Around 1983, Kitchen Aid introduced a direct competitor to the Cuisinart food processor–a high-priced food processor manufactured by Robot-Coupe. In response, Cuisinart instituted a trade-in allowance on its food processors to encourage existing food processor owners to upgrade their equipment. Consumers were allowed up to $66 in credit toward the purchase of a newer, more advanced Cuisinart model when hamilton beach smoothie blender they returned their older models. Soon the company accepted any brand of food processor for credit when upgrading to a new Cuisinart model. Though Cuisinart emerged from this litigation victoriously, the company was less successful later in 1980 when a grand jury accused it of price fixing. The courts fined Cuisinart $250,000 and prohibited the company from suggesting retail prices for one year.
Whatever the kitchen convenience, the Cuisinart brand has been equated with quality construction and top-of-the-line pricing. Other well-known kitchen appliance manufacturers–Sunbeam and Hamilton Beach, for example–began to enter the food processor market around 1977. By the end of that year, consumers could choose from more than 30 models of food processors, varying in price from $30 to $400.
At this point in its history, Cuisinart had products in 70 percent of all small appliance categories. To gain acceptance, Sontheimer showed his food processor to James Beard, Julia Child, and other notable culinary experts. Their endorsements&mdash well as favorable articles in Gourmet magazine and the New York Times–likened Sontheimer’s Cuisinart food processor to landmark inventions hamilton blender such as the cotton gin and the steamboat. Cuisinart continued to add to its product line in 1998 with a cordless percolator in the Coffee Bar line and a new electronic hand mixer. The SmartPower CountUp Hand Mixer featured the lowest mixing speeds available and came equipped with a digital timer. Cuisinart has been perfecting the art of great cooking for over 25 years.
If you’re on the go, you’ll never have to skip your morning shake or smoothie again. A Hamilton Beach® Personal Blender lets you mix a quick, tasty drink, and then grab and run. Each single-serve blender cup has a no-spill travel lid integrated into the top.
Consumers liked–and purchased–competitors’ smaller and cheaper machines. They complained that Cuisinart models were too big and bulky to keep on kitchen counters. Frequently stored in closets, Cuisinart food processors had to be lugged out of hiding, which made their use inconvenient. Six to eight blades often overwhelmed the average cook, who saw uses for maybe one or two blades. In 1972, Sontheimer engineered the redesign of these restaurant food processors for home use.
Overcoming Sontheimer’s reticence, Cuisinart introduced the Mini-Mate, a chopper and grinder with a reversible, patented blade, in the fall of 1986. At $40 the device was less expensive than competing products and was introduced through a glossy magazine ad campaign created by Geers Gross. Promotions emphasized the Mini-Mate’s use in preparing common recipes such as tacos.
In 1984 and 1985, Cuisinart began promoting culinary education and awareness through cookbooks and other media. Anne Greer’s American Southwest, published by Cuisinart, won the Tastemaker Award presented by the R.T. French Company as the best American cuisine cookbook of 1984. The following year, Cuisinart began a cooking videotape series to enhance the culinary education of consumers. The year 1996 marked Cuisinart’s 25th anniversary in culinary appliances. To commemorate the occasion, the company adopted “Your Kitchen Resource” as a new advertising tag line.
Owning a Cuisinart, Pomice observed, “was tantamount to wearing a pair of Calvin Klein jeans. You could hardly boast of a gourmet kitchen if you didn’t own one of these.” The following year Cuisinart continued to plan for a product line beyond food processors. In 1993, Cuisinart introduced its first hand-held and countertop blenders.