America’s mania for the Instant Pot once seemed as never-ending as its appetite for soups and stews and chilis. But now, the maker of the viral kitchen gadget, whose debut in 2009 spawned legions of fans, has declared bankruptcy.
Instant Brands, which makes the Instant Pot as well as products by venerable brands Pyrex and CorningWare, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Houston court. In a statement, the company said the filing would give it “time and flexibility to continue ongoing discussions with all of its financial stakeholders in an effort to achieve a consensual path forward that strengthens the Company’s financial position.”
The company said it has secured $132.5 million in funding to keep it afloat. “After successfully navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and the global supply chain crisis, we continue to face additional global macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges that have affected our business,” Instant Brands’ President and CEO Ben Gadbois said in the statement, singling out high interest rates as one of the company’s biggest challenges.
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The Instant Pot’s premise — offering home cooks the hands-off ability to produce foods with long-simmered taste in a short amount of time — made it a rare disrupter of the kitchen status quo. Its brand name is synonymous with the category it spawned, the multicooker, in the manner of Xerox, Thermos and Tupperware (RIP, Tupperware?). Its most-loved feature is that of a pressure cooker, minus the fear-inducing prospect of blowing a lid that comes with traditional appliances, which allows cooks to produce dishes in minutes that might otherwise take hours on the stovetop or in a slow-cooker. Unlike a slow-cooker (a.k.a. Crock-Pot, the Instant Pot’s spiritual predecessor), it also has a built-in saute function, and many models further simplified its use by specifying settings for various foods.
Share this articleShareIts introduction in 2009 by a Canadian company was followed by the creation of scads of Facebook groups, YouTube channels, cookbooks and blogs all dedicated to its use. Headlines even jokingly referred to its ultra-enthusiastic fan base as a “cult.” In 2019, private equity firm Cornell Capital acquired it and combined it with Corelle Brands, the maker of Pyrex and CorningWare — which are themselves household names.
So how to explain the possible demise of such a juggernaut? Declining sales, for one.
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The Wall Street Journal notes that S&P Global downgraded Instant Brands’ rating last week after the company’s net sales fell 21.9 percent in this year’s first quarter from the same period last year, marking its seventh running quarter of such declines. That extended downturn was partially caused by consumers feeling pinched amid rising costs, S&P Global said in a note.
Others have noted that the quick-fix appeal of the Instant Pot might have diminished once people were spending long stretches of time at home. And the air fryer has become the latest darling of the appliance aisle.
The Journal spotted signs of trouble at the company earlier this year, reporting in March that Instant Brands had hired advisers to help turn it around, prompted by woes arising from increased costs stemming from supply-chain problems and the difficulty of growing a company with a single smash product.
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