Instant Brands Inc. (formerly Double Insight Inc. and

Corelle Brands Corelle Brands, LLC is an American kitchenware products maker and distributor based in Downers Grove, Illinois. The company began as the ''Corning Consumer Products Company'', a division of the glassmaker Corning Inc., and was also known as ...

) is a company selling a range of

kitchen appliance A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. The domestic application attached to ...

s. The company was founded by Robert Wang, Yi Qin, and three other Canadian partners in 2009. They are the distributor and designers of the

Instant Pot 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 consol ...

and other products sold under the ''Instant Brands'' name. Its subsidiaries were

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

and consolidated under the title "Instant Brands". The company is headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois. Instant Brands and its affiliates design, manufacture and market small kitchen appliances worldwide. The company's original and primary products are electronically controlled, combined

pressure cooker A pressure cooker is a sealed vessel for cooking food with the use of high pressure steam and water or a water-based liquid, a process called pressure cooking. The high pressure limits boiling and creates higher temperatures not possible at low ...

s and

slow cooker A slow cooker, (also known as a crock-pot after a trademark owned by Sunbeam Products, but sometimes used generically in the English-speaking world), is a countertop electrical cooking appliance used to simmer at a lower temperature than ...

s. The original cookers are marketed as 6-in-1 or more appliances designed to consolidate the cooking and preparing of food to one device (

multicooker A multicooker (also written "multi cooker") is an electric kitchen appliance for automated cooking using a timer. A typical multicooker is able to boil, simmer, bake, fry, deep fry, grill roast, stew, steam and brown food. The device is o ...

). The brand has since expanded to include non-pressure slow cookers,

sous-vide Sous vide (; French for 'under vacuum'), also known as low-temperature, long-time (LTLT) cooking, is a method of cooking invented by the France, French chef Georges Pralus in 1974, in which food is placed in a plastic pouch or a glass jar and coo ...

immersion circulators, blenders, air fryers, and rice cookers.

History

In 2008, Robert Wang, Yi Qin, and one other friend, all former employees of

Nortel Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It was founded in ...

in Ottawa, Canada, started working on designs for the Instant Pot. Wang is credited as the inventor of the Instant Pot. The company was founded by Robert Wang, Yi Qin, and three other Canadian partners in 2009 as Double Insight. The company became profitable in 2012, with the Instant Pot as their main product. In 2016, Double Insight sold more than 215,000 Instant Pots on Amazon's Prime Day. On March 4, 2019, Instant Brands, maker of Instant Pot, announced it had entered into a merger agreement with

and Corelle's chief executive would become chief executive of the merged company while Instant Brands founder Robert Wang will become the merged company's "chief innovative officer". With the merger, Instant Brands was to be owned by Cornell Capital LLC and to be headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois. On June 12, 2023, Instant Brands filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

after high interest rates and waning access to credit hit its cash position and made its debts unsustainable. The company sold its appliance business ("Instant" branded products) to the private equity firm Centre Lane Partners during bankruptcy. The remaining housewares business exited bankruptcy separately on February 27, 2024 under the prior Corelle Brands moniker. In November 2023 Instant Pot Brands was established as a standalone company with a new capital structure under new ownership following its purchase by an affiliate of Centre Lane Partners. In February 2024, the bankruptcy court approved the company's restructuring plan. On April 1, 2024 the company announced it had changed its name and would be doing business as Instant Pot Brands along with the announcement of a new Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Executive Vice President.

Products and brands

Instant Pot

The ''Instant Pot'' is a Canadian brand of multicookers. The multicookers are electronically controlled, combined pressure cookers and slow cookers.

Instant Pot Accu

The ''Instant Pot Accu'' is a brand of basic and affordable

s sold under the ''Instant Pot'' brand.

Instant Ace

The ''Instant Ace'' is a brand of blenders. Products include the ''Ace'', the ''Ace Nova'' and the ''Ace Plus''. The blenders feature a digital display that shows the operating temperature along with the remaining cooking time.

Instant Omni

The ''Instant Omni'' and ''Instant Omni Plus'' are each a 26L

toaster oven A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to brown sliced bread into toast, the color caused by the Maillard reaction. It typically consists of one or more slots into which bread is inserted, and heating elements, oft ...

Instant Vortex Oven

The ''Instant Vortex Oven'' is an alternative to

deep frying Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly Cooking oil, oil, as opposed to the shallow frying used in conventional frying done in a fryi ...

, replacing the cooking oil with heated circulating air in an oven format.

Instant Vortex Air Fryer

The ''Instant Vortex Air Fryer'' is an alternative to deep frying replacing the cooking oil with heated circulating air.

References

{{reflist Kitchenware brands Manufacturing companies established in 2009 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023 Companies based in DuPage County, Illinois 2019 mergers and acquisitions 2009 establishments in Ontario Canadian companies established in 2009 2023 mergers and acquisitions