News & Trends

Jacob Bang- Knudsen CPMR Jacob Bang-Knudsen was recently awarded the title Certified Professional Manufacturers Representative by MRERF, the Manufacturers’ Representative Educational Research Foundation. Jacob is a 4th Generation member of his family’s housewares business and joined the firm after graduating from University of Washington in 2001 and working for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. He presently travels the Pacific Northwest as a territory representative. The Certified Professional Manufacturers Representative program is executive education for firm owners and managers. Participants invest one week annually for three years in residence at Arizona State University. Attendees gain knowledge and insight into operating a business more effectively and profitably. In addition, they acquire an international network of colleagues from many industries. Graduates earn the right to use the distinctive CPMR designation and also gain membership to the Institute for Professional Advancement, MRERF’s educational subsidiary. Classes are taught by both executives from commerce and industry and members of university faculties. Certified Professional Manufacturers Representative (CPMR) is for anyone   providing outsourced sales functions to manufacturers, regardless of industry. It is a professional designation earned by an individual, not a firm. CPMR certification includes pledging to adhere to the Code of Ethics which assures confidence and integrity of the CPMR. Bang-Knudsen is a Seattle based representative agency located in Pacific Market Center since 1978. The agency specializes in high-end household products which are marketed through specialty, department stores, Internet retailers and mail order catalogs.

Capresso Debuts Pump Espresso & Cappuccino Machine CAFÉ #115 Experience the full taste of espresso, cappuccino and latte! • Space saving state-of-the-art design • ThermoBlock heating system (16 bar pressure) • Safety self-locking filter holder with thumb guard • Two sieves, for one or two espressos • Separate frothing positions for steamed milk (latte) and frothed milk (cappuccino) • Easy-to-use swivel frother for unlimited hot steam/ hot water output • Integrated cup warming platform $ 159.99 Retail Available summer ‘09 from Capresso

Your Duromatic pressure cooker pays for itself!

By Robin McKenzie

    We've all heard that cooking in a pressure cooker saves you time. But how does this time-savings translate into real energy savings in dollars and cents? We've put together a sample of some of the dishes that a typical family might cook in a week. Remember that foods cook in about 1/3 the time of conventional methods.

You will notice that some of the most dramatic savings are the roast pork (or pot roast) at 1 hour and 30 minutes in the electric oven (you must remember to calculate preheating), versus cooking the same dish in a pressure cooker on a gas stove. You save .82 cents every time you cook that dish. This may not seem like much; but, say you cook something like this once a week. That comes to $42.64 in yearly savings just for cooking that one dish once a week in your pressure cooker!

The grid below shows how you can save over $325.00 per year when you cook under pressure. At this rate, the Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker virtually pays for itself in less than 6 months! Prorate the savings over the 20-year life of your Pressure Cooker, and that's a savings (at today's rates) of $6500.00.

Dish	Conventional Timing	Electric Oven 350/stove	Gas Oven 350 degrees	Pressure Cooker Electric Stove *	Pressure Cooker Gas Stove *
Whole chicken	1 1/2 hrs	$0.90	$0.17	$0.08	$0.04
beef stew	3 hrs	$1.80	$0.33	$0.30	$0.08
chili	3 hrs	$1.80	$0.33	$0.30	$0.08
baked yams	1 hr 15 min	$0.75	$0.14	$0.08	$0.02
risotto	45 min	$0.23	$ 0.08	$0.03	$0.01
roasted potatoes	60 min	$0.60	$0.11	$0.02	$0.00
artichokes	45 min	$0.23	$ 0.08	$0.08	$0.02
brown rice	45 min	$0.23	$ 0.08	$0.08	$0.02
boiled potato	25 min	$0.12	$0.05	$0.02	$0.01
roast pork	1 hr 30	$0.90	$0.17	$0.23	$0.06
black beans	1 1/2 hrs	$0.00	$0.165	$0.05	$0.01
total all dishes	15hrs 25 min	$7.55	$1.70	$1.24	$0.35
yearly total (x52)		$392.50	$88.54	$64.63	$18.28
yearly savings				$327.86	$70.26

 

Note:	Energy calculations based on actual hourly rates for California, provided by Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Energy costs may vary in other regions of the United States.
	* Values calculated at "high" setting. Of course, cooking with a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker only requires the "high" setting at the initial stage of cooking and most of the cooking is done on a low setting, so savings are actually more substantial.

Click image to view article.......

This is a system that is truly GREEN, naturally sanitizes and protects against bacteria and harmful chemicals, replacing dangerous household cleansers.

You have seen the news stories about local governments banning the sale of bottled water because of negative impacts by the use of petrochemicals in manufacturing bottles, plus the pricing of bottled water being much more than gasoline, and is often just tap water. An example of this movement is that some of the most popular brands of bottled water come from distant places like Europe and the South Pacific, and is often not any better or cleaner than city tap water. Now you can process a pitcher of your own tap water and remove harmful bacteria and chemicals quickly and easily using a proprietary 2-stage process to purify and filter drinking water.

We are ready to show you a new generation of household appliance that is truly in step with the GREEN movement. For further information contact your B-K Representative.

Doctor B-K

The University Of Washington School Of Education recently conferred an Education Doctorate on Peter Bang-Knudsen, Jr.

Dr. Bang-Knudsen is Principal of the International School in Bellevue, Washington School District and completed his dissertation on educational leadership in public school administration. Prior to entering his profession in education he worked in his family’s business, and is a Board Member of Bang-Knudsen, Inc. Seattle, Washington.

He graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, earned his Masters in Teaching degree at Seattle University and completed the Danforth Program in School Administration at University of Washington. The International School was previously named the top high school in Washington State by Newsweek Magazine. Dr. Bang-Knudsen and wife Laura have three children and live in Bellevue, Washington.

Our C.I.A. Connection
(It’s no secret!)


     We are pleased to advise you that Vita-Mix™ is now affiliated with Culinary Institute of America, the premier chef's academy of North America. Chefs from CIA were at the Chicago Housewares Show to lend their expertise to the Professional Series Vita-Mix™ and to demonstrate the art of fine cooking using Vita-Mix™. We are now ready to ship our newest version of CIA-endorsed kitchen machines.

This is a natural connection since Vita-Mix™ is already in use in most commercial kitchens and bars. Chefs prefer this industrial strength kitchen countertop machine for heavy duty mixing, chopping and pureeing. The machine that can make perfect smoothies, margaritas, nut butters, chop herbs and grind grains into flour can also blend vegetables into steaming-hot soup in a few minutes. The machine that is rugged enough for continued use in coffee bars and fast food outlets is also a workhorse in large restaurant kitchens. It will give a lifetime of dependable service in home kitchens.

The Professional Series Vita-Mix™ is marketed exclusively through high-end specialty stores, web-sties and catalogs. It is only sold to retailers who will help maintain the high professional image and MAP retail pricing strategy of this advanced kitchen machine.

Please contact our office to see how your store can participate in our Vita-Mix™ / C.I.A. marketing program.

206-767-6970. www.bang-knudsen.com


It’s not a blender, It’s a Vita-Mix™

Here’s a much faster, safer and more efficient way to provide hot water at home. Our 1.5 Qt. capacity glass, cordless water kettle with chrome plated lid and slip-free textured handle is versatile, economical and safe to use. The H2O Plus is fast and quite while bringing water for tea to a boil, then it turns off automatically when reaching boil. A clever concealed heating element is covered in stainless steel and the heat resistant German Schott glass body gives maximum visibility and attractive design. At $69.99 retail this should be in every smart kitchen.
 

Jura of Switzerland and its U.S. partner, Capresso launched a new series of Automatic Coffee Centers during Ambiente in Frankfurt and later at the Chicago Housewares Show. The newest design in Jura’s parade of innovative home automatic coffee centers this is the first version to be available in both black and glossy white. Innovation from the Swiss manufacturer includes: Rotary programmable dial, ceramic valve technology, butterfly coffee spout, triple hot water temperatures, low noise design, bean sensor monitoring and high performance 18-bar pump. The J5 is available summer ’07 at select specialty retailers, catalogs and e-retailers. Contact www.bang-knudsen.com for further information.

OXO’s popular LiquiSeal™ travel containers continue to outsell the competition. Our new colors in plastic bodied $9.99 travel mugs are doing very well, as is the original $19.99 Stainless Mug. One-handed, one click activation and 3 silicone seals lock in liquids for no spills. Here’s a travel mug that can safely lie on your expensive leather car seats without spilling a drop. Meantime the drink is kept hot or cold for hours.
Our newest addition is the 24 oz. container with integrated 10 oz. drinking cup. It’s more than enough for you and a friend. Double wall stainless steel with vacuum insulation keeps the beverage hot/cold for hours. $29.99.

Sarah Christensen

Receiving the Leo Award

For Best Sales Person USA

At Jura Global Sales Conference 2006

Pictured with Sarah Christensen is

David Shull, Vice President of Sales

Jura-Capresso U.S.A.

Lucerne Switzerland Sept. 22 2006

October 14, 2006

BEST SALESPERSON AWARD

        Sarah Christensen was honored at the 2006 Jura Global Sales Conference in Lucerne, Switzerland September 29th and was presented the Leo Award for “Best Sales Person USA”.

Sarah is a senior Sales Associate at Bang-Knudsen, Inc. Pacific Market Center in Seattle, the agency represents Jura-Capresso in the Pacific Northwest. Leo Awards are given every other year to the top representatives among 350 attendees at Jura’s worldwide sales conference.
Bang-Knudsen has represented Capresso and Jura since the inception of Capresso over 12 years ago. A joint venture between Capresso and Jura sells state of the art Swiss Automatic Coffee Centers to high-end specialty stores in America. Sarah Christensen became the top salesperson by traveling to all of her customer locations and conducting training programs on how to present and sell the automatic coffee centers which retail for $800 to $3200.

The Leo Award was presented at a formal dinner gala in Lucerne by Emanuel Probst, General Manager of Jura and David Shull, Vice President of Sales for Jura-Capresso U.S.A. The three day “World of Coffee Global Sales Conference 2006” was held for sales associates from every market and of 6 invitees from the U.S.A. sales force, two were from Bang-Knudsen, Seattle: Sarah Christensen and Carol Colt.

For Further Information:
Peter Bang-Knudsen
206-767-6970
Pbang-knudsen@bang-knudsen.com
 

Swiss Army Brands Appoints Bang-Knudsen

     Swiss Army Brands has appointed Bang-Knudsen, Inc. to represent Victorinox Swiss Army brand lines of fine cutlery to the Pacific Northwest retail trade.

Victorinox, makers of the Original Swiss Army Knife has been crafting fine cutlery since the late 1800’s. The cutlery was formerly marketed to professionals under the R.H. Forschner brand and is now available to home cooking enthusiasts under the Victorinox brand. This fine cutlery is hot-drop, hand forged and ice tempered by master craftsmen in Solingen, Germany exclusively for Victorinox. Final production takes place in Switzerland, where their famous proprietary sharp edge and rigid quality control is finished.  The resulting beautifully balanced, perfectly weighed, full tang construction, an intuitively engineered comfortable handle, a high carbon, no stain, high polished forged steel blade with an edge that retains its razor sharpness. The knives are beautifully designed because Victorinox knows that function and utility alone do not satisfy the heart.

Bang-Knudsen represents three Swiss-made product lines for the gourmet home kitchen: Jura-Capresso, Kuhn Rikon, and Victorinox. Peter Bang-Knudsen stated that “the synergy between these high quality, high image Swiss brands will result in an attractive portfolio for our representatives to present to our better kitchenwares customers”.

Bang-Knudsen, Inc. represents top vendors in the gourmet housewares business and can be contacted through www.bang-knudsen.com  or at their permanent showroom in the Pacific Market Center.

Visiting retail stores in German cities is just as interesting as walking the shows. Kaufhof and Lorey are two upscale stores in the center of Frankfurt’s shopping street. Since we are interested in coffee machines we notice that Automatic Coffee Machines ranging from $700 to $5,000 get the most prominent display space. This category is outselling traditional drip coffee makers in Europe. Jura, Saeco and Nespresso are leading brands, with Jura getting the most display space. Over 24 different models of this brand alone are on display and ready to demonstrate at leading stores.

For outdoor and indoor gardeners we have a full range of OXO™ Garden Tools, including a new range of indoor and outdoor watering cans.  OXO’s Gel-e™ Garden Tools incorporate a gel material in the tools’ soft, non-slip handle, providing cushioning when digging.  High quality stainless steel makes these tools rust-free.