The Kitchen Appliance With a Two-Month Wait List

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FRIEDRICH GEIGER

Aug. 4, 2015 11:32 a.m. ET

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BERLIN —Europeans are clamoring for a blender that also cooks—and weighs, grinds, steams, chops, stirs, whips and kneads. It also has a color computer screen to walk cooks through digitized recipes.

The Thermomix, a $1,200 German kitchen appliance, now has a wait-list of more than two months.

Producer Vorwerk & Co., known in Germany for its durable vacuum cleaners, says a surge in orders for its latest model, launched in September, is forcing staff to work around the clock every day. Runaway success in Europe has Vorwerk cooking up plans for a U.S. relaunch late next year.

The Thermomix automates food preparation, going beyond existing soup-making blenders from Cuisinart and others that also heat their contents. 

The latest model’s screen displays step-by-step cooking instructions using coin-shaped memory chips which hold digital recipe collections. Cooking time and temperature are preset for each increment so users just add specified ingredients. The machine weighs them and indicates the proper mixing speed. Recipes are also available through a smartphone app that generates shopping lists.

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The digital touch screen on the Thermomix gives users recipes and cooking instructions. PHOTO: VORWERK

The company sells the Thermomix through private gatherings like Tupperware parties, where self-employed representatives prepare a multicourse meal. Similar to companies such as Amway in the U.S., Vorwerk also recruits customers to be part of the company sales force. The machine isn't available in retail stores. 

In the U.S., Vorwerk distributes the Jafra brand of cosmetics through a sales force that hosts parties to showcase skin care and fragrances. For Thermomix, Vorwerk says it will establish its own direct sales organization independent from Jafra.

Other home appliance makers have in recent years launched sophisticated machines that can blend and cook, including SEB SA’s Krups brand, De’Longhi SPA’s Kenwood unit, and Whirlpool Corp.’s KitchenAid brand. 

Vorwerk launched its first heating food processor in the early 1970s in France, and expanded to other markets including the U.S. It decided to stop selling Thermomix in the U.S. in 2004. The company said it went in a different strategic direction at the time. Nowadays, some U.S. cooks order it from Canada despite different electrical wiring.

Thermomix enthusiasts say the appliance is worth its price and the kitchen counter space because it replaces several other appliances such as blender, food processor, mill, steam cooker and scale. The company also pitches its ability to make fresh produce into a finished meal in a short time. 

Tina Müller, a mother of two in Berlin who got a new Thermomix in April, recently invited four friends over for a sales evening, for which Ms. Müller received a EUR50 (about $55) rebate from Vorwerk. 

Thermomix rep Brigitte Heyde started by whipping up rolls, a cheese spread with herbs and a salad. The main course was steamed chicken breast, vegetables and rice with onion sauce. Dessert was strawberry ice cream.

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A Vorwerk Thermomix owner lets her appliance be used for a cooking demonstration in Berlin. One guest at the event bought one. PHOTO: FRIEDRICH GEIGER FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Baking the rolls was the only task beyond the Thermomix, though it ground the flour for the rolls from whole grain. It boiled the rice in one bowl while simultaneously steaming the chicken and veggies in a separate bowl on top. 

Ms. Müller’s friends said the food was delicious but would have preferred the chicken sauteed or fried, rather than steamed.

“The Thermomix can’t fry and it also can’t slice,” conceded Ms. Heyde, who has sold the machines since 2008. “These are the shortcomings.”

She pointed out ways to save money with Thermomix, saying the ingredients for the cheese spread were much cheaper than buying a similar ready-made spread in the supermarket, and the machine can make jam from surplus fruit hanging around in the refrigerator. 

One of the guests ordered a Thermomix at the event. 

The appliance is particularly popular among working parents who cook lunch for their children, said Vorwerk Managing Partner Reiner Strecker. Parents ready the machine with ingredients for a programmed recipe before leaving home to pick up their children from kindergarten, “and when they’re back, lunch is prepared.” Such a dish could be meat balls with rice, sweet pepper and curry sauce.

The blender can be cleaned between uses by whizzing the blades with a splash of hot water and soap. The Thermomix parts are dishwasher safe. 

Thermomix boosters include well-known chefs René Redzepi and Heston Blumenthal. Mr. Redzepi, whose restaurant Noma in Copenhagen has repeatedly been voted among the world’s best, also features Thermomix recipes in his cookbook, “Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine.” Mr. Blumenthal has said he uses it in his Michelin three-star restaurant The Fat Duck outside London. 

Chefs like the ability to maintain a specific temperature, which is also popular among home users because they can avoid overheating milk, said Mr. Strecker.

Rivals are trying to one-up the machines. KitchenAid’s, Cook Processor, sells in Europe for roughly EUR1,000, 10% less than the Thermomix. It has a larger pot and more accessories. Its maximum temperature is also higher, 140 °C, which enables frying. A Vorwerk spokeswoman declined to comment. KitchenAid aims eventually to sell Cook Processors in the U.S. as well.

Vorwerk’s use of direct sales for kitchen appliances and vacuums sometimes draws chuckles in Germany, where that approach is uncommon.

When Sonja Schoppe from Göttingen in central Germany got her first Thermomix three years ago she took up Vorwerk’s offer, open for all buyers, to work off the price as a sales representative. Even after covering the tab, she kept the job and now does two to four presentations monthly.

Ms. Schoppe says she uses her Thermomix up to five times daily because it “cooks by itself.” The 37-year old physiotherapist and mother can do other chores, she says. The machine is like a sous chef, she says. Without it, “you need sometimes three or four hands for food preparation.” Click here to continue reading.