Pampered Chef is a company that sells a wide selection of products related to cooking and cooking preparation. This article is not intended as a review of Pampered Chef’s products, however it does sell its products using a multi-level marketing system, making it a home business opportunity, and it is this I will review. If you have been looking at a number of Pampered Chef reviews for some information about setting up a home based business you have come to the right place. I would like to make it clear that I am not in anyway associated with P.C. and my own business does not mean I am in direct competition with P.C. consultants.
History
Pampered Chef was established by Doris Christopher in 1980 to sell cooking tools and cookbooks. It started using a ‘Party Plan’ system, similar to Tupperware’s, where sales were made by people inviting their friends over for a demonstration and then offering the goods for sale. P.C. has its headquarters in Addison, Illinois and in 2002 it was purchased by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Corporation. As well as the U.S.A. it also operates in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Mexico. It has over 70,0000 sales consultants (representatives) and a revenue of more than 700 million.
The Products
Pampered Chef reviews of products are not what this section is intended for but rather a general overview of the products they sell. Some of the basic categories Pampered Chef products fall into are -
- Crockery, Glassware and Cutlery
- Kitchenware and Cutting Tools
- Herbs, Spices and Sauces
- Bakeware
- Stoneware
- Barbeque Tools
- Cookbooks
During my research I gathered that P.C. products were good quality but they tended to be more expensive than similar products in retail stores.
The Business Opportunity
Pampered Chef uses a fairly traditional MLM structure where you earn money from the your sales, the sales of the consultants you recruit, the sales of the consultants they recruit and so on. The cost for a mini consultant kit is $80 while a full size kit is $155. The kits are basically used for display purposes and the consultant is not required to carry stock. As well as display goods the consultant also gets access to several different training tools, and an online product catalogue. If you really gain pleasure from cooking, are self-motivated and determined, and are good with people then P.C. could be for you. Something other Pampered Chef reviews don’t really say is that to achieve success in the direct sales style of network marketing you really have to have skills in, well, networking. Despite the training if you only have a small circle of friends and are a fairly shy person, direct selling, for any company, probably isn’t for you, you may be better suited to an internet based small business.
Conclusion
When it comes to direct sales companies P.C. is as good as any and better than most. If that does not sound like a great summary it is because I mean to be deliberately vague. P.C. is a well established, stable company that offers a good MLM business opportunity. There is no greater chance of success or failure in Pampered Chef than there is in companies such as Amway, Tupperware, Avon or Mary Kay. All of them have around a 95% failure rate, such is the ‘nature of the beast.’ When it comes to choosing between them your deciding factor should really be what interests and motivates you the most. Or to state it another way, your success in direct sales won’t really depend on the company it will depend on you.
