Joseph Canfield, CEO of Yellow Banana, died of a stroke on April 10 at age 54—about a year after the last Chicago-area Save A Lot in a $13.5 million city-backed redevelopment deal reopened. His death has triggered a default in the redevelopment agreement, givi
When the grand reopening of Save A Lot’s West Lawn store drew a line of shoppers on April 9, 2025, it was the end of a long wait for residents who had been left behind by traditional grocery chains.
It was also the final step in a Chicago redevelopment agreement tied to $13.5 million in city money—supporting Yellow Banana. an Ohio-based operator. to renovate six Save A Lot stores in food deserts. But less than a year later. a sudden death has thrown that agreement into legal jeopardy. with city officials able to push for a repayment of the millions and neighborhood access to discounted groceries hanging in the balance.
Yellow Banana CEO Joseph Canfield died of a stroke on April 10, the Ohio Bureau of Vital Statistics confirmed. He was 54.
By late April. Save A Lot’s operator notified Chicago officials of Canfield’s death. and met with the city’s Department of Planning and Development to discuss next steps. a department spokesman. Peter Strazzabosco. said in a statement. Strazzabosco said Save A Lot has taken over store operations in the interim. but added that the company has no obligation to the city to keep the stores open. Under a licensing agreement, Yellow Banana uses Save A Lot’s name and supply chain to operate its own stores.
Still operating, but default triggered
While Save A Lot stores remain open. Canfield’s death has triggered a default in Yellow Banana’s redevelopment agreement with the city. the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. The default. or breaking of the legal agreement. means city officials could force the beleaguered company to pay back the millions it received to open stores in neighborhoods traditional grocers had abandoned.
The agreement also required a succession plan after a key death. Strazzabosco said Yellow Banana has not yet submitted that plan to the city.
Strazzabosco said that after an executive’s death, Yellow Banana must “promptly present a succession plan and relevant disclosures for review and approval.”
Save A Lot says it’s in the lead operationally, but not that it controls Yellow Banana
Save A Lot spokesperson Sarah Griffin said Yellow Banana continues to be involved in store operations. In comments she previously made. Griffin said Save A Lot is committed to the long-term success of the licensed network of stores and that support would be provided “on a case-by-case basis” when there’s demonstrated need—even though Save A Lot is not listed as a party to the redevelopment agreement between Yellow Banana and the city.
Asked whether she was aware of a new CEO being appointed, Griffin said she was not.
She also said management has been “leaning in. investing additional funding and operational resources into the stores and the Yellow Banana organization to ensure these stores can continue to provide a full. fresh shopping experience across Chicago.” Griffin added that Yellow Banana is still the owner and operator of the Chicago stores and maintains responsibility for them.
Those distinctions matter, city enforcement and the redevelopment contract make clear: according to the city agreement, Save A Lot is not legally bound to keep “leaning in”—or providing money to Yellow Banana.
A deal built on years of promised change—and a deadline that depended on one person
Yellow Banana’s Chicago project was pitched to Chicagoans in 2022 as a Black-owned company. The plan was to reinvest in Save A Lot locations that had earned a reputation for dirty stores, a rat infestation, and expired foods.
Canfield was often the only Yellow Banana executive who appeared at community meetings and store openings. Following the reopening wave, Canfield was tasked with leading the Chicago stores Yellow Banana owned, and the company was required to keep them open for at least 10 years.
The city-backed renovation effort came after delays. Canfield had asked the city for a six-month extension to complete the stores. The last of the renovated stores reopened in April 2025, though two stores didn’t meet key requirements of the deal and led to more than $50,000 in city penalties.
City inspections since then have continued to add pressure. After years of delays, Save A Lot stores have been cited for overgrown weeds and deceptive business practices by city enforcement.
A December inspection spree cited every Save A Lot store for deceptive practices, including selling foods two months past their expiration date. City records show violations for overcharging customers as well: 51 products rang up higher than advertised.
At the West Garfield Park store, 16 packages of turkey bacon advertised as $3.79 rang up at the register as $4.69. At the Englewood location, Milk-Bone dog biscuits cost customers $3.99—double the advertised price of $2. Yogurt priced at $4.49 scanned as $5.59.
During visits to Save A Lot locations this past week, expired products—like milk and eggs—were seen on shelves, alongside other products showing a same-day expiration date.
Paperwork that contradicts reality: can’t ignore the manager listed after the death
Yellow Banana’s corporate filing also raises its own question of timing.
An annual report filed to the Illinois Secretary of State on May 3 listed Canfield as the company’s only manager—three weeks after his death. Under Illinois requirements. businesses must file annual reports with the state confirming or updating company information and paying required fees to maintain good standing.
The document includes Canfield’s signature under a promise that “managers confirm their existence,” and that the filing is “true, correct and complete.”
An office spokesman said Yellow Banana did not notify the Secretary of State of Canfield’s death. The office is now reviewing the case.
No obituary or probate filing found in Ohio records
No obituary for Canfield or social posts from family members could be found. His podcast’s LinkedIn page advertised the skills of “my producer James” nearly a month after Canfield’s death.
Canfield’s mother, Kathy Middleton, and his wife, Sharin, did not respond to requests for comment.
A search of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, court records shows no probate case has been opened, and Canfield’s name does not appear in the county’s online database of deaths.
Legal troubles that have dogged Yellow Banana long before the default
The default comes after a long stretch of financial and legal strain.
Yellow Banana’s legal trouble started soon after its 2021 inception. It shrank from 38 stores across five states down to the six covered under the redevelopment agreement and a seventh in Englewood. Since the deal, Canfield was personally hit with lawsuits, liens, and foreclosures.
Canfield founded dozens of other businesses, including real estate and general contracting, according to records reviewed. Many of those businesses faced lawsuits. and properties were foreclosed on. including his Cleveland office currently up for a tax sale. His real estate companies have been accused of negligence, fraud, and breach of contract.
Since 2021. Yellow Banana and Canfield have faced more than 20 lawsuits. liens. and tax foreclosures totaling over $2.8 million. according to court records. Most of that was filed against Yellow Banana by contractors and vendors including PepsiCo and Frito Lay. alleging they hadn’t been paid for delivered goods and services.
One lawsuit was filed in Oregon by Canfield’s stepsiblings, accusing him of stealing valuable coins from his late stepfather’s estate, with his mother’s help. Plaintiffs said Canfield used the $238,500 he netted to buy Save A Lot stores and start Yellow Banana.
The day before Canfield died, a judge awarded the stepbrothers more than $342,000.
In recent years, Yellow Banana and Canfield often did not respond to lawsuits, and in many cases plaintiffs received default judgments or suits were dismissed.
In 2024, Save A Lot stepped in to take the reins on many of Yellow Banana’s 38 locations, while remaining stores outside Chicago shuttered due to poor performance.
At the time, Canfield said, “We’ve got a big commitment in Chicago, and we really need to be able to deliver what we said. … There’s public tax dollars there,” in an interview reported in September 2024. He said, “We take that commitment very, very seriously.”
In the same comments, he said he reached out to Save A Lot to allow the work to move forward: “So we went to Save A Lot and said, ‘Hey, for us to focus on this, we should figure out a partnership here that’s going to allow this to move forward.’”
There were more legal fights after that. In July 2025, Canfield and Brumskine were sued by their law firm, Roetzel & Andress, which represented Yellow Banana’s parent company 127 Wall Holdings. The firm accused the founders of $180,000 in unpaid bills and interest.
More recently, a Chicago branch of check cashing business Currency Exchange accused Canfield and Yellow Banana of bouncing a $232 check that appears to have been made to an employee, Cook County court records show.
A succession plan now stands between the city and a repayment
For residents in Chicago food deserts, these details aren’t abstract. The renovation of Save A Lot stores was meant to fill a gap left by traditional grocers. Now, with default triggered after Canfield’s death, the city has a contractual path that could force Yellow Banana to repay millions.
At the same time, Save A Lot says it has stepped in operationally while Yellow Banana remains the owner and operator and while questions remain about who will lead the company—and what documents were actually provided, and when.
Yellow Banana’s corporate team notified Chicago officials of Canfield’s death in late April and met with the city’s Department of Planning and Development to discuss next steps, Strazzabosco said.
Yet the succession plan required by the redevelopment agreement has not yet been submitted to the city.
As city enforcement continues to cite stores for deceptive practices and pricing violations. the stakes for what comes next are immediate: whether the stores keep operating under a stable plan—or whether the redevelopment deal fractures into repayment demands that could further destabilize access to affordable groceries in neighborhoods that have waited years for change.
Save A Lot Yellow Banana Joseph Canfield Chicago redevelopment agreement food deserts city penalties default succession plan grocery access Illinois Secretary of State