What improvements would you like to see in the next model?

[ozrockit]

Pictures of what I mean are on the Italian forum- in English (it's the pictures anyway)








[/quote]

Ummmm these little cups look very close to a little green demo cup, smile at your consultant, they may buy you a stack of 10.. I am going go and try mine now..

Improvement I would make for a fellas POV..

1.0       4 FEET = More stability and no dancing ( 3 is as good as a one legged bum kicker on the dough mode.. )

2.0       Blade could be MUCH closet to the rotating steel grommet to minimise food/dip/dough stuck between blades and the  grommet, at the moment you can drive a truck through the gap - this IS GERMAN DESIGN hey!

3.0       Butterfly needs a stainless steel ferrel for a positive seat on top of the blades.

4.0       not mine but YES sound dampening of the motor would not take much..

there is a few off the top of my head, give me another 5 weeks..

 

[andiesenji]

I mentioned in a much earlier post (I don't think it was in this thread)  that most urban dwellers in the US have gone off the "party sales" idea - Tupperware parties that used to be so prevalent are now quite rare and the "Princess" tableware/glassware parties are non-existent now.  The only distributor in my area that handled Pampered Chef parties has only two secondary sales people and they have to cover a huge area because so much of the stuff is available online.  The only sales parties that are still doing pretty well are for Avon cosmetics.

Most cooks that I know, either men or women, work outside the home and as Peg Bracken so aptly said some fifty years ago, "when they get home they want to wrap their hands around a dry martini and not a wet flounder." 
They don't want to go out to a sales party to be sold on an appliance, especially such a costly one.  I've shown my TM to a lot of people and described how they are marketed in Canada and in Australia, and I assume the same in Europe.  Not one person has admitted any interest in attending such a demo - the few people who were really interested simply ordered one from the same Canadian vendor that I did.   One man who did buy one said that he was not so stupid that he had to have someone show him how to work an appliance and was a little annoyed that the company would assume that hand-holding was necessary.  Not all people feel that way but that points up the American psyche. 

Americans so often want instant gratification.   The Vita-Mix sells very well at  store demonstrations - Costco sells a lot when they do the demo.  Our local Antelope Valley Fair and Alfalfa Festival is going on now, until Labor Day, and there is a Vita-Mix demo in the home show building and they are selling like hotcakes.   One of my neighbors was there on Friday and late came and asked me if it was a good deal ($100.00 off the cheapest price I could find on the internet and with some great extras) and said she was going back this evening to buy one as she knows how they work as she has borrowed one of mine in the past.

[MacGuffin]

Most cooks that I know, either men or women, work outside the home and as Peg Bracken so aptly said some fifty years ago, "when they get home they want to wrap their hands around a dry martini and not a wet flounder." 

Multiply that by about 100 and you'll have a good idea of the NYC attitude towards sales parties. I don't think it's so much that we're apt to be offended by a home demo (I understand it gives potential buyers a chance to touch, as well as see, the machine being put through its paces which I think is a big plus) but rather that we tend to be impatient and want to be alone (to get Garboesque). We're SO on top of each other here that we don't even smile at people on the street whom we don't know; I realize this sounds cold but I believe it's due to our trying to manufacture some privacy.
I think we in the US in general have gotten away from in-house sales which, to tell you the truth, I think is sad because I think selling's an honest and honorable profession (can you tell that I've done sales in the past?). Online availability really helped put the kibosh on direct-sales reps although the handwriting has been on the wall for a long time; people are also less apt to let people they don't know into their homes. Changing times, I guess.

Vitamix has actually had to take on more workers due to demand (in this economy, no less), and that's just domestic. They have a huge commercial division (the food service industry is well aware of how reliable their machines are) and I think one of the criteria that helps with household sales is their (well-founded) reputation for customer support--they absolutely coddle their customers (plus the machines are manufactured here; one of the things that attracted me to the TMX is that it's made in France, not Asia). One of my friends is a demonstrator and she told me that it's always expected that a percentage of those Costco machines will be returned. They end up being refurbished and sold as such at a considerable discount with the same 7-year warranty that the new ones carry.

One thing online purchasing has cured me of is instant gratification! You can sometimes save SO much money that it's worth it to just suck it up and wait. I now tend to be mildly contemptuous (let's just say "morally smug") when confronted with those who "have to have it NOW" (or better yet, yesterday). I've learned he virtue of patience! Good thing because it keeps my desire for a TMX in perspective: I'll get it when the time is right. 

[gertbysea]

Hi MacGuffin, I say just buy the damn thing and enjoy it rather than thinking about it. You'll be selling them before you know it.

Ther is a whole new career out there for you.

Gertbysea Aussie chick but formally a Syracuse chick.

[MacGuffin]

LOL I don't have the money, and all of my expenses are going up soon (unlike my income). I don't finance anything (it keeps me out of trouble).

[gertbysea]

Yeah I know what you mean. I kept mine in the box for a week while I got over my nightmares about spending the money. Once I got over that I opened it  and never looked back. No regrets at all. Mind you if I was living in NYC I might not have done it. With all the restaurants there I would not be bothered cooking. Very very few good places to eat here in Cairns and not one real delicatessen. Can you believe that? 

Well MacGuffin keep wishing on that star and I will for you too.

Gretchen

[MacGuffin]

Thank you, Gretchen. 
It'll happen some day--I'm quite confident! I should say, though, that I rather like throwing together my own meals. We have many restaurants and a number of them serve good, inexpensive (not to mention interesting) food. But there are many that are just average and not all that cheap, especially after tax and tip. I've never been able to justify spending for food that's no better (not to mention sometimes worse) than what I can make for myself. That's why I like clever appliances!

[MacGuffin]

For some recipes the TM 31 is perfect and I love the way it does risotto and I have eaten more of that dish, in its many variations, than I had in the past fifteen years.

I've been meaning to post that your comment sparked another possible use for the Thermomix--grits! I LOVE good grits and even though I now make them in a mini-slow cooker, I'd be willing to give this a shot. Grits (unless using a slow cooker) need to be stirred constantly and they splatter as well. I'll bet they'd be wonderful in the TMX.

[andiesenji]

For some recipes the TM 31 is perfect and I love the way it does risotto and I have eaten more of that dish, in its many variations, than I had in the past fifteen years.

I've been meaning to post that your comment sparked another possible use for the Thermomix--grits! I LOVE good grits and even though I now make them in a mini-slow cooker, I'd be willing to give this a shot. Grits (unless using a slow cooker) need to be stirred constantly and splatter as well. I'll bet they'd be wonderful in the TMX.

Yes indeed!  Grits (or polenta for the non-southern among us) cook beautifully in the TMX.    I always purchase the organic or heirloom corn that has been stone ground because I prefer the variable size of the grits - the texture is much nicer - for my taste.
Or, I buy the dried corn and grind my own. (Nutirmill) 

It is also ideal for different types of porridge, mixed grains especially, and again, it removes the need for all that stirring.

I've recently had it running without heat, slow stirring lupini beans.   I am experimenting with it to see if I can speed up the process of the numerous soakings required to make the lupini edible.   I am hoping that I can pare the time down to a few days, rather than two weeks (or more).   These are not the "sweet" lupini but the original Italian imports that are very, very bitter if not properly processed.
It will be interesting to see how they turn out. 

[MacGuffin]

Oh, my! Another corn afficionada! 
I buy my grits from Anson Mills--they're expensive and I know there are other mills that sell good grits that are cheaper but theirs are just wonderful (they've got some slammin' recipes as well). Grits are actually a byproduct of the milling process and are the result of various levels of sifting newly ground cornmeal, so they're really not something you can do authentically at home (unless you happen to run a grist mill). I also buy excellent white flint cornmeal from Gray's in Rhode Island; I use it for jonnycake and things like Boston brown bread and Indian pudding (gives it that authentic touch, doncha know). You can really tell the difference in the texture of your products and the flavor is unique to that variant. I HIGHLY recommend it and it keeps forever in the freezer, too (I'm starting to crave jonnycake now).

I don't bake enough to justify a home mill (plus I like to buy from grist mills to keep the old ways going) but if I did, I'd go for the KoMo Fibidus Classic. It's supposed to do an excellent job, is infinitely variable, AND it's gorgeous. However, it doesn't do legumes, popcorn, or oily seeds (not that I'd be doing those anyway; if I needed legume flour that I couldn't buy I'd invest in a dry container for my VM).

Keep us posted on the lupini beans. I have a friend who has been living in Italy and her boyfriend cooks. She's in town so I'll ask her if she knows anything.

[andiesenji]

I also buy from Anson Mills.  I've been buying from then since they began selling by mail.  (They had a minimal web site but you had to phone to place an order.) 
I've also ordered similar items from Byrd Mill in Virginia, Cane Creek mill in Tennessee and Homestead Gristmill in Texas.

Several mills are listed at this web site.

[MacGuffin]

Thanks for the link. Do you think any of your other sources sell grits as good as Anson's? I seem to remember having placed at least one phone order with them some time back but I'm not sure if it was due to the fact that they didn't take online orders then or if I wanted to ask them something prior to placing an order.

[andiesenji]

I forgot to mention Falls Mill in Tennessee.   Here's the link.

I especially like their white corn grits - I looked in my freezer - have a 25 pound bag I purchased in March. 
They also require a phone call to order but they are very friendly folks. 

Since White Lily flour was purchased by a multinational and is no longer the same soft wheat as it once war (necessary for southern type biscuits, etc.) I order the  soft whole wheat flour (better nutrition) that has much less gluten than regular flour.  Makes great biscuits. (not cookies).

[MacGuffin]

Thanks for the link! I'm not familiar with White Lily although I've heard of Dixie Lily grits; they were also sold recently but they claim to have kept the quality the same.

I happened to open the link for the Natural Way Mill on the mill page and noticed they have some pretty interesting flours but their minimum is 25 lbs. which is more than I'd ever use: http://www.naturalwaymills.com/index.htm . Their Gold n White comes in a pastry flour, too, which might be good for biscuits.

Sorry to everyone for going OT like this but at least y'all are getting a grits education. 

[abstar]

Handles on the side as I have to put TMX away everyday due to bench space

A winder to wind up cord, instead of having to shove it back in

A citrus juicer/reamer MC that fits where MC is so I can get all the juice out of fruit

A hook on the side to hang the spatula