward told BusinessDen business was booming through the pandemic, as many people took to the outdoors. He said the company had received 300 orders since the pandemic started, a period of time in which it would normally expect to see no more than 20 orders.
Attorney Steve T. Mulligan with Coan, Payton & Payne is representing the company in bankruptcy proceedings. He did not respond to a request for comment.
 

Fueggia

Selkman
Something does not jive with this bankruptcy and there has to be more to it. You have 300 orders (ie deposits) and you file for bankruptcy for $47,000 in creditor debt? $50,000 in assets... hmmm. The lawsuit seems to be the issue here. Its a shame as they have been around for many years... my feeling is though, that they have not kept up with the changing times and were set in their ways of building... which it seems may have not been a very efficient one in todays climate. Bankruptcy is not the end... if they play their cards well, they can emerge stronger and well placed for the next 50 years. Look at Earthroamer.... ??
 

tacollie

Glamper
Some of it may also be the larger influx of orders. They got 300 orders when they expected 20. If they tried to expand to accommodate that they may have over leveraged themselves. It would be stupid to expand your business off of a temporary surge in orders but I've seen companies do it before.
 

vintageracer

To Infinity and Beyond!
It would be stupid to expand your business off of a temporary surge in orders but I've seen companies do it before.

For many entrepreneurs and business owners in their mind there is not such thing as "Temporary" in their thoughts or vocabulary!

IF the 300+ orders is a big part of the reason for the business failure then the owner of Hallmark is NORMAL. This "Boom" will last FOREVER!

The hardest thing for any small business owner to LEARN TO SAY to a customer is NO!

Those that do it and understand the concept of NO are not afraid of losing a customer. These business's are confident in their product or service. They understand that their customer will wait for their product or service OR go find another vendor/supplier for their immediate needs and still come back in the future when they need to.

Ya cannot be everything to everybody when you are in business.

The quickest way to get shutdown as a business where I live in Tennessee is to not file and pay your monthly sales tax collections. You think creditors are bad to deal with try dealing with state government as they are going to git their money FIRST!
 

eg23

Member
This is really too bad.
A company with this long of a history should have been a little more secure.
These are really crazy times.
Hopefully they come out of this stronger and better.
 

DirtWhiskey

Western Dirt Rat
Smells like the $1.8m lawsuit over the panels (that's a lot of panels), tied to the 300 orders and trying to ramp up production. Lack of labor, inability to scale effectively is a very common problem. Doesn't matter if you have 1000 orders if you can't hire people and organize them vertically.

Chapter 11 for all intents and purposes means it's over for the current ownership. There will be an auction and somebody could probably pick up the pieces and move forward with some deft debtor handling. And of course the ones that get screwed are the depositors (300? eesh) at fire sale. We will see more of these very soon unfortunately, especially with banking being tied up how its is right now.
 

DirtWhiskey

Western Dirt Rat
My gut feel is "creative" accounting and taking advantage of US bankruptcy laws. How to ride the wave of of the massive camper boom for $$$, while avoiding the negative effects of the inevitable bust. I could be way off base though...

Owners will lose everything.
 

rruff

Explorer
The hardest thing for any small business owner to LEARN TO SAY to a customer is NO!
Those that do it and understand the concept of NO are not afraid of losing a customer.

Only people who are like crackheads when it comes to money behave like that. Granted, this isn't a small number, but... normal?

Owners will lose everything.

Only if they are stupid and didn't separate personal finances from the business.
 

ripperj

Explorer
Businesses don’t just wake up and declare bankruptcy, they usually have an exit plan.

If they try and siphon off large amounts of cash in the months prior to the declaration, they will end up having the assets seized unless they can prove it was legitimate salaries etc.

I went thru bankruptcy as a new employee like 22 years ago, my manager tried to play dumb and swore he didn’t know( I quit a very good job sold my house and moved to a different state to take the job). My response was “how could you say you didn’t know, all your admin staff told me we are cash on delivery with all our suppliers and UPS and FedEx won’t do pick ups because we don’t pay)

Sux for people with a deposit. I hope it works out


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

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