Product Update
Is Rapid Ramen Cooker Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is Rapid Ramen Cooker from Shark Tank still around in 2026? The deal it made, the sharks who invested, and where to buy Rapid Ramen Cooker today.
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Chris Johnson pitched a plastic cup that cooks instant ramen in the microwave without a pot, and within a week of the episode airing his team was selling 25 of them a minute. Selling fast right after a Shark Tank episode is common. Turning that spike into a company still standing more than a decade later, with a licensing deal from the actual maker of Top Ramen, is not.
The Short Answer
Yes, Rapid Ramen Cooker is still in business, and it has grown well beyond the original product. The company sells through its own website and built a retail footprint most Shark Tank alumni never reach, including placement in CVS, Walgreens, HEB, and Raley's.
The brand also expanded under a new parent name, Rapid Brands, and now makes microwave cookers for foods well beyond ramen.
The Shark Tank Pitch
Rapid Ramen Cooker appeared in Season 5, Episode 3, pitched by Chris Johnson out of Sacramento, California. He asked for 300,000 dollars in exchange for 10 percent equity in the microwave noodle cooker.
It is a simple product built to solve a dorm room and office kitchen problem, no stove, no pot, just a specially designed container and a microwave.
The Deal That Never Finalized
Mark Cuban negotiated with Johnson down to 300,000 dollars for 15 percent equity, with half of that structured as a loan rather than a straight investment. According to Shark Tank tracking coverage, that deal was never actually finalized on paper, even though the terms were agreed to on air.
As with several other companies on this list, the missing signature did not slow the business down. The retail momentum coming out of the episode carried it regardless of whether Cuban's money ever formally landed.
Rapid Ramen Cooker net worth in 2026
No independent net worth figure has been published for Rapid Ramen Cooker or its parent, Rapid Brands, as of 2026. The most recent sourced financial data point is from April 2023, when tracking coverage reported the company still in business with annual revenue of 5 million dollars and more than 55 million dollars in lifetime sales since launch. That figure is now several years old, and no newer number has surfaced publicly, so treat 5 million dollars in annual revenue as the last verified data point rather than a current figure.
How a Ramen Cooker Became a Licensing Business
The post show growth here is unusually well documented. By 2014, Johnson had rebranded the parent company as Rapid Brands and expanded the product line into microwave cookers for mac and cheese, eggs, rice, and even pizza, turning a single dorm room gadget into a small kitchenware platform.
The bigger move came in 2016, when Johnson struck a licensing partnership with Nissin Foods, the actual maker of Top Ramen, to produce official Top Ramen branded cookers for worldwide distribution. He later added licensing deals with Disney and Nickelodeon for character branded versions of the product, turning a niche kitchen tool into a licensed consumer goods business selling under some of the biggest names in food and entertainment.
The Retail Push That Followed the Episode
The week following the episode's original broadcast, the team was reportedly selling 25 units per minute, a spike that only matters if a company can convert it into lasting shelf space rather than a one week bump. Johnson did exactly that, landing the product in CVS, Walgreens, HEB, and Raley's, four different retail chains spanning drugstore and grocery formats across different regions of the country.
That kind of multi chain retail placement is genuinely rare among Shark Tank alumni, most of whom end up concentrated in a single retail partner or stuck selling direct to consumer online. Getting into that many different retail formats suggests a product with broad enough appeal, and a founder with strong enough retail relationships, to place it well beyond a single big box deal.
Where Things Stand Now
Rapid Ramen Cooker pitched in Season 5 out of Sacramento asking for 300,000 dollars, negotiated terms with Mark Cuban that tracking sources say never formally closed, and built a real retail and licensing business anyway.
Between the CVS, Walgreens, HEB, and Raley's placements, the Nissin Foods partnership for Top Ramen branded cookers, and licensing deals with Disney and Nickelodeon, this is one of the more thoroughly documented survival stories to come out of the Tank. If you came here wondering whether the ramen gadget from Season 5 made it, it did, and it turned into a licensing business most single product companies never reach.
Where to buy Rapid Ramen Cooker
Still selling as of May 14, 2026. Check today's price and availability.
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See the full Rapid Ramen Cooker deal breakdown and term sheet →
