Instant Pot ( ie iPot ) seeks bankruptcy protection.

[rotuts]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/13/business/instant-brands-bankruptcy/index.html

 

don't be confused by the Ryrex , its not the real pyrex

 

but in expanding , or being purchased ...

 

'''   Instant Brands was purchased by private equity firm Cornell Capital in 2017. While some of its products, such as Pyrex and CorningWare are long established brands — Pyrex is 108 years old, and CorningWare is 65 — Instant Pot was only launched in 2010. The company said that at least one of its products can be found in 90% of US homes. ''

 

neither Pyrex , nor CorningWare for quite some time was ever close to what it once was.

 

hoping the Original iPot makers 

 

made out like bandits when iPot was sold.

 

also 

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/instant-pot-maker-seeks-bankruptcy-protection-sales-cold-100041665

 

iPots have not been disappearing from kitchens .

 

I have two I use , and ' a few ' , for emergencies  still in the box

 

much like the CSO.

 

so , how many iPots does a kitchen need ?

 

well , at least one spare 

Edited June 13, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[TdeV]

Appearing on Twitter:

"It's the pinnacle of private equity brain to take Instant Pot, one of the the simplest, most no-drama businesses of all time, and somehow turn it into a $500 million bankruptcy"

@tomgara

 

[ElsieD]

Yikes!

[rotuts]

so , how many iPot ' spares ' 

 

do you have , or are willing to admit to ?

 

Amazon  insisted I get the newer version

 

remember back when , 

 

 

[TdeV]

Oh, @rotuts, I have only ONE !!! 🤣

[rotuts]

Im not doing a  ' Pano '

 

even if that a wold , but 

 

 

and that's an Anova circulator , on top.

 

each item was pressed on to me by Amazon , 

 

a few dollars less , each time .

 

and free shipping .

 

maybe , back then , No Tax 

 

F.D :  not the 3 qt and 6 qt  that gets used 

 

still , from time to time.

Edited June 13, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

so , how many iPot ' spares ' 

 

do you have , or are willing to admit to ?

 

Amazon  insisted I get the newer version

 

remember back when , 

 

 

 

39 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Oh, @rotuts, I have only ONE !!! 🤣

I don't have any.     Never did.   

[Shelby]

That's sad.  I, too, hope the original IP people made a ton of money. 

 

 

I have three and use at least one of them several times a week.

[chromedome]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/instant-brands-bankruptcy-1.6874487

[haresfur]

Read that. I wonder why companies think they can expand so rapidly rather than working for steady growth that can weather changes. Of course sales will slow after the initial surge. But maybe they are happy to leave the lenders to hold the bag.

[gfweb]

They may also have saturated their market and had only wedding gifts left as new business

[blue_dolphin]

I have one and find it so handy to use vs a stovetop pressure cooker. I don’t want to be without it. 
Not sure it was the fault of the manufacturer but it was over sold to many as some sort of instant dinner gadget. It’s great but it’s not that. 

[weinoo]

40 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 but it was over sold to many as some sort of instant dinner gadget. It’s great but it’s not that. 

 

Nothing really is.

 

Sadly, often the whole private equity thing doesn't really work out that well for the consumer.

[Dave the Cook]

I wouldn't be so ready to blame the Instant Pot people for this debacle.

 

Even though it probably is their fault.

 

The company and its brands have a confusing history of rapid expansion and acquisition, not all of which has to do with the viability of their product (not that that always matters). It's pretty easy to say this is all due to mistakes made at Instant Pot (and I can think of a few), but remember they were forced into being roommates with very mature brands like Corelle, Pyrex and CorningWare, which almost certainly require different marketing strategies. I myself have never been enamored with product management and marketing strategies designed by engineers.

[gfweb]

2 hours ago, Dave the Cook said:

 I myself have never been enamored with product management and marketing strategies designed by engineers.

 

I always thought that iPot did too many things.

It was a dizzying array of functions that most people would never need.

Engineers run amok.

Once they got done with different sizes there were no more line extensions to make.

[chromedome]

What they really needed was for one of their other products to be a hit.

 

By all accounts their heated blender was a perfectly decent product, and they had their own sous vide circulator, etc, but nothing else they'd come up with really filled a gap the way the IP did. Adding an air fryer lid to the IP was at most an evolutionary step, but otherwise it was all "me too-ism."

[weinoo]

But then again, Zojirushi has lots of functions on their assorted rice cookers, and I don’t see them going away.

[rotuts]

' private equity ' might work differently in Japan.

 

here , private equity gobbles up something ' hot '

 

possibly rewards the initial owners , private or public 

 

goes on a borrowing spree , rewards the initial private segment

 

then goes bankrupt .    the initial Privates ,if savvy

 

have long gone , laughing all the way to their bank.

 

not to the ones that gave them the loans

 

works most of the time.for the Savvy.

[TdeV]

20 minutes ago, rotuts said:

' private equity ' might work differently in Japan.

 

here , private equity gobbles up something ' hot '

 

possibly rewards the initial owners , private or public 

 

goes on a borrowing spree , rewards the initial private segment

 

then goes bankrupt .    the initial Privates ,if savvy

 

have long gone , laughing all the way to their bank.

 

not to the ones that gave them the loans

 

works most of the time.for the Savvy.

 

What rotuts said.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

DH and I often have the conversation,"XYZ company's products don't seem as reliable as they once were."   "Nope, they've been taken over by the fast buck boys."

[rotuts]

P.S.:  this strategy works just as well for ' public '  equity 

 

remember Groupon ?

[lemniscate]

According to all the recent shareholder meetings and product launches that I been forced to attend; all Instant Pot has to do is add "AI" to its product line descriptions and the investments are just gonna roll in.  (sarcasm).

 

(seriously though, if I hear one more tech business announcement with AI mentioned in every other sentence, I'm gonna need serious medication, it's that out of control.)

[Tropicalsenior]

I'm sure that things like this didn't help their bottom line either.

I bought this in August of 2017. It is a perfect Chinese knockoff of the instant pot. It was about half the price. In my defense, I did not set out to buy a counterfeit instant pot. I thought I was just buying a regular Electric pressure cooker. But it was all it was available in Costa Rica.

I'm not sorry I bought it because the directions were so obscure that when I went looking for help on the internet I found eGullet.

It always happens that when somebody develops something really good, pretty soon the imitations outnumber the original.

Edited June 14, 2023 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

5 minutes ago, lemniscate said:

seriously though, if I hear one more tech business announcement with AI mentioned in every other sentence, I'm gonna need serious medication, it's that out of control.)

Amen!

[liuzhou]

10 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

It is a perfect Chinese knockoff of the instant pot.

 

There are many of them. But  then the Chinese have long loved pressure cookers. Midea and Supor are generally considered to be the best brands.

 

I've never been tempted.

Edited June 14, 2023 by liuzhou (log)