Cuisinart ( ) is an American kitchen appliance and cookware brand. It was founded in 1971 by Carl Sontheimer. Initially the company produced , which were introduced at a food show in Chicago in 1973.
History
Cuisinart was founded in 1971 by
Carl Sontheimer, a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was inspired by his love of French food.
This led to the creation of Cuisinarts, Inc.
and its main product, the
food processor.
Cuisinart introduced its machine in January 1973 at a trade show in Chicago, a reworked and rebranded Robot-Coupe / Magimix 1800 food processor for North America in 1973 under the Cuisinart brand. This was as America's first home kitchen food processor.
The success of Cuisinart was limited at first, until a review in
Gourmet magazine helped to lift sales.
Later, Sontheimer contracted with a Japanese manufacturer to produce new models in 1977 in order to immediately launch his new Japanese-made food processor in 1980 when his contract with Robot-Coupe expired. Cuisinart continued to sell both the Japanese-sourced new machines and the original French-sourced machines for a time.
Throughout the mid-1970s, Cuisinart sales rose due to the brand's association with celebrity chefs such as James Beard, a close friend of Sontheimer.
By the mid-to-late 1980s, Cuisinart incurred financial troubles and suffered from falling sales. A group of investors bought Sontheimer's interest in the company in 1987 for $42 million.
Legal troubles with Robot-Coupe
In the late 1970s, a legal dispute between Robot-Coupe and Cuisinart began when Robot-Coupe started marketing home food processors in the US under their own brand name.
Robot-Coupe hired Alvin Fineman, Cuisinart's former marketing director in 1979,
as president.
They engaged in competitive advertisements which specifically named Cuisinart; it resulted in a lawsuit. A US federal court enjoined Robot-Coupe from continuing that particular ad, so Fineman's campaign changed to "There are many food processors made in Japan. The original is still made in France."
Products
Products produced under the Cuisinart brand include:
