Cuisinart
{{Short description|US home appliance brand}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Cuisinart
| logo = Cuisinart logo.svg
| type = Subsidiary
| foundation = {{Start date and age|1971}}
| founder = Carl Sontheimer
| CEO =
| location_city = Stamford, Connecticut
| location_country = U.S.
| industry = Consumer Goods
| parent = Conair Corporation (1989–present)
| products = Cookware, ovenware, kitchen tools, kitchen accessories
| num_employees =
| homepage = {{URL|cuisinart.com}}
}}
Cuisinart ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|w|iː|z|ɪ|n|ɑːr|t}} {{respell|KWEE|zin|art}}) is an American kitchen appliance and cookware brand owned by Conair Corporation. Cuisinart was founded in 1971 by Carl Sontheimer and initially produced food processors, which were introduced at a food show in Chicago in 1973.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/26/business/c-g-sontheimer-cuisinart-backer-dies-at-83.html| title=C. G. Sontheimer, Cuisinart Backer, Dies at 83| last=Thomas | first=Robert McG. Jr. |date=1998-03-26| work=The New York Times| access-date=2018-12-08| issn=0362-4331}} The name "Cuisinart" became synonymous with "food processor." The brand's name is a portmanteau of "cuisine" and "art." Cuisinart was purchased by Conair Corporation in 1989.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/28/business/conair-buys-cuisinart-line.html|title=Conair Buys Cuisinart Line|date=1989-12-28| work=The New York Times| access-date=2018-12-08| issn=0362-4331}}
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 Cuisinart and its main product, the food processor.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/31/archives/from-france-the-cuisinart.html| title=From France, the Cuisinart| last=Lewis| first=Vivian| date=1977-07-31| work=The New York Times| access-date=2018-12-08| issn=0362-4331}} 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 domestic food processor.{{Cite web |title=History of Cuisinart Corporation |url=https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/cuisinart-corporation-history/ |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=FundingUniverse |language=en}} 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.{{Cite news |date=1981-03-07 |title=FOOD MACHINE RIVALRY FLARES |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/07/business/food-machine-rivalry-flares.html |access-date=2025-04-24 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
Throughout the mid-1970s, Cuisinart sales rose due to the brand's association with celebrity chefs such as James Beard, a close friend of Carl Sontheimer. Cuisinart hired industrial designer Marc Harrison in the 1970s to design new products and improve other existing designs, many of the company's products became associated with universal design.{{cite journal| last=Williamson| first=Bess| date=December 2012| title=Getting a Grip: Disability in American Industrial Design of the Late Twentieth Century| journal=Winterthur Portfolio| volume=46| issue=4| pages=213–236| doi=10.1086/669668| s2cid=108978324| issn=0084-0416}} Harrison made its products more functional for users with disabilities, designing larger fonts so that people with vision problems could see them.{{cite journal |last1=Catanese |first1=Lynn |year=2012 |title=Thomas Lamb, Marc Harrison, Richard Hollerith and the Origins of Universal Design |journal=Journal of Design History |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=206–217 |doi=10.1093/jdh/eps013 |jstor=41687795}}
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. In August 1989, the company filed for bankruptcy.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/15/magazine/how-cuisinart-lost-its-edge.html| title=How Cuisinart Lost Its Edge| last=Kleinfield| first=N.R.| date=April 15, 1990| work=The New York Times Magazine | access-date=December 17, 2018}} This led to Conair buying the company for $27 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.{{cite magazine| url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,951688,00.html| title=Blade Battle| date=1981-05-18| magazine=Time| access-date=2018-12-08| issn=0040-781X}} Robot-Coupe hired Alvin Fineman, Cuisinart's former marketing director in 1979, who engaged in competitive advertisements that resulted in a lawsuit. A 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:
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- Air fryers
- Bakeware
- Handheld and standing blenders
- Bread machines
- Countertop blenders
- Brick ovens
- Can openers
- Coffeemakers
- Coffee grinders
- Convection ovens
- Cookware
- Cutlery
- Cutting boards
- Deep fryers
- Dutch ovens
- Espresso makers
- Food processors
- Grills, griddles
- Hand mixers
- Ice cream and sorbet makers
- Juice extractors
- Kettles
- Microwave ovens
- Popcorn makers
- Raclettes
- Rice cookers
- Scales
- Slow cookers
- Speciality appliances
- Stand mixers
- Toasters
- Toaster oven broilers
- Waffle makers
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References
{{Reflist}}
{{Home appliance brands}}
Category:1989 mergers and acquisitions
Category:American companies established in 1971
Category:Companies based in Stamford, Connecticut
Category:Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1989
Category:Companies that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Category:Cooking appliance brands
Category:Electronics companies established in 1971
Category:Home appliance brands
Category:Home appliance manufacturers of the United States
Category:Knife manufacturing companies