It’s probably fair to say that back in the 1970s, Aucklander Fay McMillan was the Tupperware hostess with the mostest.
The enterprising mum-of-two threw New Zealand’s first sales party of the iconic brand before going on to meet the likes of former US president Ronald Reagan and crooner Frank Sinatra at its lavish overseas conferences.
But last month, after nearly 50 years, Tupperware closed business operations in Aotearoa, saying Covid had caused a decline in sales and in-home parties.
As Fay sits down to reminisce with the Weekly, the still-glamorous 80-year-old lifts the lid on what it was like to sell those quintessential food storage containers in the company’s heyday.
Demonstrating tupperware in 1970.
It all started rather serendipitously in 1970, when Fay’s late husband Keith was a sales manager for a flooring company.
While travelling to Singapore for work, he was seated on the plane next to Tupperware South East Asia’s managing director Noel Seidel, who told him, “I’m going to a meeting with about 200 women.”
It piqued Keith’s interest.
“Noel told Keith about the brand and mentioned the company was looking at starting in New Zealand, and that he’d put Keith’s name forward for a role. The rest is history.
“I didn’t know what Tupperware was,” tells Fay. “The Australian managing director Don McDougal did a demonstration in my home for about 30 women and then the next night, I held the first Tupperware party in New Zealand.
“I was so nervous and basically invited everyone I knew. Women dressed up – it was all very posh, I suppose. They considered it a social get-together.”
Fay’s parties were legendary.
After 10 months of hosting Tupperware parties – up to three a day – Fay says she had made enough money to both travel to South East Asia and buy herself a new sports car.
There was also one rule that she adhered to… well, for a while.
“In the first few months, I didn’t serve cocktails because I was told from Australia not to, because too many women had complained they were buying so much while they were drunk!” she laughs.
Keith, meanwhile, became the managing director of Tupperware New Zealand and the company built a huge factory – the size of two football fields – in Avondale, where they exported product to Asia.
With late husband Keith.
“I began doing all the catalogues,” tells Fay. “I’d cook meals and desserts until 2am and then rush to the photographer’s studio the next morning to display the food in the different Tupperware containers.
“I’d also rope my friends in to be models too. I did it for years and New Zealand was selling so much Tupperware per capita.”
The highlight of Fay’s career came during a dinner for 500 people at the 1976 Tupperware World Conference, held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in California.
“It’s my one claim to fame – I got a kiss from Frank Sinatra that night,” she reveals, lovingly patting her left cheek. “On the way to the conference, I got chatting to the attorney for Tupperware USA and I mentioned we were heading to Las Vegas to see a couple of shows. He asked, ‘Who would you most like to see?’
“I replied, ‘Oh, I’d do anything to see Frank Sinatra!” recalls Fay, who is mum to Conrad, 54, and Sascha, 51, and a grandmother of six.
“Well, after the dinner – where I was sitting next to actress Jane O’Brien Dart, a Hollywood star in the 1930s and also the wife of US Tupperware boss Justin Dart –the attorney took me to a table, saying he wanted to introduce me to somebody.
“Frank Sinatra jumped up and gave me a kiss on my left cheek. I think he’s a bit of a flirt! He was gorgeous and oh, that voice.
“I was dressed in a tight white dress and had gold netting around my head, so I looked a bit different. And I wore a badge that said ‘New Zealand’. Frank told me, ‘Oh, we’ve just been talking about
coming down your way.’ I will remember it forever.”
Fay still has the menu from that night signed by Frank and Ronald Reagan, who were both friends of Justin’s.
The menu signed by Ronald Reagan and Frank Sinatra.
She went on to regularly travel to places like London, Switzerland and Greece, but once her husband died of cancer, Fay gave up the business and opened a gift shop called Bad Habits in Queen Street.
“I’ve heard quite a few people are sad that Tupperware has gone,” she reflects. “I have nothing but fond memories. I always thought it was a life of five-star hotel suites and first- class plane flights. It was an amazing job back then because it basically allowed me to travel the world!”
