Super-elite in the mix

Tasneem Ayub is a Chennai homemaker who imported a KitchenAid from the US before it launched formally here in mid-2013. What made her splurge on this stand mixer? “When you can spend that sort of money on a mobile phone, why not this?” she counters. Ayub has taken up baking breads since last year and finds Lucy — she calls her KitchenAid that — a great labour-saver. She needed her husband’s special, huge converter to make it work in India.

Linu Paul, a Chennai home-baker who takes cake orders, opted for a Kenwood KMX50 that cost ₹ 45,000. It halves the time for tasks such as whipping cream and cleaning up afterwards. Also, the brand did not need a step-up, unlike an imported KitchenAid.

Neither Ayub nor Paul have yet had a problem with the machines, and neither knows what they would do if they did!

The proliferation of cookbooks, food shows and blogs has resulted in more such imports in the last five or six years. Add to that the growing fancy for showpiece kitchens, never mind that their owners may actually never cook in them.

KitchenAid is a 95-year-old brand, best known for its stand mixer that professional — and, increasingly, amateur — cooks prefer. The basic mixer costs an eye-popping ₹ 39,990, a price that many Indian consumers have a hard time accepting. But it’s really not all that new to the country, says Mohit Jain, Regional Director – Asia Pacific, KitchenAid Small Appliances, who moved from the US to launch the brand here. Well-heeled, well-travelled customers have imported it, as also the brand’s dishwashers, over the last 45 years.

Many trained professionals use KitchenAid, says Jain. Five-star hotels have as many as 5-7 in their kitchens. While they have industrial-size mixers to prepare dough and batter, KitchenAid pulls off an “unparalleled performance” for small batches. Its brawny build, at 13 kg, can also take a lot of abuse in these kitchens, says Jain. Making it slimmer would make it less stable.

It’s an aspirational brand for the passionate gourmet, but the price is a stumbling block. A couple of food bloggers cat.a.lyst spoke to said they could not justify the expense for home baking.

Perhaps it’s not unreasonable to expect that at such prices, KitchenAid should be able to whip up Indian delicacies too. Jain hastens to say that without any of the attachments, which come at no mean cost, it can knead dough for rotis and mix batter. Its rotary slicer can slice and dice vegetables. His sister-in-law uses the wire whisk to aerate the batter for dahi bhallas made with dal . There is a grain mill to make flour. Its pasta roller can make samosa and spring roll skins. Before its India launch, it was tested in the US among people who make Indian food at home regularly, he says. It is also being ‘torture-tested’ for idli and dosa batter.

KitchenAid belongs to the Whirlpool group, but Santanu Dasgupta, Vice-President, Corporate Affairs & Strategy, Asia South, only reluctantly agrees to share that fact. KitchenAid, he says, has an identity all its own. As for its relevance to Indian cuisine, he says that the brand is working with top chefs to develop Indian recipes. But then, cuisine is getting a lot more global.

A challenge would be the availability and quality of power, he says. There is one service centre in Delhi NCR. Mumbai and Bangalore are in the plan. The service engineers have been trained in the US and the company has enough spare parts for all India-specific models, he says.

The range in India includes cookware, hand blenders and food choppers. Small appliances in name, not in price, when compared to their ilk in the market. The price of a food chopper, for instance, is ₹ 4,990 as compared to one from Preethi or Lumix which costs between ₹ 1,100 and ₹ 2,700. Prices here are on the lower side compared to other countries despite the many import duties. “We’re looking at evangelism and a viral effect.” They are also thinking of offering buyers an EMI facility.

Dasgupta says the brand is very clear about where it wants to be available. The focus is on selling through gourmet outlets such as Foodhall, in Tier 1 cities, as well as online. Whirlpool has its modular kitchens business and hopes to popularise KitchenAid through that. Dasgupta plans to bring in bigger appliances such as dishwashers and refrigerators after a couple of years. KitchenAid’s mixers will have more visibility in about 12-15 months, he says.

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