(established 1956)
This well-known brand name evolved from the application of a non-stick surface (PolyTetraFluorEthylene, better known under its registered name Teflon) to metal by Marc Grégoire, a French engineer in 1954. The Tefal company was formed two years later and was soon closely associated with the advertising slogan ‘La Poêle Tefal, la poêle qui n'attache vraimant pas’ (‘The Tefal saucepan, the saucepan pan that really doesn't stick’). A 1961 photo of American fashion icon Jackie Kennedy with a Tefal pan in her hand prompted a considerable boost to the company's sales, to such an extent that by 1968 Tefal had become the leading company for French kitchen products and was bought by SEB (Société d'Emboutissage de Bourgogne). In 1974 the Tefal brand diversified its product range, showing a sandwich toaster and gas-lighter at the Salon des Arts Ménagers in paris 1974. In 1982 it launched its Sprinkettle (an electric jug kettle) onto the English market, weighing scales for both people and kitchens in 1985, and a range of child products (Tefal Baby Home) such as baby intercom and weighing scales in the 1990s. Tefal sought to innovate over the decades and in 2000 introduced the Thermospot, the first heat indicator built into the bottom of a non-stick pan.
