Gumpert: a bare-bones order and four days to fund the restructuring

S. Gumpert Co. of Canada Ltd. has spent 76 years making the things other people bake with: baking crumbs, pie fillings, cream fillings, icings, dessert toppings and bakery mixes, more than 250 products in all, sold to bakeries, food manufacturers and grocery chains across North America. Since July 2026 every one of them has come out of a 50,000-square-foot plant in Elmira, Ontario, which the company moved into more than six months later than planned and more than $3 million over its renovation budget. "The Gumpert Group is beginning to see the benefits of the improved production and storage facilities, but they are hampered by residual debt from the move," its president, Daniel McPherson, swore on September 17, with the holiday season, the company's busiest, about to begin, per the McPherson Affidavit, Sept. 17, 2026, paras. 2–6, 21, 101.

The next day Gumpert, its parent Gumpert Holding Inc. and its property company Gumpert RealCo Inc. asked the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) for protection under the CCAA, with Ernst & Young Inc. as proposed monitor and Farm Credit Canada, the lender that financed the plant, ready to advance up to $2 million in interim financing ranking behind only the professionals' charge, per the Pre-Filing Report, Sept. 17, 2026, paras. 1–4, 38. The proposed charges would rank ahead of Royal Bank of Canada, the working capital lender, whose security covers the receivables and inventory. Justice Dunphy summed up the contest in a sentence: "This is essentially a priority struggle between the fixed asset lender and the working capital lender about how to fund a restructuring effort that I think all believe has some potential," per his Endorsement of Justice Dunphy, Sept. 18, 2026, paras. 1–2. He gave the lenders four days.

Elmira, late and over budget

The account of how the company got here is Mr. McPherson's. Until 2025, he swears, Gumpert was profitable, working out of a leased plant at 2500 Tedlo Street in Mississauga. In early 2024, citing capacity and a rising rent, management decided on the move to Elmira; RealCo was incorporated in May 2024 to buy the plant and a 4,500-square-foot storage building beside it, and FCC financed most of it. The build-out was to take 18 months and cost approximately $4.8 million, with the move in December 2025. Contractor delays, inflation, tariffs on steel and energy costs pushed it to July 2026, and in the months between, the company paid to run both plants. Certification of the new plant under the BRC food-safety standard and by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency also ran long, and what the plant made in the meantime was, in the affidavit's word, "unsalable." The renovation came in 63% over budget, per the McPherson Affidavit, Sept. 17, 2026, paras. 3, 97–101.

FCC declined to lend more; in April 2026 the shareholders advanced $1.2 million, $2.3 million came out of operations, and suppliers were paid late. The move also cost 32 unionized employees their jobs, deemed constructively dismissed in two waves in March 2025 and March 2026, with severance of approximately $493,896.82, of which about $350,000 has been paid. PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. was retained as financial adviser in June 2026, and investment banks told the company it was "not a candidate for third-party investment at this time," per the McPherson Affidavit, Sept. 17, 2026, paras. 45, 102–108. Gumpert's unaudited statements put 2025 revenue at $27,276,294, up from $24,690,352, with gross profit down to $937,342 from $2,329,274 and a net loss of $1,529,219 after net income of $296,403 in 2024, per the McPherson Affidavit, Sept. 17, 2026, Ex. "F", statement of income.

Retail private label was approximately 47% of that revenue, custom ingredients for food manufacturers 44%, and bakery and food-service sales through distributors 9%. Gumpert employs 21 salaried staff and 16 hourly workers represented by United Food & Commercial Workers Canada, Local 175, and two staffing agencies supply another 40 to 45 temporary workers, per the McPherson Affidavit, Sept. 17, 2026, paras. 22, 41–46.

Two lenders and a line between them

FCC lent under two agreements in 2024, a May package of two term loans and a mortgage loan totalling $9.25 million and an October facility of $4.1 million. It holds general security from all three applicants, a mortgage on the Elmira property whose maximum was raised to $16 million in January 2025, and limited guarantees, to a maximum of $2,312,500, from Mr. McPherson and Julia Pociurko, the chief financial officer, who with him are the directors and, through holding companies and family trusts, the owners. At September 14 the applicants owed FCC $12,872,000 in principal and were in default for, among other things, failing to maintain the required debt-to-equity ratio, per the McPherson Affidavit, Sept. 17, 2026, paras. 20, 70–78.

RBC's main facility is a $5 million demand revolver, drawn to approximately $4,910,000 at September 14, secured by a 2011 general security agreement from Gumpert and guaranteed by RealCo and HoldCo to $5,835,000 each. It was issued under Export Development Canada's Trade Expansion Lending Program, with EDC guaranteeing payment to RBC. RBC may apply any credit balance in Gumpert's accounts against the revolver daily, which the affidavit calls the "Sweeping Set-off." On September 17 RBC demanded repayment by September 28 and served notices of intention to enforce its security that expire the same day, per the McPherson Affidavit, Sept. 17, 2026, paras. 79–87.

The line between the two lenders is drawn by intercreditor agreements: FCC ranks first on the real property and certain equipment, and RBC ranks first on everything else, including the accounts receivable and inventory. A 2024 postponement letter subordinates RBC's security in a list of Gumpert's equipment, from flour and sugar silos to cooking kettles and a pie line, to FCC's, per the McPherson Affidavit, Sept. 17, 2026, paras. 7, 88 and the letter itself, Ex. "CC", Motion Record Vol. II, Sept. 22, 2026, p. 73.

The shareholders are secured creditors too. Mr. McPherson swears that he and Ms. Pociurko advanced their money "in part, in the hope that doing so would demonstrate to FCC our commitment to Gumpert's success," and were advised to do it through secured promissory notes. On May 22, 2026 HoldCo issued secured notes of $995,000 to him and $200,000 to her, and Gumpert issued a secured note of $1,195,000 to HoldCo; both were registered on August 18, 2026, and on August 28 the two registered a financing statement against Gumpert directly, per the McPherson Affidavit, Sept. 17, 2026, paras. 89–94. Unsecured debt is approximately $6.4 million, including about $1,586,000 owed to building contractors who have threatened to register construction liens and had registered none when the affidavit was sworn, and total liabilities exceed $20 million, per the McPherson Affidavit, Sept. 17, 2026, paras. 6, 95–96, 110.

The ask

The DIP term sheet, signed with FCC on September 17, is for a $2 million non-revolving facility at CIBC prime plus 5.55%, interest capitalized monthly, with a $15,000 loan processing fee and a maturity no later than January 31, 2027. The first advance is $1,250,000, and among its conditions: "There shall be no liens ranking in priority to the DIP Charge except for the Administration Charge." Mr. McPherson says the company canvassed at least six other potential DIP lenders, "including the Applicants' other senior secured lender, RBC," and received two other conditional proposals, but management judged FCC's terms more advantageous, per the McPherson Affidavit, Sept. 17, 2026, paras. 129–132 and Ex. "A", s. 8.