Instant Brands files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid declining sales

Jun 21, 2023

Instant Brands — the makers of Instant Pot, Pyrex and a host of other kitchen staples — has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid post-pandemic plummeting sales.

The company’s numerous household-name brands include virtually indestructible Corelle dishes, Pyrex glass storage containers and measure cups, the Corning Ware slate of casserole baking dishes, and a slew of electronic devices ranging from the eponymous Instant Pot to air fryers, coffeemakers and more.

Sales for those items skyrocketed during the pandemic lockdown, but now people are spending their money on restaurants and travel rather than stay-at-home products, the company said in a media release. Tighter credit and higher interest rates compounded the problem.

A picture taken on April 15, 2014 shows borosilicate glass kitchenware and bakeware products from company Pyrex, in Chateauroux, central France. (GUILLAUME SOUVANT/AFP via Getty Images)

The Chicago-based company, acquired four years ago by private-equity firm Cornell Capital LLC, hired restructuring advisers in January. On Monday, it sought help from the courts as it attempts to stay ahead of its financial issues and shore up liquidity.

Instant Brands filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas with more than $500 million in assets and liabilities. The filing applies only to the company’s U.S. and Canada entities, not those scattered around the world.

In 2020, as the pandemic was declared, “electronic multicooker device” sales — mostly of Instant Pots — hit $758 million but had dropped by 50% last year, to $344 million, the company said. Market research company NPD Group calculated that sales in terms of both dollars and units slid 20% between April 2022 and 2023.

Reduced consumer discretionary spending had already prompted S&P Global to downgrade Instant Brands’ rating last week, and analysts said a bankruptcy filing could push that down further. The drop was the seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year sales decline, S&P analysts wrote.

The company said its existing lenders have committed to $132.5 million in new debtor-in-possession financing.

“As we move through this process, we remain focused on serving and connecting with our consumers around the world, and we are grateful for their trust in us and our products,” president and CEO Ben Gadbois said in the company’s statement on Monday. “We are committed to finding a positive outcome.”

With News Wire Services