50 years and still counting...

It all began with the idea of combining steam and convection cooking into a single appliance and the first combi-steamer was developed by Rational in 1973. Ever since, the company founded by Siegfried Mesiter has been continuously working to improve as it sees itself as an innovative solutions provider. Above everything else, at Rational, utmost priority is to satisfy its customers and this vision has transformed the company into a global technology leader. 

Today, as the company celebrates 50 years of existence, the motto of the company for the celebration is “When it tastes great, we all speak the same language”. “While the world is full of different people, cultures, traditions, religions, languages, and (of course) dishes, when food tastes great, everyone’s on the same page: Mmm!” says Miguel Lamberti, Managing Director & Senior Vice President – Business Development, Centre Asia, Rational Cooking Systems Pte Ltd. He adds that the journey, over the last five decades, has been amazing. There has been a lot of innovation, lot of passion and delivering maximum customer benefit. “There have been many milestones and new products en route. Now, we have a new baby on board called iVario Pro. It has been launched in Europe and will be touching the Indian shores next year,” he adds.

Throwing more light on the product, Vishal Raman, Managing Director, Rational International India Pvt Ltd, shares,  “iVario Pro boils, roasts and deep-fries in one unit. It is up to four times faster with up to 40 per cent less energy consumption. Therefore, it can easily replace a variety of kitchen devices like stoves, pots, pans, deep fryers and pressure cookers. As all three are integral to Indian cooking style, it will be really useful here. We are excited about bringing it to India as we expect it will do wonders here. However, we want to train our teams perfectly before doing so as also educate our dealer-partners and the technical staff as well.” 

Raman informs the company has been piloting the product for almost two years, plus-minus Covid times. “We wanted to be perfectly sure about all aspects so we have had feedbacks from chefs and consultants to plug in all possible challenges. One can cook poha, upma, idli, curries, biryani on iVario Pro,” he says.

Talking about the India market, Lamberti says it is huge and the company expects a steady and sustainable growth here. “Over the last one decade plus that we have been present in India, our idea has not only been to sell our products but also deliver application and technical support,” he shares, adding they aim to sell around 10,000 units annually to begin with in India.