KitchenAid Forms Super Premium Blender Business Unit

Citing significant growth potential in the high performance blender category, KitchenAid has formed a new global business unit focusing entirely on this fast growing market segment. Its debut product, scheduled for availability this spring, is the first blender for home use to employ an interlocking magnetic drive system instead of a traditional coupler mechanism, both to power its blades and safely secure its jar.

“It was important for us to come out of the gate with a true game-changer in the category,” says Kay Oswald, Global Business Unit Director KitchenAid Blenders. “Our very first product sends a signal to retailers and consumers that KitchenAid intends to lead the category in performance, innovation and marketing.”

Oswald defines super premium blenders as those carrying a suggested retail price of $299 and up, a price range currently dominated by a range of other brands. The new KitchenAid® Magnetic Drive Blender, dubbed Torrent™, will carry a suggested retail price of $599. All high performance KitchenAid blenders will be assembled at the brand’s Greenville, Ohio manufacturing operation, which is nearly doubling in size to accommodate growth in its global small appliance business.

The business unit also plans to break new ground in marketing within the category. Plans for supporting the Torrent blender launch include product demonstrations; a promotional partnership with Melissa’s Produce, the country’s largest distributor of specialty produce; a dedicated website with blender-related recipe and video content; and creation of a robust social media community to fuel health and well-being.

Since the introduction of its legendary stand mixer in 1919 and first dishwasher in 1949, KitchenAid has built on the legacy of these icons to create a complete line of products designed for cooks. Today, the KitchenAid brand offers virtually every essential for the well-equipped kitchen with a collection that includes everything from countertop appliances to cookware, ranges to refrigerators, and whisks to wine cellars. Cook for the Cure®, the brand’s partnership with Susan G. Komen®, is now in its 14th year and has raised over $10 million to help find a cure for breast cancer.