Kenwood Manufacturing Co.
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- For the unrelated Japanese radio and audio manufacturer, see Kenwood Electronics.
First established by entrepreneur Ken Wood in 1947, Kenwood started life as Woodlau Industries before changing its name to Kenwood shortly afterwards.
In 1968, Kenneth Wood sold the company to Thorn Industries Ltd, but continued to take a close interest in the company until his death in 1997. In 1989 Kenwood management bought the company from Thorn EMI, floating the company as Kenwood Appliances PLC on the London Stock Exchange in 1992.
Further expansion followed, with Kenwood acquiring Waymaster in 1993 and Ariete in Italy in 1994, building up its houseware range and manufacturing capability across Europe.
In 2001 Kenwood became part of the DeLonghi Group, strengthening its offering and international presence even further. Today Kenwood is a household name in over 80 countries, manufacturing leading houseware and kitchen appliances in the UK, Italy and China.
Kenwood headquarters are in Havant, Hampshire, UK with a second base in Hong Kong for overseeing its operations in the Far East. Product development is conducted in its UK headquarters, and since it joined the DeLonghi group it now shares some of the product development with the team in Italy.
Its first main successful product was the Kenwood Chef, which was based on Kenneth Wood’s A200 mixer design. For its first 20 to 30 years of operation, Kenwood produced solely kitchenware, and its small range was centred on the Kenwood Chef mixer. Since the early 1980s, the company diversified its product offering to include a wider range of homeware and kitchen electrical items. In 2006 Kenwood had a product range of over 100 items ranging from its famous mixer to vacuum cleaners.
Kenwood's main market is still in the UK, where it has the highest market share for the majority of products it sells. It sells across many channels in the UK such as high-street shops, department stores such as John Lewis and Fenwicks, mail order and internet. In 2002 Kenwood agreed to a relationship reportedly worth over £2m per year with electricshopping.com, a UK based online retailer, to operate a dedicated and branded online store selling the whole Kenwood range and spare parts from its sub-site, the Kenwood Kitchen Store.
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