The competition between high velocity super blenders this Christmas demonstrates that these food prep appliances have expanded from specialist health food stores into electrical retailers as the healthy living trend continues to drive sales at higher price points.
One such brand that has been catering to this demand since it began is Vitality 4 Life. In 1994 CEO and founder Roger Akins began researching, sourcing, designing and distributing Living Food juicers and cold pressed juice extractors for the Australian market. Now Australians can’t get enough of this category.
“What once was a niche market has moved into the mainstream as the undeniable move towards health continues. We continue to source and design products which our research suggests, offer customers simplicity, functionality while removing user guesswork,” said Aidan Wilde, global sales manager at Vitality 4 Life.
“Our latest range of BioChef Living Food Kitchen appliances were born with the plan of creating a brand that was solely focused on improving the health and wellbeing of its customers, introducing innovative healthy appliances and ideas in this category rather than following what is the latest trend according to GFK.”
Wilde highlights the BioChef Living Food Blender’s “unique thermometer on the tamper” which ensures “the enzymes remain intact” as a key product feature. It is available in white, red, black for RRP $699 and has a 10 year warranty on the motor and a 7 year warranty on parts.
The Touch and Swipe LED user interface control panel has six pre-set programs for blending, resting, pulsing times and sequences for different recipes as well as the easy swipe speed control for free blending. It can blend hot ingredients into soup, grind coffee, grains and nuts.
Vitality 4 Life’s other hero product is the BioChef Atlas Living Juicer, RRP $529, which is designed for “heavy duty juicing” for all fruit, vegetables, leafy greens and nut milks. It has a self cleaning function and a lifetime warranty on motor and five years on parts.
Many suppliers have upped their game this year with new releases for consumers serious about blending.
The Vitamix Professional Series 750 has five pre-programmed settings for smoothies, frozen desserts, hot soups, purée and a cleaning cycle to ensure consistent results and simple cleaning. It’s similiar to the Vitamix commercial models but is designed to be quieter and have a smaller footprint for the domestic market.
Following two years in development, Breville this year launched its first super blender the Boss (BBL910) which is able to create superfine textured smoothies, soups, sorbets and dips. This high velocity machine can replace a mortar and pestle to make flour, process nut butters, blend silky smooth green and whole fruit smoothies and protein shakes.
Kenwood’s Blend-X Pro features new patented MultiZone blade technology and intelligent user programming for more efficient chopping, grinding, crushing and blending. The Blend-X Pro has six pre-programmed settings including coarse and fine grind and an ice crushing function. It also has a built-in load sensor that prevents the blender from overheating.
Sunbeam’s Café Series blender creates soups, drinks, cocktails or sauces, plus green smoothies and nut butters. Select a speed for your blending task or use one of the pre-programmed functions such as ‘Smoothie’, Ice Crush, Pre Clean or ‘Slow Start’.