Doris Christopher, Founder of The Pampered Chef, to receive BBB Torchbearer Award

Chicago, IL – Doris Christopher, founder of The Pampered Chef, Ltd., Addison, Ill., will receive the Torchbearer Award from the Better Business Bureau serving Chicago and Northern Illinois (BBB) at the organization’s Annual Dinner Meeting in the Hilton Palmer House Hotel on March 15, 2012. The BBB is honoring Ms. Christopher for her consistent dedication to ethical business practices throughout her career as a highly successful business owner.

 

“The BBB Torchbearer Award is presented to a person who not only practices but exemplifies business ethics,” said Steve J. Bernas, president & CEO of the Better Business Bureau.  “Ms. Christopher is such a person, focusing on ethical and trustworthy practices from the founding of The Pampered Chef in 1980, through the company’s purchase by Warren Buffet in 2002, to her continued involvement today.”

 

The former home economics teacher, Doris Christopher started The Pampered Chef in the basement of her suburban Chicago home in 1980.  It is best known for its at-home sales parties of professional-quality kitchen equipment by a sales force of “Pampered Chef Consultants.”  In 2001, the year before its sale to Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway operation, The Pampered Chef had sales of $740 million.

 

Ms. Christopher has been a member of the BBB Board of Directors for 13 years and Board chair in 2005.  Her company received the prestigious Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics in 1998.  In addition, she is the Immediate Past Chairperson of the Direct Selling Association, and is the Chairperson of the Direct Selling Education Foundation.