After a business review that launched the sale of three Kraft Heinz brands, the beleaguered food giant is going back to the drawing board.

Kraft Heinz had put its Maxwell House coffee business, Breakstone's sour cream and cottage cheese, and baby food brand Plasmon up for sale earlier this year to help pay down debt and refocus its business on brands like its Heinz ketchup, which remains a kitchen staple in pantries globally. After tepid buyer interest and a new CEO, it has put the sale of Breakstone's and Plasmon on hold, people familiar with the situation tell CNBC.

The people requested anonymity because the information is confidential. Kraft Heinz declined to comment.

Kraft Heinz is still trying to sell the Maxwell House unit, but has so far faced pushback from private equity buyers wary of the investment needed to reinvigorate the brand after years of being run by a cost-focused management team, people said.

Corporate buyers, meantime, are unexcited by packaged coffee as more and more people get their caffeine on the go, or through premium machines like Nestle's Nespresso.

Amid the uncertainty, Kraft Heinz has put the potential sale of its Ore-Ida frozen potato business on the back burner until its new CEO, Miguel Patricio, reviews all its brands, the people said. Still, industry sources point to the same brands as being the ones most likely to be sold, as Kraft Heinz has weighed selling Ore-Ida and Breakstone's before.

The halted divestitures put even more pressure on a company that is struggling with stalling sales, falling profit and shares that have tumbled 26% year to date. The company, which is backed by private equity firm 3G Capital and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, has had to defend a business model that is heavy on cost-cutting and deal-making, as opportunities for both have dried up.

Critics have said Kraft Heinz cut investments in its brands at the expense of growth. The company does not break out marketing investment in annual filings, but people familiar say helping the company achieve its aggressive annual EBITDA goals superseded brand-building. As its sales declined — nearly a percentage point from 2016 to 2017, according to FactSet — pressure to increase EBITDA through cutting costs ramped up.

In February, Kraft Heinz slashed its dividend by 36% and wrote down two of its biggest brands, Kraft and Oscar Mayer, by $15 billion. It also disclosed an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into its accounting and procurement practices.