Instant Pot was once the hot new kitchen gadget. Now it's filed for bankruptcy.
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- Instant Pot was a kitchen gadget darling, but it's now gone cold.
- Sales in the so-called multicooker category were down 50% in 2022 from 2020 figures.
- Now, the parent company of Instant Pot is declaring bankruptcy to get its finances in order.
Instant Pot's once-grand dreams of taking over your kitchen came out a little underdone. Its parent company, Instant Brands, which also owns Pyrex and CorningWare, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday to get its battered finances in order.
The easy-to-use pressure cooker sped up stews and dominated cooking blogs when it exploded (sometimes literally) onto the market in 2010 and regularly became a top seller on Amazon's Prime Days.
But things changed when private equity showed up to the chili cook-off. The company was acquired four years ago by the private-equity firm Cornell Capital and it was merged with another kitchenware company, Corelle Brands.
The PE firm was bullish about expanding its reach faster than the countertop hog could finish your carnitas.
The group ramped up hiring and pushed Instant Brands to come out with new gadgets, like air fryers and an air purifier (which flopped).
Instant Pot and its fellow multicookers brought in $758 million in sales in 2020, but by 2022 that number was halved to about $344 million, according to NPD Group.
What happened? The device's flameout can be blamed on the company's Covid-era supply chain snags, lower demand for fast meals as more people work from home, or the fact that "no product stays at a phenom level forever," according to Instant Brands CEO Ben Gadbois.
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But the brand's thirst for rapid expansion that racked up massive amounts of debt may have played a large role in its rough financial position.
According to a filing with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas this week, Instant Brands, based outside of Chicago, has more than $500 million in both assets and liabilities.
Instant Brands, whose labels also include Corelle, Snapware, CorningWare, Visions and Chicago Cutlery, said it has received a commitment for new financing from its existing lenders.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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