The History of Hot Pockets

Hot Pockets were invented by Jewish Iranian brothers Paul and David Merage, who immigrated to the United States from Tehran. In 1977, the brothers founded Chef America Inc. with the goal of creating a portable sandwich whose dough would retain its crispness after being microwaved. They debuted their first creation — the Tastywich — in 1980. After some recipe tweaking, the Tastywich was renamed, and Hot Pockets officially hit store shelves. In 2002, Chef America was sold to Nestle. In 2013, the company updated the ingredients to include premium meats, real cheese sourced from dairy farms in Wisconsin, freshly baked bread, and made-from-scratch sauce. In 2015, artificial flavors were removed and sodium was reduced by 10%. Today, Hot Pockets remain a beloved convenience food that’s especially popular among young kids and college students.