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 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.
He improved and refined the machines, lengthening the feed tubes and enhancing the disks and blades. Sontheimer also initiated safety features that brought the device in line with U.S. codes and standards. Sontheimer then asked Robot-Coupe to manufacture his design, and within a year he introduced his food processor at the 1973 National Housewares Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. Despite its legal troubles, Cuisinart was able to introduce six new food processor models by 1982.
The next year, Cuisinart followed the Mini-Mate with the Little Pro, a similar product in the $75 range. Conair renamed the company Cuisinart Corporation and instituted a new marketing program for its products. With more advertising and product demonstrations, the new owners hoped to improve relations between Cuisinart and department stores, as well as become a presence in the bridal market.
Though smaller, lower-priced food processors became the industry norm, Cuisinart would not bend in its quality standards or pricing. The company introduced a larger, more powerful, and more expensive model in 1978. Despite the proliferation of cheaper models by other name brand manufacturers, Cuisinart remained in control of the market, establishing a new level of price points for kitchen appliances.
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.
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.
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.
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 hamilton beach smoothie blender 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.
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.