Web Site News

Site Map

Contact Us

Home

"To understand the American market, it's probably better to be in Chicago than on one of the two coasts," says a grinning Frank Muci, Thermos LLC director of marketing.

"And the Bears are here," adds Rick Dias, Thermos marketing vice president.

Household name Thermos might have chosen any location for its North American headquarters, but its long track record proves that, for Thermos, Chicago works. It celebrated its 100th anniversary this month at the International Housewares convention in Chicago.

The company began by selling thermoses based on glass vacuum bottles that held their temperature. Now, it also sells other products that keep food hot or cold including more durable stainless steel thermoses, coolers and barbecue grills.

"We are Thermos," Muci said. "We know temperature."

At Thermos' Rolling Meadows headquarters, Muci and Dias shared company history and a bit of its future.

Invented in 1892, the thermos was first made commercially in Germany by Thermos Gmbh. It sold the U.S. trademark rights in 1907 to American Thermos Bottle Co. Later, Prospect Heights-based Household International took over Thermos. In 1989, it was sold to Nippon Sanso Corp.

During the last 100 years, Thermos has altered its products as lifestyles changed.

For most of its history, Thermos has sold products designed for workers to carry hot beverages or meals to their jobs. When it saw people driving cars on outings, it created a product that could carry a meal in containers with plates and silverware to serve it, all within a suitcase-sized box.

As specialty coffee retailers spread during the 1990s, stainless steel Nissan Thermos containers became chic. The company now sells stainless-steel sleeves that can keep coffee hot or beer cold for hours.

Thermos's history in Illinois dates back to 1955, when it opened a plant in Macomb that manufactured Thermoses, insulated jugs and hard-sided coolers. Beginning in 1965, a plant in Freeport turned out Thermos brand barbecue grills.

The Thermos factories have moved away, but the company has kept its North American headquarters near Chicago since 1991, taking advantage of design and public relations firms and ample access to transportation.

While the nearest manufacturing is in Batesville, Miss., about 50 workers here oversee sales, customer service and accounting as well as the creation of new products.

One, a soft blue cube about the size of a 17-inch TV, keeps 60 12-ounce beverage cans cold for a period comparable to hard coolers. The Web site, thermos.com, lists the price at $27.

Products coming this summer include a Funtainer line of low-cost stainless steel vacuum flasks for kids' lunchboxes. They use the same technology as the Thermoses in the specialty coffee shops, but they are designed with kids' styles in mind. Thermos says this product will retail for about $15.

The strategy of designing products to suit changing lifestyles is clearly working. Dias says Thermos holds a 53 percent share of the market in vacuum flasks and 1,695 U.S. retailers sell Thermos products.

"Our market share dominance is pretty evident," Dias said, "when you look at the fact that our brand name is synonymous with vacuum flasks."

Comments or Suggestions?