Someone introduced you to Pampered Chef’s cookware products and the business plan, but you keep wondering, “Is Pampered Chef A Pyramid Scheme?”
If you land on my site to find the answer, you’ve come to the right place. In my Pampered Chef review, I will show you the below topics to help you make up your mind.
- What Is Pampered Chef?
- Pampered Chef Products
- How To Make Money With Pampered Chef?
- Pampered Chef Compensation Plan
- Pampered Chef Pros & Cons
- Is Pampered Chef A Pyramid Scheme?
Without further ado, let’s dive deep!
Disclaimer: As the owner of Smileaffiliatesuccess.com, I have tracked down special deals for products, tools, and services mentioned herein. When you click my affiliate links on this page to make a purchase, I may get a small commission, and you will definitely get a great bargain. This is a win-win advantage for both of us.
What is Pampered Chef?
-Summary of Pampered Chef-
Product Name: Pampered Chef
Founders: founded by Doris Christopher in 1980
Product Type: Kitchenware MLM
Price: $50-$250 Launch Bundle + $150 Monthly Quota + $12 Website Fee
Recommend: No
Pampered Chef is a kitchenware MLM that sells kitchen tools, food products, and cookbooks. It has run business operations for over four decades and provides a business plan for people to make money.
They have a worldwide direct sales force of 35,000 consultants and expanded to Canada in 1996, the UK in 1999, Germany in 2000, and Austria in 2019.
But, is this a work from home and be your own boss opportunity? Read on to find out more.
What’s Inside Pampered Chef?
Kitchenware products are what Moms or housewives use every single day, and I am sure everyone is familiar with the products without any explanations needed.
We have so many to talk about today. Let’s start with Pampered Chef’s products!
Product Lines
Pampered Chef’s products fall into the below categories:
- Bakeware: Baker set, mixing bowls, ice cream maker, mixer & dispenser, etc.
- Cooking Tools: Utensils, food grater, veggie spiralizer, instant food thermometer, etc.
- Cookware: Smoothie blender, steamer, air fryer, dutch oven, etc.
- Cutlery: Knives, kitchen shears, chopping board, etc.
- Food: Vinegar, canola oil, teriyaki sauce with honey, etc.
- Kids: many cooking sets designed for kids to make pizza, pretzel, cookies.
- Outdoor: Portable grill, wine tumblers, grill stones, water bottle, etc.
For every product from Pampered Chef, feel free to check the official website or online catalog HERE.
Do Pampered Chef Products Work?
I am not using Pampered Chef, so I cannot give you my firsthand experience. I searched for comments from real customers. Here is what I found:
-The Positive-
-The Negative-
You can use both positive & negative feedback as references if you become one of Pampered Chef’s consultants.
Especially on the negative, you might face the same problems that your customers may call you for product replacements.
How To Make Money With Pampered Chef?
In any MLMs, there are two ways to make money. Pampered Chef is no exception!
- Sell Pampered Chef’s products to make retail commissions
- Recruit people under you to hit group sales for extra bonuses and incentives.
Before we go directly to the compensation plan, let’s know how to start with Pampered Chef.
Getting Started
To start your Pampered Chef journey, you need to follow the below three simple steps:
- Sign-up: Fill out your personal information and create an account.
- Pair the starter kit with a product bundle: Choose one from the below.
- Selling: You can host a home party, virtual party, or promote the products on your replicated website.
And, to remain an active Pampered Chef consultant, you must have at least $150 in personal commissionable sales.
Now, we could calculate the total cost of becoming Pampered Chef for one year.
- $50-$250 Launch Bundle
- $150 Monthly Requirement to stay active $150*12=$1,800
- $12 website fee(free of the first three months) $12*9=$108
The best case is paying $1,958, while the worst is $2,158. Other costs, such as additional training, travel, gas, food, or miscellaneous expenses, are not included, so the total cost must be higher than my calculation here.
Pampered Chef Compensation Plan
The most critical part of Pampered Chef’s business opportunity is the compensation plan.
I won’t go much deeper on this since it is not much different from other MLMs. The basic rule is, “The more you sell, the more you earn!“
- Retail Commissions: 20%-33% of your monthly sales
- Build A Team: Earn $100 cash + $50 Pampered Chef dollars for each new consultant you bring to Pampered Chef in the first 90 days.
- Free and Discounted Kitchen Tools: Earn free tools when you hit $500+ in your first 30 days.
- Incentive Trips: Earn a trip when you reach higher levels by earning points for sales, helping others get started with Pampered Chef, and maintaining your qualified title.
How Much Do You Need to Sell to Stay Active?
For every consultant, it’s $150 sales made in a calendar month to keep active.
If people cannot sell $150 worth of products each month, they tend to purchase $150 for themselves. Making them the most loyal customers of Pampered Chef.
The Ugly Truth About Pampered Chef
TOP#1 Expensive Products
Compared to other brands that you find online, it’s easy to find out that Pampered Chef is expensive. I don’t blame Pampered Chef for this since it’s the nature of any MLMs.
MLM companies need to mark up 30%-40% of the product prices to pay a small portion to consultants for the promotions they do for the companies.
You also need to think about what makes Pampered Chef’s products stand out from the crowd. If you cannot think about anything, it’s getting harder to make people purchase Pampered Chef while having cheaper alternatives.
TOP#2 Terrible Customer Service
Based on my findings on Pampered Chef’s Facebook page, I found they have terrible customer service.
People shared their experiences with customer service, and they only got angrier without solving their problems.
TOP#3 Low Income Potential
Let’s see what Pampered Chef said about its income potential by the time you spent per week.
- If you work 1-3 hours per week, the average monthly income is $110-$510.
- If you work 3-6 hours per week, the average monthly income is $665-$1,100.
- If you work 8-15 hours per week, the average monthly income is $1,400-$18,000
- If you work 15-25 hours per week, the average monthly income is $6,800-$45,000.
My personal experience told me that they sugar-coated the statistics. For me, it takes more than 15 hours to create quality content, promote it on social media, and build a sustainable online business.
What I Liked About Pampered Chef
TOP#1 eBizTools
The future of any MLMs is on the internet, and it’s nice to see Pampered Chef catching the last train.
They offer eBizTools FREE of charge for the first 90 days. After 90 days, if you have an online sale of $50 a month, it’s still free. You would have to pay a 6-month or 12-month subscription fee if you don’t.
Here is what eBiz Tools work for your Pampered Chef’s business:
- Customizable Personal Website: It allows customers could shop online, and it helps you manage party guest lists, invites, and reminders.
- Marketing Emails: Your customers can receive monthly eNewsletters from you, and eBizTools do the work for you.
- Party Host Dashboards: You don’t need to host parties alone, and you can partner with your hosts here. You and your hosts can add guests, send invites and reminders, keep track of sales, and even place their orders.
- Party Pages for Guests: This one-stop party link allows guests to view party info, RSVP, view the online catalog, and shop!
TOP#2 Everyone Understands The Products
Kitchenware doesn’t need much explanation when showcasing the products since people already know how the products work already.
Instead of putting much effort into memorizing the unique ingredients inside every product like Jeunesse or Neora, customers know the products even if you only show them pictures.
Who’s Pampered Chef For?
Mom and housewives who love cooking and like to share kitchenware with others repeatedly.
If you are like me, shy and introverted, I would recommend my alternative way to make money online. I will show you my favorite platform in one minute!
Can You Make Money Selling Pampered Chef?
Yes, I believe there must be someone who made a decent income with Pampered Chef, while the majority failed.
Those consultants who achieved higher levels must be enthusiastic about cooking and love meeting new people to promote the products & the business opportunity.
Is Pampered Chef A Pyramid Scheme?
No! Wikipedia’s definition of a pyramid scheme is:
“A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products.”
Pampered Chef provides many products for consultants to sell, and they get commissions from their sales, so it’s not a pyramid scheme.
Before joining Pampered Chef, I hope you can review things I don’t like that much with this business opportunity.
- The expensive products: compared to other brands you could easily find online, Pampered Chef is expensive.
- The terrible customer service: what will you do if your customers feel angry about the post-sale service?
- The low-income potential: can you stand the pain that you only make a few bucks in the first years?
If you have “Nah!” for any above, I would recommend you to try my alternative way to make money online!
My Alternative Way to Make Money Online
My alternative way to make money online is through Affiliate Marketing instead of promoting Pampered Chef products in person.
Try to imagine you sell Pampered Chef products to your friends, family, or anyone around you. Don’t you feel blushed? My face turns blushed when I only imagine myself selling products, not to mention that they might avoid you ever since.
Doing affiliate marketing will save you from that:
- It’s free to start your affiliate marketing business.
- You don’t need to buy physical products and sell them face to face.
- There is no monthly minimum sales quota in affiliate marketing.
- You don’t recruit people to become your downlines to build a team.
- You are not restricted to promoting one product. You can promote anything you like!
- Work on your schedules & you are your OWN BOSS!
You only need to start a blog with quality content. So every time people land on your site to read your product reviews or other articles, they will find insight and value.
If they like it, they may purchase the products or services via your links. Here come your earning potentials.
The platform I am using currently is Wealthy Affiliate. You will find all the proven-to-work training courses, every Friday night LIVE training courses, one keyword research tool called Jaaxy, 24/7 site support, and the most friendly community.
You are more than welcome to check my full Wealthy Affiliate review HERE, or click the button right below to start your online journey with us.
Wealthy Affiliate Income Proof
Here are some of the most active members from Wealthy Affiliate. Each of them did succeed in generating a sustainable income to replace their 9-5 jobs. You are more than welcome to check their stories HERE.
- I Made Over $1 Million With Affiliate Marketing.
- Can someone make a full time income promoting WA? You bet they can!
- What Does $1000 Per Day Look Like?$
- 40,000 In One Weekend
- A Very Humbling $12,803.26 Month – August Progress Report
- It’s Getting Better: $500+ in 2 Days
- Newbies Pay Attention! $5,195.20 Affiliate Check for June: Thanks WA!
- Joined the 10K Per Month Club. January Earnings $13,481.39
- New Record: $1,300+ Per DAY! Affiliate Marketing Works & Rocks!
- Made $7,395 in a WEEK: First Black Friday Results!
I hope you enjoy this review, and you are more than welcome to share ideas or leave your comments below. I will reply as soon as I can, thanks.
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Hi Matt,
Thank you for your research on Pampered Chef. I was exposed to it through a fundraiser for my kid’s club activities. The product is expensive. However, it is worth it if the quality is superior. To me, quality is not only in the products but also in their customer service. I am disappointed to hear that their customer service is not so great.
With Wealthy Affiliate, I can testify that the training is superb and the customer service is excellent. The owners go beyond expectations. We have the support of the mentorship and the community of experts from all the world at our fingertips. It is rare to find that kind of connection anywhere.
Cool review. Thank you for your hard work in putting it all together.
Ha —
Hi Ha,
Thanks for backing me up about Wealthy Affiliate, you are the best! It’s really hard to find a place online like Wealthy Affiliate since I tried many other platforms but ended up here, so it’s great to know we have something in common.
Pampered Chef, the MLM business model, is not what I am looking for in 2020. Considering the “not so great” customer service and the overpriced products, I think people could find another platform that ensures a legitimate way to make money online just like Wealthy Affiliate. 🙂
Cheers,
Matt
Hi Matt,
It’s a nightmare for a distributor if the company does not provide good backup – in this case good service to deal with customer complaints and breakages.
In this situation the distributor is caught between the end user (their customer) and the company and either has to carry the cost of fixing the problem or lose a customer – definitely not fun.
MLM companies should absolutely stand behind their distributors in these situations, and I would not go anywhere near one that did not..!
Cheers,
Martin.
Hi Martin,
I agree with you! If an MLM offers the distributors high-quality products and good customer service, I would consider knowing more about the business model. Unfortunately, there are so many MLMs that don’t have these essentials for the business. So, we need to do more researches before we make any decisions, right?
I believe doing affiliate marketing is the key to clear all the complaints and breakages, which you only need to create content without taking care of all these hassles.
Matt
I love cooking, and the kitchenware and tools that are offered in Pampered Chef are definitely for me. I could make good use of them. If they are expensive, though, then I prefer to look on Amazon or elsewhere, especially if their customer service is so bad, which I gather from the customer reviews you shared here.
What I like is that it’s not a pyramid scheme. That means that you don’t have to recruit anyone, rigth? That takes a lot of pressure of your back (and you don’t have to harrass friends and family, lol).
I would not like to sell products for an MLM, or organize parties to present the products, even for great products. It is the first time, however, that I see an MLM that offers things I am really interested in, but I would still prefer to purchase through a sales platform online like Amazon or eBay or directly in a store.
Hi Christine,
Pampered Chef could do much better on the customer service part, and this could probably help all distributors for more sales definitely. I am glad you finally find an MLM that sells products on my website although you still don’t like to generate an income through the system. I got it, and I am also not a fan of any MLMs.
I do want to make money online through affiliate marketing just like you want to sell things from Amazon or eBay, and that gives us more flexibility & freedom, right? I guess you feel the same way as I do.
Cheers,
Matt