Hot Pockets (History, FAQ & Commercials)

If you love pizza and hot sandwiches, and you love frozen items you can microwave for a quick meal or snack, you are definitely going to love Hot Pockets. These tasty treats have so many different options to choose from and the flavors are absolutely delicious. 

This isn’t your typical sweet treat but instead the perfect solution for a quick lunch, an easy snack, or even a simple frozen dinner. Read more about Hot Pockets below! 

History

Hot Pockets have been around for close to 40 years, with production beginning in 1983. These hot pockets are mostly just turnovers that are made with various sandwich materials or pizza materials. They even have some breakfast hot pockets on the market not as well. 

You take your hot pocket, put it in the microwave packet they provide, and warm it in the microwave according to instructions. The packet acts like a pocket for you to hold that hot pocket and enjoy every last bite. 

Most hot pockets contain some sort of meat, cheat, veggies, and maybe even sauce in some cases. Originally, a company named Chef America Inc created them. That was in 1983. That company maintained ownership for close to 20 years. However, they are now owned by Nestle. 

Chef America Inc was owned by Paul and David Merage. They were brothers. This is where the concept of the sleeve to hold your hot pocket came from. They also came up with the unique dough mixture and many different flavor choices too. It was designed to be cooked in the microwave so you had a quick but tasty food. 

Before the Hot Pocket, Chef America had created an item called Tastywich. That was a similar concept but Hot Pocket ultimately perfected the idea and brough the world something much better. They used Hot Pocket to eventually fizz out Tastywich. Before Hot Pockets made it to retail stores, they were first sold to restaurants. 

We will talk more about flavors in a bit, but for now there are more than 50 different varieties of Hot Pockets on the market. This includes different fillings, as well as different types of breading or crust that are available. They have tons of options and they all use similar concepts but are also unique too. 

Hot Pockets did go through some years of struggle around 2011. While they were making money and producing with sales more than $600 million, the sales were still way down. When production is down, you have to cut costs. They were cutting employees and looking for ways to make more money or cut expenses. They did remove some lines at this time to help. 

Every company goes through these challenges where they have to tweak products. Thanks to adjustments made, Hot Pockets are still a huge industry and always readily available in the market. They find what works and keep moving forward. 

In 2014, the company had an issue with contaminated meat found in the product. They had to recall more than 235,000 Hot Pockets to remedy the issue. The recall was huge and totaled more than 8 million pounds of meat. This involved only a couple specific flavors but it was still massive. They moved quickly, provided refunds to customers that had the product, and no illnesses were ever reported.

In 2020, the company faced another issue. This was a problem with a batch having glass and plastic fragments found in the Hot Pockets. This was a huge risk and the USDA issued a recall. Again, this was specific only to a certain line and the problem was handled promptly. 

Hot Pocket commercials and advertisements have always been fun, with the use of their own Hot Pocket jingle. There have also been a lot of comedic references to this food through the years. Jim Gaffigan has used the product several times and a comic strip from Wizard of Id also implemented it too. Of course, there is also the movie The Core, where the hacker lives on Hot Pockets. 

When Were Hot Pockets Invented? 

Hot Pockets originally came to the market in 1983, making them close to 40 years old. The original inventors were brothers that jointly owned a company known as Chef America Inc. The brothers had a product known as Tastywich but they wanted to overhaul it and come up with something new. 

That’s how the Hot Pocket was born. They did successfully replace the previous sandwich options and Hot Pockets were far more successful. It was also under their care that the ingenuity of creating a dough and a frozen item that could just be cooked in the microwave was born for this kind of treat. 

Who Owns Hot Pockets? 

While Hot Pockets were originally owned and invented by Chef America Inc, that company is no longer the owners or producers. Chef American held ownership for about 20 years after they came out with these. 

In approximately 2002, they sold Hot Pockets to the Nestle umbrella and that is where they remain today. Nestle has now owned them for about 20 years, making Hot Pockets 40 years old almost. They have now been in ownership with Nestle for longer than they were owned by Chef America Inc. 

How Did Hot Pockets Get Their Name? 

When you think about what Hot Pockets are, they are this doughy, delicious pocket stuff full of foods. Those fillings can vary since there are so many different types now, even the exterior crusts can vary quite a bit. But that doesn’t change that it’s a pocket of flavor. 

They’re designed to eat hot and the pockets are stuff with tasty meat, cheese, and other items too. And now, you can even air fry your hot pocket instead of microwave it if you want to.

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Flavors

There are more than 50 different options when it comes to Hot Pockets now. Some of the flavors are repeated in other lines with different crusts. The best way to share the various flavors is to share the different types of crusts and the different types of fillings. 

Hot Pocket Crusts: 

• Deliwich
• Crispy Butter Crust
• Croissant Crust
• Garlic Buttery Crust
• Seasoned Crust
• Original Crispy Crust
• Big & Bold Nacho Spice Blasted Crust
• Big & Bold Herb Blasted Crust
• Big & Bold Ranch Blasted Crust
• Big & Bold Buffalo Blasted Crust

Hot Pocket Fillings:

• Pepperoni Pizza
• Hickory Ham & Cheddar
• Four Meat & Four Cheese Pizza
• Four Cheese Pizza
• Italian Style Meatballs & Mozzarella
• Philly Steak & Cheese
• Steak & Cheddar
• Bacon, Egg, & Cheese
• Big & Bold Buffalo Style Chicken
• Big & Bold Chicken Bacon Ranch
• Big & Bold Double Pepperoni Pizza
• Big & Bold Steak Nacho

There have been other flavors and crusts through the years as well. At one time, they had pretzel crust varieties and they had a yummy chicken and jalapeno flavor too. Sometimes these things come and go, it’s just a way of business. 

The Big & Bold line is a specialty line with four options. This line has Hot Pockets that are 50% larger than the traditional Hot Pockets.\

Ingredients 

• Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid)
• Water
• Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese (Pasteurized Part Skim Milk, Nonfat Milk, Modified Food Starch*, Cultures, Salt, Vitamin A Palmitate, Enzymes, *Ingredients not in regular Mozzarella Cheese)
• Pepperoni Made With Pork
• Chicken and Beef (Pork, Mechanically Seperated Chicken, Beef, Salt, Contains 2% or less of Spices, Dextrose, Lactic Acid<Starter Culture, Oleoresin of Paprika, Sopdium Ascorbate, Flavouring, Sodium Nitrate, BHA, BHT, Citric Acide)
• Tomato Paste
• 2 % or Less of Palm Oil,
• Seasoning (Bread Crumbs [Bleached Wheat Flour, Dextrose, Yeast, Salt], Maltodextrin,Garlic Powder, Spices, Tomato Powder,Potassium Chloride, Salt, Dextrose< Onion Powder, Yeast Extract, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acide, Natural Flavor)
• Sugar
• Soybean Oil
• Fractionated Palm Oil
• Modified Food Starch
• Salt
• Yeast
• Dough Conditioner Blend (Calcium Sulfate, Salt, L-Cysteine Hydrochloride, Garlic Powder, Tricalcium Phosphate, Enzymes)
• Dough Conditioner (Distilled Monoglycerides with Asorbic Acid and Citric Acid [AnTioxidants])
• Egg Yolks
• Whey
• Soy Flour
• Egg Whites

Nutrition

Serving Size:	1 serving (1 hot pocket) (127g)	% Daily Value*
Amount Per Serving
Calories from Fat	104
Calories	306
Total Fat	12g	18%
Saturated Fat	4.5g	23%
Trans Fat	0.2g
Polyunsaturated Fat	2.5g
Monounsaturated Fat	3.2g
Cholesterol	29mg	10%
Sodium	640mg	27%
Potassium	239mg	7%
Total Carbohydrates	39g	13%
Dietary Fiber	1.9g	8%
Sugars	9.7g
Protein	12g
Vitamin A		0%
Vitamin C		0.2%
Calcium		15%
Iron		14%

• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet.

Hot Pockets

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Conclusion

Hot Pockets are a classic. Through the years, they’ve come up with several great ideas and they’ve also had to make adjustments when times called for it. Overall, this pocket of delicious flavor is simple, fun, and it’s a great thing to always have on hand! 

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