Instant Pot

Instant Pot is a brand of multicookers manufactured by Instant 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 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.

Instant Pot
TypeMulticooker
InventorRobert Wang
Inception2010 (2010)
ManufacturerInstant Brands
AvailableYes
Current supplierMidea Group[1]
Models made
  • Duo
  • Duo Crisp
  • Duo Nova
  • Duo Plus
  • Smart Wifi
  • Ultra
  • Lux
  • Max
  • Viva
  • Duo Evo Plus
  • Duo Crisp
  • Pro Crisp
Websitewww.instanthome.com

In 2022, Prophet Brand Relevance Index® ranked Instant Pot No.6 in the "Top 10 Brands in the U.S.",[2] but in mid-2023 the manufacturer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

History

In 2009, Robert Wang, Yi Qin, Dongjun Wang, and one other friend, all former employees of Nortel in Ottawa, Canada, began working on designs for the Instant Pot.[3] Robert Wang is credited as the inventor of the Instant Pot. The beginning model operated as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice or porridge cooker, yogurt maker, sauté/searing pan, steamer, and food warmer.[4]

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.[5]

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.[6]

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.[7] The Spoon says "(The deal) makes the company the first kitchen tech unicorn of this generation".[8] The merged company was later renamed to Instant Brands.

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.[9]

Viral marketing

The Instant Pot was an unconventional viral marketing success story, with owners often describing themselves as "addicts" or "cult members."[10] The brand was never advertised on TV or in newspapers, but the word-of-mouth publicity and fanatic fans spawned a near-religious devotion.[11] 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.[12] Robert Wang says that from the beginning the intention was to let the product speak for itself. He call this as the "build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door" marketing strategy.[13]

Family Guy Season 17, Episode 15 depicted how Instant Pot fans persuade people to buy an Instant Pot.[14]

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".[15] On 2017 Amazon Prime Day, Instant Pot was the No.1 bestseller in the US and Canada.[16] On 2018 Amazon Prime Day, again Instant Pot was No.1 in the US and Canada, "Members purchased more than 300,000 Instant Pot".[17] 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.[18]

Models

There were several different models of the Instant Pot.[19]

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

See also

References
  1. "Double Insight Inc. recalls Instant Pot Smart Pressure Cooker". healthycanadians.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  2. "Prophet Brand Relevance Index® The brands people can't live without in 2022". Prophet.
  3. "Ottawa entrepreneur's Instant Pot has attracted a devoted following of home cooks". Archived from the original on 25 November 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  4. "Fired From His Own Startup, This Founder Invented Amazon's Hit Product of 2016". Inc.com. 15 May 2017. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  5. "Instant Pot Pressure Cookers Recalled by Double Insight". Consumer Product Safety Commission. 23 July 2016. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  6. Bennett, Brian (23 February 2018). "An Instant Pot multicooker is melting -- but not the one you think". CNET. Archived from the original on 23 February 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  7. Lucas, Amelia. "Instant Pot is merging with the owner of Pyrex". CNBC. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  8. The Spoon. "How Becoming The First Uniquely Millennial Cooking Appliance Made Instant Pot a Kitchen Tech Unicorn".
  9. "Instant Pot and Pyrex Maker Instant Brands Files for Bankruptcy". Yahoo Finance. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  10. NPR. "Not Just A Crock: The Viral Word-Of-Mouth Success Of Instant Pot". NPR.
  11. New York Times. "Inside the Home of Instant Pot, the Kitchen Gadget That Spawned a Religion". The New York Times.
  12. CNBC. "The Instant Pot is selling like crazy on Amazon—and its PhD inventor says he's read all 39,000 reviews". CNBC.
  13. BBC. "How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following".
  14. Youtube. "Family Guy Instant Pot". YouTube.
  15. "Amazon's Prime Day is the Biggest Day Ever".
  16. "Prime Members Enjoyed Biggest Global Shopping Event in Amazon History".
  17. "Prime Members Again Enjoyed the Biggest Global Shopping Event in Amazon History this Prime Day".
  18. Smithsonian. "FOOD: Transforming the American Table: New Materials, New Tools".
  19. "Kochmodi beim Instant Pot" (in German).
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