How Pampered Chef Revolutionized Home Cooking

With an entrepreneurial spirit, a $3,000 loan from an insurance policy, and the belief that shared mealtimes have the power to change lives, Doris Christopher founded Pampered Chef from the basement of her suburban Chicago home in 1980. Her plan was simple: make mealtimes more enjoyable and less of a chore. Over the past 40 years, Pampered Chef has revolutionized home cooking through a line of kitchen tools, cooking parties and much more while continuing to staying true to Christopher’s mission of enriching lives through food. In this edited and condensed interview, Christopher talks about her inspiration for Pampered Chef, how she's overcome various challenges and where she'd like to see the brand go next.

What was the inspiration for Pampered Chef?

After staying at home with my two young girls, I was ready to re-enter the workforce when they started grade school. I had experience as a home economist and educator, and I wanted to find work that would build on my passions for cooking and teaching. 

But even more than that, I was looking for a job that would allow me to prioritize my family. I wanted the freedom to control my schedule so I could be home when the girls returned from school and could share meals as a family each night.

As it turned out, work like that was incredibly difficult to find! I could not find any work that would meet those needs, so I decided to create my own business. 

As I thought about what kind of business to start, I took stock of what was happening in my community and our country at that time. 1980 was a time of high inflation and unemployment, which meant families were dining out less and looking for ways to cook meals more affordably at home. At the same time, dual-income families were becoming more commonplace, which meant households were busier than ever. People were looking for ways to prepare meals quickly, so they would have time to connect at the dinner table. 

That need in the marketplace tapped into my love for cooking and my passion for shared mealtimes—that's how the idea for Pampered Chef was born. I would offer quality kitchen tools, the kind only available to the commercial market, through in-home cooking demonstrations where guests would learn simple cooking tips and recipes that would help them become more confident in the kitchen.

The response was remarkable. By pursuing my passions, I tapped into a huge demand for simple mealtime solutions and high-quality cooking tools.

Shortly after I started Pampered Chef, other people began joining the business as independent consultants. I quickly learned that a lot of people shared my desire to have a flexible income opportunity. We opened Pampered Chef to create an opportunity for independent consultants, and business grew rapidly in the years that followed.

My initial goals for the business were quite modest, so, 40 years later, I am truly humbled by what the business has become. I never would have dreamed that Pampered Chef would become an international organization in five markets (U.S., Canada, Germany, Austria and France), a member of the Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B family of companies, and continue to provide a flexible business opportunity for more than 55,000 consultants. 

It's an incredible achievement; what were some of the challenges you faced and how were you able to overcome them?

In business and life, I've learned that it's not a question of if challenges will come, but how we respond when they do come. When we face challenges as something to learn from, they often became the catalyst for improvements that help us become smarter and stronger. 

In fact, I started the business in 1980, which was a time of inflation and economic uncertainty. It was a time when more families were becoming dual-income, and people were preparing more meals at home to save money. If I had waited for the perfect economic conditions to start the business, we might have never started at all!

Looking back, I can see that every challenge and every season of change has positioned us for something better and more rewarding over the years. 

What were some of the initial Pampered Chef products and how did they come about? 

Two of our earliest products continue to be among our most popular: the stoneware collection and our Food Chopper.

I brought stoneware to the very first Kitchen Show I held on October 15, 1980, and it has been a beloved staple piece in our product collection ever since. It's withstood the test of time because it is simple, and it works – offering improved results for whatever one bakes or re-heats on it, every time. To celebrate our 40th anniversary and honor this heritage item, we launched a new unglazed Stoneware Collection. It is our most durable yet, made in the U.S. with all-natural clay mined from the U.S. Our new stoneware collection can go straight from the oven to the table, and it is also dishwasher safe. 

Do you have any personal favorite products? 

I love so many different products, but two of the tools I use repeatedly are our Silicone Scrapers and our classic Food Chopper. These products have been around since the early years of the business and improved many times since. I would be lost without them. I use them daily. 

How has cooking at home changed over the years? Remained the same? Over the years, food trends have evolved, mealtimes have migrated from a dining table to a kitchen island for some, but the power of sharing time over a meal remains the same. 

I've always believed that mealtime is a time where relationships are formed and strengthened, and that's where Pampered Chef steps in as a resource and supportive voice for our customers. I've found that people are always interested in becoming more confident in the kitchen. For Pampered Chef to be able to provide the tools, tips and encouragement that help people create meals in a way that works for them and their loved ones is a pretty high calling and one that I'm incredibly proud of.

Where would you like to see the brand go next?

Times have changed, and cooking has evolved, but about the only thing that hasn't changed is our need to celebrate and spend time with our loved ones. I know we will continue to grow and innovate, developing solutions to address cooking challenges.

And with that, I always want to see Pampered Chef there to help our customers make the most of every moment and find (and enrich) that moment to take time to enjoy food and meals together. 

I also love seeing our culture of giving back to our community continue to grow – that has been core to who we are at Pampered Chef since the very beginning. This year, we increased contributions to our long-term partners at Feeding America to help provide even more meals for those facing food insecurity because of the pandemic. During this campaign year alone (September 1, 2019-August 31, 2020), our consultants and customers raised more than $2.4 million through the sale of special products and fundraiser cooking parties. It was a meaningful and powerful way for our consultants and our consumers to connect and give back, and the response was truly heartwarming.