SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 Both Salsa Queen and Kiitos Brewing, two Utah businesses, filed for bankruptcy over the last several months.<\/p>\n
Salsa Queen filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February, a month after sending an email to customers asking them to buy gift cards to help through what the company described in a January statement as “a very real cash flow challenge we’ve been facing over the past few months.”<\/p>\n
Salsa Queen listed $100,000 to $500,000 in assets and $1 million to $10 million in liabilities, according to court filings obtained by KSL.<\/p>\n
Maharba Howell, left, laughs as she runs her Salsa Queen stand with Jacque Bond during the farmers market at Wheeler Historic Farm on Aug. 3, 2014. (Photo: Michelle Tessier, Deseret News)<\/p>\n
Founded in 2014 by Salsa Queen, who legally changed her name to match the company’s name, the brand grew throughout the Beehive State, becoming a common sight at farmers’ markets and at Smith’s locations.<\/p>\n
She told KSL<\/a> that she started the business 12 years ago from a home in Magna as a single mother of seven children.<\/p>\n The success continued, and the company grew to 1,000 stores \u2014 including Costco \u2014 in 30 states, before filing for bankruptcy. Salsa Queen didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from KSL.<\/p>\n In late April, Kiitos Brewing quietly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, also listing $100,000 to $500,000 in assets and $1 million to $10 million in liabilities.<\/p>\n Kittos, which first opened in 2015, has two locations in the Salt Lake Valley. The brewery’s flagship location in Salt Lake City is at 608 W. 700 South and its Sugar House location, which opened in December 2025, is at 1533 S. 1100 East.<\/p>\n But, in a bit of good news for fans of the brewery, Kittos filed for bankruptcy protection to reorganize and continue operating, according to Bankruptcy Observer.<\/a><\/p>\n Still, the move comes amid a large downturn in microbreweries across the country.<\/p>\n