Vitamix® im Laufe der Jahre
Vom allerersten Mixer für Zuhause über die Expansion in Profiküchen bis hin zu unseren neuesten Innovationen: Werfen wir einen Blick auf die Entwicklung des Vitamix®.
Unsere Geschichte
BARNARD SALES CO.
William Grover Barnard, affectionately known as “Papa Barnard,” starts a company selling household products through demonstration. He finds early success selling the 25-cent Polly Can Opener, which gave people safer and easier access to healthy foods year-round.
NATURAL FOODS INSTITUTE
Papa Barnard renames the company to Natural Foods Institute to better align with their new focus on whole-food nutrition. After spending two summers demonstrating at the Great Lakes Exposition Papa and his son William G. “Bill” Barnard, Jr.’s biggest take aways were the introduction to the blender and a love for the city of Cleveland and its people.
THE FIRST STORE FRONT
As their business grew Papa and Bill opened up the first Natural Foods Institute store at 807 Saint Clair Ave. In addition to a variety of health foods products the store offered health lectures, and demonstrations of the Vitamix which they advertised for $13.95.
ANSIEDLUNG DES WELTWEITEN HAUPTSITZES
The company moves to Olmsted Township, Ohio, where Bill Barnard builds a rustic, 1,100-square-foot office building. The health food division becomes smaller as the family focuses on direct marketing and sales demonstrations of the Vitamix.
DIE REZEPTE VON RUTH
Ruth Barnard, wife of Papa’s son Bill, contributes vitamin-rich recipes to a cookbook, 500 Recipes for Vita-Mix and Other Liquifying Machines. Her innovations in healthy eating help put the Vita-Mix machine ahead of other blenders on the market.
DAS ERSTE INFOMERCIAL DER WELT
Bill Barnard convinces his father to air a first-of-its-kind, half-hour infomercial over WEWS in Cleveland. They needed to sell 18 Vitamix Machines to break even on the ad cost. That night, they sold more than 400.
SECOND GENERATION TAKES THE LEAD
Papa retires passing the business onto the second generation. Bill and Ruth incorporate the business and travel coast to coast with their family, demonstrating the benefits of healthy living through the Vitamix.
THIRD GENERATION TAKES THE LEAD
Bill and Ruth’s son Grover joins the company. He shifts the focus solely to Vitamix machines and innovation, discontinuing the health food division. In 1966, the company name is changed to the Vita-Mix Corporation. Grover goes on to become president in 1985.
THE LEADERSHIP BATON PASSES AGAIN
John Barnard, Bill and Ruth’s son and brother to Grover, rejoins the company in 1981 as head engineer. He redesigns the Vitamix 3600 to meet Canadian standards, setting the stage for future international sales. John will go on to heavily influence product development, as well as manufacturing and sales, before becoming president in 1999.
EXPANSION IN DEN EINZELHANDEL
Als die Vollwertkost-Bewegung an Fahrt gewinnt, bringt Vitamix® seine Vorführrezepte auf Pflanzenbasis in den Handel, zunächst bei Costco.
FOURTH GENERATION TAKES THE LEAD
Jodi Berg becomes president, and a year later, CEO. Her father, John Barnard, becomes executive chairman. The company is now in more than 80 countries and wins exporting excellence awards from the state and federal government.
1 MILLION MACHINES
Vitamix, having opened a 175,000-square-foot operations center in Strongsville, Ohio, hits the 1 million mark in machines manufactured over a single year.
DEN WEG FÜR DAS NÄCHSTE JAHRHUNDERT BEREITEN
Inmitten einer Pandemie wird Vitamix als führendes Unternehmen in Krisenzeiten anerkannt und beweist, dass starke Werte, Ziele und die Leidenschaft, etwas zu verändern, nicht nur die Unternehmensleistung sondern auch die größere Gemeinschaft beeinflussen können.
VITAMIX AT 100 YEARS
After 100 years, four generations, and sales in 130 countries, the Vitamix family business is thriving under Jodi Berg’s leadership. Jodi is known for infusing the company culture with purpose and passion for whole, healthy foods.
“If we can change the way people eat, we can change the future.”
–Jodi L. Berg, Ph.D., President and CEO, Vitamix
- 1921 Barnard Sales Co.
- 1937 Natural Foods Institute
- 1939 The First Store Front
- 1948 World Headquarters Established
- 1949 Ruth’s Recipes
- 1949 World’s First Infomercial
- 1955 Second generation takes the lead
- 1962 Third generation takes the lead
- 1981 The leadership baton passes again
- 2002 Retail Expansion
- 2009 Fourth Generation Takes the Lead
- 2013 1 Million Machines
- 2020 Setting the Stage for the Next Century
- 2021 Vitamix at 100 Years
- 2022 First non-family member named CEO
Ein Vorreiter in puncto Vollwertkost und Gesundheit
From the start, Vitamix® was rooted in whole-food nutrition. Although much has changed since 1921, our focus on better living through health and wellness holds strong.
Wo alles begann
Die Leidenschaft der Barnards für Vollwertkost wurde nach der Entdeckung einer natürlichen Lösung für die chronische Erkrankung eines Familienmitglieds geweckt. Sie ernährten sich von nun an vegetarisch und strichen Zucker und Koffein aus ihrer Ernährung. Nachdem sie die Vorteile dieser Veränderung ihrer Lebensweise erlebt hatten, waren sie von der Kraft der Vollwertkost überzeugt.
Der Ernährung verpflichtet
By the late 1930s, the Barnards had made promoting healthy eating their life’s work. Their mail-order health food and vitamin business grew into the Natural Foods Institute. And when Papa recognized that a powerful blender could make healthy foods taste great, the Vita-Mix was created – and also sold in the family store.
Verfechter der Vollwertkost
In 1937, Papa Barnard published a book citing natural foods as a cure for many common diseases. In the ’40s and beyond, Ruth Barnard worked tirelessly to develop recipes rich in core vitamins. During the diet crazes of the ’80s and ’90s, Vitamix worked to educate the public about the difference between calories and nutrition. Today, the Vitamix Foundation pursues the elimination of diet-driven illness through the consumption of plant-based whole foods.
Innovationen für eine bessere Gesundheit
Wenig überraschend ist die Art und Weise, wie sich Vitamix der Gesundheit durch Vollwertkost verschrieben hat: durch die kontinuierliche Innovation von Mixgeräten der nächsten Generation. Durch Design und Technik, die in der Branche ihresgleichen suchen, wird die Ernährung mit Vollwertkost für Menschen zuhause, in professionellen Küchen und darüber hinaus leicht, effizient und köstlich.
