Instant Pot
{{short description|Canadian brand of multicookers (2010–)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox product
| title = Instant Pot
| image = File:Instant_Pot_(49907000991).jpg
| caption = An Instant Pot DUO60
| logo = Instant Pot Logo.svg
| type = Multicooker
| inventor = Robert Wang
| inception = {{start date and age|2010}}
| manufacturer = Instant Pot Brands
| available = Yes
| current supplier = Midea Group{{Cite web |url= http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2015/54204r-eng.php| title= Double Insight Inc. recalls Instant Pot Smart Pressure Cooker |website= healthycanadians.gc.ca| language=en| access-date=20 December 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171222050856/http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2015/54204r-eng.php| archive-date=22 December 2017| url-status= live |df=dmy-all}}
| models = {{ubl
| Accu
| Vortex Air Fryer
| Vortex Oven
| Ace
| Omni
| Duo Crisp
| RIO
| RIO Wide
| RIO Chef
| Superior Cooker
| Pro Crisp
| Duo Crisp with Ultimate Lid
| Dual Pod Plus Coffee Maker
| Stand Mixer Pro
}}
| url = {{URL|https://instantpot.com/ }}
| notes =
}}
Instant Pot is a brand of multicookers manufactured by Instant Pot Brands. The multicookers are electronically controlled, combined pressure cookers and slow cookers.
The original cookers were marketed as 6-in-1 appliances designed to consolidate the cooking and preparing of food to one device. The brand later expanded to include non-pressure slow cookers which can be left on for 8 hours or more, sous-vide immersion circulators, blenders, air fryers and rice cookers.
History
In 2009, Robert Wang and two partners, both former colleagues at Nortel in Ottawa, Canada, started what would become Instant Pot. Both partners left, but he was soon joined by friends Yi Qin and Dongjun Wang, who had also previously worked in the region's tech sector, both at BlackBerry (RIM).{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/ottawa-entrepreneurs-instant-pot-has-attracted-a-devoted-following-of-home-cooks/article33804422/ |title=Ottawa entrepreneur's Instant Pot has attracted a devoted following of home cooks|access-date=26 November 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171125231230/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/ottawa-entrepreneurs-instant-pot-has-attracted-a-devoted-following-of-home-cooks/article33804422/|archive-date=25 November 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}{{Failed verification|date=November 2024}}{{Cite web |last=Jr |first=Tom Huddleston |date=2018-11-26 |title=How Instant Pot became a kitchen appliance with a cult following and a best-seller on Amazon |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/26/how-instant-pot-became-a-kitchen-appliance-with-a-cult-following.html |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=CNBC |language=en}} Robert Wang is credited as the inventor of the Instant Pot. The first model was marketed as a "6-in-1" device and operated as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice or porridge cooker, yogurt maker, sauté/searing pan, steamer, and food warmer.{{Cite news|url=https://www.inc.com/magazine/201706/margaret-rhodes/double-insight-instant-cooking-pot-design-awards-2017.html|title=Fired From His Own Startup, This Founder Invented Amazon's Hit Product of 2016|date=15 May 2017| work= Inc.com |access-date=26 November 2017|language=en|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180125020025/https://www.inc.com/magazine/201706/margaret-rhodes/double-insight-instant-cooking-pot-design-awards-2017.html|archive-date=25 January 2018| url-status= live| df=dmy-all}}
In April 2019 Instant Pot merged with Corelle Brands, owned by a private equity firm Cornell Capital, which owns kitchen brands such as Pyrex, Corelle, Corningware and SnapWare, for an undisclosed amount of money.{{Cite web |last=Lucas |first=Amelia |title=Instant Pot is merging with the owner of Pyrex |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/04/instant-pot-is-merging-with-the-owner-of-pyrex.html |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=CNBC |date=4 March 2019 |language=en}} The Spoon says "(The deal) makes the company the first kitchen tech unicorn of this generation".{{Cite web |last=The Spoon |title=How Becoming The First Uniquely Millennial Cooking Appliance Made Instant Pot a Kitchen Tech Unicorn |date=5 March 2019 |url=https://thespoon.tech/how-becoming-the-first-uniquely-millennial-cooking-appliance-made-instant-pot-a-kitchen-tech-unicorn/ |language=en}} The merged company was later renamed to Instant Brands.
=Bankruptcy=
On June 12, 2023, Instant Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after high interest rates and waning access to credit hit its cash position and made its debts unsustainable.{{Cite web |last=Pollard |first=Amelia |date=June 12, 2023 |title=Instant Pot and Pyrex Maker Instant Brands Files for Bankruptcy |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/instant-pot-pyrex-maker-instant-204114763.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230613003613/https://finance.yahoo.com/news/instant-pot-pyrex-maker-instant-204114763.html |archive-date=June 13, 2023 |access-date=June 12, 2023 |website=Yahoo Finance |language=en}} In February of 2024, the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas approved the restructuring plan.
In November of 2023, private equity firm Centre Lane Partners acquired the appliance division of Instant Brands, restructuring it to emerge from bankruptcy in March of 2024 as a stand-alone company called Instant Pot Brands.
Viral marketing
The Instant Pot was an unconventional viral marketing success story, with owners often describing themselves as "addicts" or "cult members."{{Cite web |last=NPR |title=Not Just A Crock: The Viral Word-Of-Mouth Success Of Instant Pot |website=NPR |date=January 18, 2017 |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/01/18/509675621/not-just-a-crock-the-viral-word-of-mouth-success-of-instant-pot |language=en}} The brand was never advertised on TV or in newspapers, but the word-of-mouth publicity and ardent fans spawned a near-religious devotion.{{Cite news |last=New York Times |title=Inside the Home of Instant Pot, the Kitchen Gadget That Spawned a Religion |work=The New York Times |date=17 December 2017 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/17/business/instant-pot.html |language=en}} In Nov. 2017, Instant Pot's Facebook group had over 750,000 members. The group gained more than 10,000 members in 30 days from mid-October through mid-November, and had as many as 7,000 posts each day.{{Cite web |last=CNBC |title=The Instant Pot is selling like crazy on Amazon—and its PhD inventor says he's read all 39,000 reviews |website=CNBC |date=24 November 2017 |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/24/why-robert-wangs-instant-pot-is-a-bestseller-on-amazon.html |language=en}} Robert Wang says that from the beginning the intention was to let the product speak for itself. He called this the "build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door" marketing strategy.{{Cite news |last=BBC |title=How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following |work=BBC News |date=6 March 2017 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-39058736 |language=en}}
Family Guy Season 17, Episode 15 depicted how Instant Pot fans persuade people to buy an Instant Pot.{{Cite web |last=Youtube |title=Family Guy Instant Pot |website=YouTube |date=March 12, 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfAU5lCzwM4 |language=en}}
On 2016 Amazon Prime Day, Instant Pot was the No.1 bestselling non-Amazon product in the US. "Members purchased over 215,000 Instant Pot 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Pressure Cookers".{{Cite press release |title=Amazon's Prime Day is the Biggest Day Ever |date=13 July 2016 |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160713005901/en/ |language=en}} On 2017 Amazon Prime Day, Instant Pot was the No.1 bestseller in the US and Canada.{{Cite press release |title=Prime Members Enjoyed Biggest Global Shopping Event in Amazon History |date=12 July 2017 |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170712005745/en/Prime-Members-Enjoyed-Biggest-Global-Shopping-Event |language=en}} On 2018 Amazon Prime Day, again Instant Pot was No.1 in the US and Canada, "Members purchased more than 300,000 Instant Pot".{{Cite press release |title=Prime Members Again Enjoyed the Biggest Global Shopping Event in Amazon History this Prime Day |date=18 July 2018 |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180718005495/en/Prime-Members-Enjoyed-Biggest-Global-Shopping-Event |language=en}} Instant Pot is the only 3rd party product which dominated Amazon Prime Day for three consecutive years.
Smithsonian National Museum of American History exhibition "FOOD: Transforming the American Table 1950–2000" features Instant Pot as multicookers for multitaskers.{{Cite web |last=Smithsonian |title=FOOD: Transforming the American Table: New Materials, New Tools |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/food/new-and-improved/new-materials-new-tools |language=en}}
Recalls
In July 2015 the Instant Pot Smart-60 cooker was recalled, affecting about 1,140 units in Canada and the United States. The defect caused electric current to leak, which could potentially shock the product's user. There were four reported instances of this shock before it was recalled.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2015/instant-pot-pressure-cookers-recalled-by-double-insight|title=Instant Pot Pressure Cookers Recalled by Double Insight|publisher=Consumer Product Safety Commission|language=en|access-date=20 December 2017|date=23 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222051310/https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2015/instant-pot-pressure-cookers-recalled-by-double-insight| archive-date=22 December 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}
In February 2018, five production runs of Instant Pot Gem 65 8-in-1 Multicookers were recalled because they were overheating and subsequently melting due to a manufacturing defect.{{Cite news |url= https://www.cnet.com/news/an-instant-pot-multicooker-is-melting-but-not-the-one-you-think/#ftag=CAD590a51e|title=An Instant Pot multicooker is melting -- but not the one you think| last=Bennett|first=Brian|date=23 February 2018|publisher=CNET|access-date=23 February 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180223211706/https://www.cnet.com/news/an-instant-pot-multicooker-is-melting-but-not-the-one-you-think/#ftag=CAD590a51e|archive-date=23 February 2018| url-status= live|df=dmy-all}}
Models
Several different models of the Instant Pot have been sold.{{cite web|title=Kochmodi beim Instant Pot|date= |url=https://wunderpot.de/instant-pot/kochmodi-beim-instant-pot/|language=de}}
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ !Model !Description |
| Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus
|10-in-1 multi-use programmable pressure cooker |
| Instant Pot Duo
|7-in-1 multi-use programmable pressure cooker |
| Instant Pot Duo Crisp
|11-in-1 multi-use programmable pressure cooker and air fryer |
| Instant Pot Duo Nova
|7-in-1 multi-use programmable pressure cooker |
| Instant Pot Duo Plus
|9-in-1 multi-use programmable pressure cooker |
| Instant Pot Smart Wifi
|Multi-use programmable pressure cooker with control over WiFi |
| Instant Pot Ultra
|10-in-1 multi-use programmable pressure cooker |
| Instant Pot Lux
|6-in-1 multi-use programmable pressure cooker |
| Instant Pot Max
|15psi pressure cooker |
| Instant Pot Aura
|10-in-1 multi-use programmable slow cooker |
| Instant Pot Aura Pro
|10-in-1 multi-use programmable slow cooker |
| Instant Pot Gem
|8-in-1 multicooker |
| Instant Pot Viva
|9-in-1 multi-use programmable pressure cooker |
| Instant Pot RIO
|7-in-1 multi-use programmable pressure cooker |
| Instant Pot RIO Wide
|7-in-1 multi-use programmable pressure cooker |
| Instant Pot Pro Plus
|10-in-1 multi-use programmable pressure cooker with control over WiFi |
See also
{{portal|Cooking}}