Cuisinart

The company put down its roots in 1971 after Carl Sontheimer’s trip to France. The idea of starting Cuisinart originated from seeing a food preparation machine; he was inspired to put such appliance in the market: an appliance that will shorten the time spent doing repetitive tasks like baking and cooking.

In quite a short period he came up with the food processor and introduced it to North America. It was reported that Sontheimer loved cooking, and that’s why he kept producing appliances with different designs and modifying them.

In 1973 Sontheimer introduced a revolutionary kitchen appliance – The Food Processor at the National Housewares Exposition that took place in Chicago.

Sontheimer’s device had very low sales in the beginning, and although he tried marketing his food processor to grocery and department stores, everyone saw it as a giant overpriced super blender.

1975 was a very unique year for Cuisinart as the then small company was endorsed by culinary authorities such as James Beard, Craig Claiborne, Jacques Pepin, Julia Child and Helen McCully.

The products were used publicly by these connoisseurs and the popularity skyrocketed, resulting in dramatically more sales in 1977. First, in 1976 Cuisinart sales increased from a few units per month to about 150,000 – 250,000, and by 1977, sales climbed to over $50 million.

A few months later Cuisinart suspended Robot-Coupe, a French company in charge of its manufacturing and commissioned a Japanese company instead. Although the reason for this was stated to be poor workmanship, the Robot-Coupe company didn’t take this lightly.

In 1978 they launched a product of their own and started battling via slanderous advertisements, and a lawsuit ensued which brought the animosity into the legal system and public eye.

Still, during this period the kitchen appliance market also welcomed a few more manufacturers, making the competition even tougher while these two companies battled it out.

Despite the legal troubles and market competition, by 1982 Cuisinart introduced about six new products with more features and more attachments.
The Sontheimers sold the company to a group of investors for about $60 million, and it was later sold again to Conair Corporation in the same year (1989). Cuisinart to this day remains a Conair brand. The irony is that most consumers would likely name hair dryers as the primary product Conair produces – which have little relation to food preparation in most normal households!

Cuisinart created variety within their market by expanding the diversity of food processor products, and providing top of the line pricing and product quality.

These products include Blenders (including the Blend and Cook Soup Maker), Coffeemakers, Espresso Makers, Microwave Ovens, Stand Mixers, Food Processors, Hand Blenders, Hand Mixers, etc.

For those who love smoothies, the Cuisinart CBT-700 Die-Cast 700-Watt Blender met consumers demands perfectly. You simply add your ingredients, blend and you have a lovely meal in no time.

Whether buying a blender or a kitchen mixer, it is important you get one that is strong enough to blend and mix just about anything given the ever increasing list of items being added to our smoothies. Even from early years, Cuisinart has proved to always provide products synonymous with top quality and price.

Cuisinart Brand