Breville

For several French towns of similar name, see Bréville (disambiguation).
Breville appliances

Breville is an Australian manufacturer and marketer of small kitchen appliances, founded in Melbourne in 1932.[1] They created the original sandwich toaster. The product was a huge success upon its launch in Australia in 1974, selling 400,000 units in its first year and making the Breville brand a household name in Australia. Soon after, the Breville toasted sandwich maker was launched in New Zealand and Great Britain where it met with similar success. The name became synonymous with such devices - to the point where in some countries "Breville" has become the generic word for a sandwich toaster, and often the toasted sandwich itself, in much the same way that "The Hoover Company" is associated with the vacuum cleaner.

History

In 1932, Bill O'Brien and Harry Norville (born Charles Henry Norville) mixed their last names together and the Breville brand was created. They started off making radios, then mine detectors for the war.

After World War II and the commencement of television transmission in Australia in 1956, Breville turned its attention to small appliances.

It also commenced manufacturing television sets under the Precedent brand name. The television business was sold to Electronic Industries Limited in 1968.

The O'Brien family continued developing the Breville business for three generations, with Bill's son John O'Brien setting up the Breville Research and Development centre in the late 1960s, and his daughter Barbara, running the Marketing department throughout the 1990s. John continued to lead many product development initiatives for the Breville brand up until his death in December 2003. Breville's product development division is one of Australia's largest industrial design centres, and one of the largest worldwide in the small electrical appliance sector. Breville's R&D team has over 100 active patents and has been awarded more than 40 international design awards. In 1974, it completed development of the toastie maker. In 1977, Breville launched Australia's first food processor, the Breville Kitchen Wizz. Other firsts include the world's first high wall heating electric wok, the adjustable height sandwich press, the active arm citrus press, the world's first juice extractor to juice whole fruit, and in 2010, the Tea Maker, a variable temperature kettle with a self-lowering basket that brews tea automatically. Breville's Centre of Design Excellence is now located in Botany in Sydney.

Dual ownership of the brand

In 1982, Breville Australia sold its ownership of the brand in Europe, which today is owned by Jarden. The European business is based in England and trades almost exclusively in the United Kingdom and has collaborated with Antony Worrall Thompson. Pulse manages its own product development and is no longer affiliated with Breville's Centre of Design Excellence in Australia.

Outside of Europe, the Breville brand is a division of the Australian ASX listed Breville Group, which also has bases in the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

Global Presence

In 2002, the Breville brand was launched into the USA and Canada. Breville trades in over 30 countries including China, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, and Israel.

The company makes contact grills, kettles, espresso machines, toasters, microwave ovens, pressure cookers, coffeemakers, breadmakers, juicers, deep fryers, blenders, and food processors.

As of June 2013, Breville no longer distributed Keurig “single serve” machines for Canada. [2]

Breville operates under the Sage by Heston Blumenthal, Solis, Gastroback, Stollar, Catler, Bork and Riviera&Bar brands in Europe.[3]

Trivia

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ 'Breville 800 Class Espresso Machine', 2003, Powerhouse museum collection 2.0 beta, powerhousemuseum.com. Article retrieved 2007-01-13.
  2. ↑ Annual report 2013 (PDF), Breville Group, November 2013, retrieved 25 October 2015
  3. ↑ http://www.breville.com/european-brands/
  4. ↑ Claire Reilly (29 November 2011). "Give it some juice: Breville doubles juicer sales following health doco". Current.com.au.

External links

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