When was pampered chef created

Having interrupted her career as a home economics teacher with the University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service to raise her two daughters from birth to school age in the late s, the year-old Christopher found herself at a crossroads. Quickly narrowing her focus to self-employment opportunities that capitalized on her interests and experience in the kitchen, she investigated catering and retail sales of cooking utensils. But she eliminated both these options because catering demanded long, odd hours, and retailing required a high capital investment.

When Christopher? Pampered Chef was born. My stomach was in knots. Of course, on the drive home, I knew differently. Now, over 35 years later, Pampered Chef has blossomed into a multi-million dollar enterprise with tens of thousands of consultants worldwide.

Doris Christopher? Garlic presses , apple corers and pizza stones were early items the Pampered Chef product line. Indeed, her clay-colored pizza and baking stones have evolved into glazed stoneware bakers. The Food Chopper has been another shining star for Pampered Chef. Christopher sought to fill this market void with a line of high-quality, multi-purpose wares.

She assembled an array of about products ranging from peelers and juicers to bakeware and cookware, about one-third of which were exclusive to TPC. Although TPC often has a hand in the development and refinement of the products it carries--making them more ergonomic or combining several functions in a single tool, for example--it does not manufacture them. Many are emblazoned with their makers' names and marks, then packaged in TPC boxes with the marketer's use-and-care information.

Believing that the origin of the utensils was far less important to her customers than knowing how to use them, Christopher created an in-house test kitchen to develop simple yet innovative recipes and menus that used TPC products.

While many of the company's gadgets have more than one use--the "Bar-B-Boss," for example, incorporated a bottle-opener, fork, and knife in one grill tool--TPC's creatively-written recipes often require more than one TPC tool. A plan for a whole meal might specify more than a dozen different products.

When compiled in a company cookbook and used in kitchen shows, these recipes became powerful selling tools. Years of trial and error resulted in fairly simple pricing and commission plans. Christopher arrives at an individual item's retail price by multiplying its wholesale cost by two.

As new utensils are introduced two or three times each year , sales reps are required to purchase samples for demonstration purposes. Christopher "keeps faith" with her sales reps by keeping all new introductions--even obvious dogs--on the line for at least one year. Following recipes written with TPC tools in mind, kitchen consultants guide kitchen show attendees in the use and care of the equipment.

On top of commissions, incentives for prolific sellers included all-expenses-paid family vacations to Disney World. TPC literature emphasized that a career in direct sales "is considered by many to be a ground-floor opportunity with no glass ceiling. That assertion was perhaps best exemplified by Doris Christopher herself, for what started out as a part-time job had turned into the chief executiveship of a multi-million-dollar nationwide venture by the mids.

Although the founder has commented only half-jokingly that she might not have launched TPC had she known what she was getting into, the effort has made her a millionaire many times over. Pampered Chef, founded in by Doris Christopher and now part of the Berkshire Hathaway family of businesses, is the premier direct seller of high-quality kitchen tools.

Pampered Chef — Canada Corp. A staff of home economists, food scientists, chefs and dieticians develop, test and edit more than recipes per year. Pampered Chef is continually expanding its recipe and product collection to align with top flavor, ingredient and lifestyle trends.

Distribution: Products are sold primarily through in-home cooking demonstrations known as cooking shows 1 million are held in the United States each year. Structure: Direct Sales. You will not be connected to a party or Consultant. You will not be connected to a party. Skip to main content. Find a Consultant Find a Party.