The Pampered Chef
The Pampered Chef is Doris Christopher's extraordinary account of how she turned an innovative concept and a $3,000 investment into close to a billion-dollar business, and is packed with real-life lessons and inspiring insights for small-business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. She describes the early days of her "one-woman show," chronicles the company's expansion, and offers invaluable advice and sound strategies on founding and growing a business, including:
Eleven tips for start-up entrepreneurs
Creating a concept for a business and setting your priorities
Hitting the $1 million mark and knowing when to slow growth
Steering clear of naysayers and dealing with adversity
Establishing a stress-free work environment
Christopher recognized that millions of women did not own or even know how to use quality kitchen tools. Using her products to help bring families together in the kitchen, Christopher discovered a huge, untapped market. Through The Pampered Chef's easy-to-master techniques for streamlining meal preparation, customers not only became more skillful in the kitchen, they gained valuable time to spend with their families.
Achieving a better balance between work and family remains central to The Pampered Chef's mission. The Pampered Chef brings Christopher's recipe for success to women (and men) everywhere.
"At Berkshire Hathaway, we like companies that are easy to understand. Doris Christopher's "keep it simple" approach has a lot to teach anyone who is reaching for the American Dream. Frankly, if I can't understand a company's business, I figure their customers must have a pretty hard time figuring it out, too.
"I would challenge anyone on Wall Street to take $3,000 and do what Doris Christopher has done: build a business from scratch into a world-class organization. But follow the simple steps in this book, and it just might happen. Come see me in Omaha when you've put together your own recipe for success; we pay cash and Bershire's check will clear. In the meantime, read this book. Then, read it again."
Warren Buffett, from the foreword to The Pampered Chef
__________
About Our Founder
Inspired by her dedication to preserving the tradition of family mealtimes and driven by the spirit of entrepreneurism, Doris Christopher founded The Pampered Chef® from the basement of her suburban Chicago home in 1980.
Her experience as a home economics teacher and at-home mother enabled her to recognize the need for time-saving kitchen tools and techniques designed to make cooking quick and easy. She came up with a simple plan: offer professional-quality kitchen equipment directly to the consumers through in-home cooking demonstrations performed by a sales force of "Pampered Chef Consultants." Let customers see how the products work, try them out and even taste the results.
With the support of her husband, Jay, and two young daughters, Julie and Kelley, Christopher put her plan into action. Twenty years later, her business has moved to a succession of progressively larger facilities and blossomed into a $700 million enterprise.
The Pampered Chef became a member of the Direct Selling Association (DSA) of the United States in 1986. Christopher was named to the Board of Directors in 1992, and then served as Chairperson. She is currently the Immediate Past Chairperson of the DSA and Chairperson of the Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF), a branch organization of the DSA.
The Pampered Chef - Canada is also a member of the Direct Sellers Association of Canada. The DSA's mission is "To further enhance trust, confidence and growth in the Canadian direct-selling industry through self-regulation and ethical conduct." For information on the DSA's Code of Ethics, click here.
In 1994, Ernst & Young, Inc. magazine and Merrill Lynch selected Christopher as the regional winner of the National Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Masters category. Also in 1994, The Pampered Chef was among Inc. magazine's 500 fastest-growing privately held companies in America. In fact, projected sales figures show the numbers growing at an average of almost $100 million each year for the next five years.
Christopher has repeatedly been included in Working Woman magazine's listing of the nation's top women business owners, and she has appeared on regional and national television as an expert on family mealtimes, direct selling and entrepreneurship.
In March of 1996, The Pampered Chef launched its business in Canada, extending Doris' mission of preserving the family mealtime. There are now more than 3,500 Consultants in Canada, with new Consultants starting their own businesses every day.
Doris' unfailing commitment to fostering entrepreneurship in women is woven into the very fabric of The Pampered Chef. Many Pampered Chef Consultants are mothers who have been empowered to develop lucrative businesses while staying home to raise their children and manage their households.
The Pampered Chef brings families together, not only through its direct-selling opportunity, but also through its product line. Each product is designed to make cooking faster and easier so that customers can spend less time in the kitchen and more with their families.
Doris Christopher believes "When families share a meal, the bonds that hold that family together grow stronger."
Her philosophy about the importance of the family mealtime has shaped and guided The Pampered Chef from the very beginning. Even in the midst of rapid growth, the company maintains this original focus.
It was this same philosophy that drove Christopher to author the book, Come to the Table, published by Warner Books in 1999. In it, she celebrates the tradition of the family mealtime, honours its deep and lasting roots and reinforces its power to positively impact family life.
In 1991, Christopher expanded the company's mission to combat hunger in the U.S. with the creation of the Round-Up from the Heart® campaign, and the same program was adapted in Canada in 1999. This collective effort between the Pampered Chef's Consultants, customers and corporate employees helps the Canadian Association of Food Banks feed approximately three million hungry Canadians every year, 40 percent of whom are under the age of 18. CAFB members expect to distribute more than one hundred million pounds of food in 2001.
The Pampered Chef has been honoured with the U.S. DSA's Vision for Tomorrow Award for its efforts to help feed the nation's hungry. It has also received two U.S. DSA Industry Innovation Awards — the first for its support of entrepreneurial women, and the second for excellence in Web technology for the Come to the Table Web site. Canada received an honourable mention from the Canadian DSA.
Christopher is certified in Family and Consumer Services and is an active member of the business section of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. She is also a member of the international organization, The Committee of 200.
__________
How will you build your Pampered Chef business?
Will you buy Pampered Chef Leads?
Will you hold Pampered Chef Parties?
ItsGoodBusiness.net
Buy Customers...NOT Leads
The Pampered Chef is Doris Christopher's extraordinary account of how she turned an innovative concept and a $3,000 investment into close to a billion-dollar business, and is packed with real-life lessons and inspiring insights for small-business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. She describes the early days of her "one-woman show," chronicles the company's expansion, and offers invaluable advice and sound strategies on founding and growing a business, including:
Eleven tips for start-up entrepreneurs
Creating a concept for a business and setting your priorities
Hitting the $1 million mark and knowing when to slow growth
Steering clear of naysayers and dealing with adversity
Establishing a stress-free work environment
Christopher recognized that millions of women did not own or even know how to use quality kitchen tools. Using her products to help bring families together in the kitchen, Christopher discovered a huge, untapped market. Through The Pampered Chef's easy-to-master techniques for streamlining meal preparation, customers not only became more skillful in the kitchen, they gained valuable time to spend with their families.
Achieving a better balance between work and family remains central to The Pampered Chef's mission. The Pampered Chef brings Christopher's recipe for success to women (and men) everywhere.
"At Berkshire Hathaway, we like companies that are easy to understand. Doris Christopher's "keep it simple" approach has a lot to teach anyone who is reaching for the American Dream. Frankly, if I can't understand a company's business, I figure their customers must have a pretty hard time figuring it out, too.
"I would challenge anyone on Wall Street to take $3,000 and do what Doris Christopher has done: build a business from scratch into a world-class organization. But follow the simple steps in this book, and it just might happen. Come see me in Omaha when you've put together your own recipe for success; we pay cash and Bershire's check will clear. In the meantime, read this book. Then, read it again."
Warren Buffett, from the foreword to The Pampered Chef
__________
About Our Founder
Inspired by her dedication to preserving the tradition of family mealtimes and driven by the spirit of entrepreneurism, Doris Christopher founded The Pampered Chef® from the basement of her suburban Chicago home in 1980.
Her experience as a home economics teacher and at-home mother enabled her to recognize the need for time-saving kitchen tools and techniques designed to make cooking quick and easy. She came up with a simple plan: offer professional-quality kitchen equipment directly to the consumers through in-home cooking demonstrations performed by a sales force of "Pampered Chef Consultants." Let customers see how the products work, try them out and even taste the results.
With the support of her husband, Jay, and two young daughters, Julie and Kelley, Christopher put her plan into action. Twenty years later, her business has moved to a succession of progressively larger facilities and blossomed into a $700 million enterprise.
The Pampered Chef became a member of the Direct Selling Association (DSA) of the United States in 1986. Christopher was named to the Board of Directors in 1992, and then served as Chairperson. She is currently the Immediate Past Chairperson of the DSA and Chairperson of the Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF), a branch organization of the DSA.
The Pampered Chef - Canada is also a member of the Direct Sellers Association of Canada. The DSA's mission is "To further enhance trust, confidence and growth in the Canadian direct-selling industry through self-regulation and ethical conduct." For information on the DSA's Code of Ethics, click here.
In 1994, Ernst & Young, Inc. magazine and Merrill Lynch selected Christopher as the regional winner of the National Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Masters category. Also in 1994, The Pampered Chef was among Inc. magazine's 500 fastest-growing privately held companies in America. In fact, projected sales figures show the numbers growing at an average of almost $100 million each year for the next five years.
Christopher has repeatedly been included in Working Woman magazine's listing of the nation's top women business owners, and she has appeared on regional and national television as an expert on family mealtimes, direct selling and entrepreneurship.
In March of 1996, The Pampered Chef launched its business in Canada, extending Doris' mission of preserving the family mealtime. There are now more than 3,500 Consultants in Canada, with new Consultants starting their own businesses every day.
Doris' unfailing commitment to fostering entrepreneurship in women is woven into the very fabric of The Pampered Chef. Many Pampered Chef Consultants are mothers who have been empowered to develop lucrative businesses while staying home to raise their children and manage their households.
The Pampered Chef brings families together, not only through its direct-selling opportunity, but also through its product line. Each product is designed to make cooking faster and easier so that customers can spend less time in the kitchen and more with their families.
Doris Christopher believes "When families share a meal, the bonds that hold that family together grow stronger."
Her philosophy about the importance of the family mealtime has shaped and guided The Pampered Chef from the very beginning. Even in the midst of rapid growth, the company maintains this original focus.
It was this same philosophy that drove Christopher to author the book, Come to the Table, published by Warner Books in 1999. In it, she celebrates the tradition of the family mealtime, honours its deep and lasting roots and reinforces its power to positively impact family life.
In 1991, Christopher expanded the company's mission to combat hunger in the U.S. with the creation of the Round-Up from the Heart® campaign, and the same program was adapted in Canada in 1999. This collective effort between the Pampered Chef's Consultants, customers and corporate employees helps the Canadian Association of Food Banks feed approximately three million hungry Canadians every year, 40 percent of whom are under the age of 18. CAFB members expect to distribute more than one hundred million pounds of food in 2001.
The Pampered Chef has been honoured with the U.S. DSA's Vision for Tomorrow Award for its efforts to help feed the nation's hungry. It has also received two U.S. DSA Industry Innovation Awards — the first for its support of entrepreneurial women, and the second for excellence in Web technology for the Come to the Table Web site. Canada received an honourable mention from the Canadian DSA.
Christopher is certified in Family and Consumer Services and is an active member of the business section of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. She is also a member of the international organization, The Committee of 200.
__________
How will you build your Pampered Chef business?
Will you buy Pampered Chef Leads?
Will you hold Pampered Chef Parties?
ItsGoodBusiness.net
Buy Customers...NOT Leads
__________
Keywords: The Pampered Chef,Doris Christopher,1980s,1990s,2002,Acme Boots,Acme Brick,Addison, Illinois,Applied Underwriters Inc.,Benjamin Moore ; Co.,Berkshire Hathaway
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