Saladmaster Review – Scam Or Legitimate MLM Business?

| February 24, 2011 | 24 Comments

Saladmaster Review imageWelcome to my Saladmaster Review!

Saladmaster is an extremely popular Multi-Level Marketing home based business.

In this Saladmaster review, I will be answering some key questions.  Who is Saladmaster?  Is Saladmaster a scam, pyramid scheme, or legitimate home based business?  This is my unbiased Saladmaster review.

Before we begin, I would first like to answer the obvious question.  No, Saladmaster is not a scam.  They are a well established company with their roots going back to 1946.  If this company were a scam, they would have been shut down long ago.  Now, lets continue my Saladmaster review.

Company Details & History

Saladmaster Logo imageSaladmaster was founded by Harry Lemmons in his home with $9,000 and with only three salesmen.

At the end of their very first year, Saladmaster had grown to more than 100 Distributors. From that point on, Saladmaster continued to prosper as they grew their sales force, and added more and more products.

Popular Products

Saladmaster offers a wide selection of kitchen products that are manufactured with the highest quality craftsmanship. They offer a full product line related to:

  • Electric Skillets
  • Roasters
  • Their well-known Saladmaster Machine
  • Sauce Pans
  • Skillets
  • Woks
  • Racks & Insets
  • Griddles
  • Cookware Care Products
  • Bowls
  • Bakeware
  • Cutlery
  • Sheers
  • Tools

Saladmaster offers a comprehensive limited lifetime warranty for every product that they sell, proving that they offer a quality product that they will stand behind.

MLM Business – How it all works…

As a newbie, you will begin as an Associate. You will be under the leadership of your Saladmaster Dealer, who will provide you with thorough classroom and field training. You will receive product knowledge training, and will be given an opportunity to earn an income as you progress through Phase I and II of your training.

Building the business

Saladmaster Products imageAfter you have completed your new Associate training, you will be promoted to a Consultant.

From this point on, you will be off and running in your business. You will be promoted to higher ranks as you achieve qualifying levels of success in your Saladmaster business. These ranks include:

  • Associate
  • Consultant
  • Senior Consultant
  • Group Manager
  • Distributor
  • Direct Dealer
  • Senior Dealer

You will be under the direction and leadership of your Dealer up until you achieve the rank of Direct Dealer. Once you achieve this rank, you will now be in charge of your own organization, and your income potential will dramatically increase.

Saladmaster Review Conclusion

In my opinion, Saladmaster is a very legitimate company.

They offer high quality kitchen and cooking items that will be utilized in many households around the world. There will be a tremendous opportunity to earn repeat business as your customers purchase and experiment with products, and then want to add to their selection.

It is important to realize that you will be encouraged to build your business around family and friends.  Warm marketing methods will be the basis of your training.

With that being said, Saladmaster offers great products to build a business around.

This concludes my Saladmaster Review!  If you have found this Saladmaster Review to be helpful, or if you have anything to add, please provide your feedback below!

Category: MLM Company Reviews

About the Author ()

Dave Fennell is the founder and editor of Marketing Methods Online and BloggerGo. Learn more about him here. You can also connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.
  1. Dave Fennell says:

    Dave Fennell wrote this Saladmaster Review for those who are researching the Saladmaster Business Opportunity. I would love your feedback. If you have any experiences with this company, whether good or bad, please share them here to assist others in their research efforts.

    I greatly appreciate your feedback and expertise, and others will too!

    To Your Success,

    Dave Fennell

    • Juliet Coon says:

      Is it a scam? I also have mixed feeling about the salad master. I do love the product but I have a funny feeling in my stomach. I am about to enter into this business but I have more questions than answers right now. If you know anything that can help me please feel free to reply. Good or bad, the sooner the better.

      • Dave Fennell says:

        Hi Juliet,

        No, Saladmaster is not a scam. They offer many fabulous products, and there are many highly successful Distributors creating profitable businesses within Saladmaster.

        However, you have to possess the ability to truly market their products and business opportunity. Saladmaster will train you to sign up and sell products to all of your friends and family members. In my opinion, this does not work, and 97% of those who practice these methods fail in this MLM industry.

        If you can bring a more modern marketing approach to your business, I believe that Saladmaster offers a great opportunity. If you are limited to your network of friends and family members, I don’t believe that their opportunity is all that great.

        Does this help? Please let me know if you have any further questions.

        Thank you,

        Dave F.

    • Healthy, wealthy, and happy says:

      I have been in Saladmaster for 8 years and worked my way up the ranks. I have owned my own dealership for 4 of those years. I started in my mid 20’s with no experience. It is definitely not a scam or I wouldn’t still be involved, gotten as far as I have, or made as much money as I have. All while helping others do the same and helping my customers change their lives. This business has allowed me to take care of my family when my husband has been unemployed the last few years. I get lots of feedback from my customers about what this cookware has done for their family; whether it was to help a young child get better from asthma because they were using Teflon, or to help someone with Chron’s Disease be able to eat without feeling sick and get the nutrition they need, or something as simple as making cooking fun again or saving money from eating out less because it is so fast to cook. In my experience all the other brands that sound just as good but cheaper…there is a reason it is cheaper. Cheaper materials, cheaper manufacturing, less customer service, etc. Nutriply is made of inferior quality and craftsmanship. The materials are from Asian countries, not America, they can say made in America because it is finished here. The company behind it is a finance company (why they can say they’ve been around a while), but the cookware portion has only been around a few years (good warranty?). Recently there have been lawsuits against them for false claims because it is being found that there isn’t actually any of the 316 titanium in their pots as they claim to have. Saladmaster can seem expensive but when you consider that they will be used almost everyday for a lifetime and maybe your child’s lifetime, it is not very much over that time. And when you think about all the other things we spend money on that are non-essential….Saladmaster’s warranty is backed by a 100+ year old manufacturing company, is recognized by DSA as one of the top 20 most ethical companies, and the product lives up to what we say it does and we deliver on our promises. And we as salespeople or dealers don’t make crazy commissions as such was stated in previous comments. We are just making a living like everyone else that is working and trying to provide for their families. And I am actually a nutritionist and the health claims are backed by many well known doctors, someone with no real knowledge of health and nutrition should not comment on the health benefits of Saladmaster. I would love to answer any questions anyone has on the product or business (and I wouldn’t be making any money off answering those questions).

  2. Amandamay says:

    hi,i saw saladmasters presentation at my house and i loved the cookware but the prices are just crazy. i found a company called “Nutriply” who also offers 316Ti waterless cookwares for much much cheaper. they are also made in u.s and i just bought my complete set from them and love it. with the money i paid for my complete set i would probebly be able to buy a 3pc from saladmaster. they are way overpriced.
    the nutriply cookwares are great and offer a lifetime warranty so no need to pay so much for healthy eating. love and health to all hope i helped someone save money 😉

  3. Rhesa Diamante says:

    Bought the top of the line set, just because my husband was eager and is easily get hooked into this kind of stuff PLUS the Cruise promise. I got my pots and are used barely and when i try to claim the cruise?, The hassle is so unbelievable. I try to book a regular cruise on the date that I wanted and it ends up costing me less than the suppose to be FREE cruise offer from Sald Master..Lots of fees here and there, reps are so hard to get into…blah-blah blah—what a scam, now im stuck with this pans that are more expensive than a KIA..gross

    • Dave Fennell says:

      Hello Rhesa,

      I am sorry to hear about all of these complications, but thank you for taking the time to share them!

      Dave F.

    • Gigi says:

      Rhesa-
      thanks for sharing. i attended a presentation last night and I was impressed. I did not buy anything (although I would love to have everything) – i don’t buy on credit so i’ll start my saladmaster saving now. If you ever decide to sell your set, let me know and we can make some arrangments.
      Sorry about what is happening. I really hope they keep their promise come through for you on that Cruise.

  4. Charles Elder says:

    I would just like to state that my wife to be 42 years ago bought a set of Saladmaster stainless cookware ,a set of their china and a set of the crystal glassware.We have used them for 40 plus years and they are worth much more today than she payed for them.Great product,expensive but you get what you pay for.

  5. Angie says:

    Does anyone know if the Nutriply cookware has the same construction as the Saladmaster as far as the layers of metal, are they just multi layered on the bottom or do the multi layers go up the entire sides like the Saladmaster cookware? If it is just the bottom and the sides are not multi layered then perhaps that could be the reason for the lower price.

    • NancyM says:

      Hello everyone, yes nutriply is the better cookware. we attended a show and bought the complete set and as a gift we got the big oil core electric skillet. the multi layer goes all the way and not only at the bottom. nutriply is thicker and because of the thicker bottom you actually dont have hot spots which means that your food will be cooked evenly. my friends owns a saladmaster set and we did compare the sets now she is not very happy that she paid 3x more. nutriply people are very nice and their product is really a master piece. i dont think you want to pay almost $6500 for a set of cookware when you can have the same set in better quality from nutriply. for all saladmaster owners please try the flour test. just put some flour in your saladmaster and put it in medium heat after couple of minutes you can see that the flour is getting brown on some spots and eventually burns but other spots dont even get brown, this shows you that saladmaster cookware actually dont spread the heat evenly. we tried the same test with nutriply cookware and the whole flour got brown evenly without burning and without hotspots. i would recommend nutriply

      • Helen says:

        Hi I just a SM presentation at my friends house and I started to do little of research I found WOLL cookware at mycookmate.com that has a you tube video presentation I was impressed with that as well, but I really want to know the difference between WOLL, NUTRIPLY & SALAD MASTER. I have questions if anyone can answer. Which is better product for its investment from those 3. How or where can you buy Salad Master for cheap and does it have a life time guarantee or replacement products or knifes vs if you buy from company. I have not decided yet if I want to purchase the product not because it is not good because of the price, but I think its worth it. If I become a VIP buyer – which they call it buy a set – do more presentations at your house with the same rep & you get gifts – than it is worth it. I don’t know but like a feedback:)

  6. Sandy says:

    SALADMASTER is superior to Nutri-ply in many ways.
    There is a lot less material in Nutri-ply as it is an old slab bottom technology (similar to having insulation only in the floor of a house with the furnace thermometer in the ceiling).
    This technology isn’t ‘bad’ just old and much much less efficient (energy savings of 86% with SM is nothing to ignore these days)

    For those who want 316Ti material from off shore (not Swiss or USA quality) its not a bad set, however for the price difference and advancements Saladmaster has over NP, it’s definitely worth investigating before making a purchase. The proof is evident when you collect all of the facts, which is just good common sense. (right Bill?)
    Cheers!
    Sandy

  7. Sandy says:

    Not Multi-level.

    Correction on MLM comments:
    Saladmaster structure is like Real Eatate or other corporations when you can begin in the ‘mail room’ and advance through hard work and recruiting. That is how companies grow, and the growth is stronger when it’s because of the product and some good old fashioned ‘get up and go’. MLM business rely on repeat orders and!signing people up and you get paid.
    Direct Sales is quite different.
    Finding the leads, doing the demonstration, often the deliveries and then customer service as well. It’s more work and long hours but lucrative when the product is reliable and has a great reputation.
    SALADMASTER has been recognized world wide as one of the top three companies in the DSL for ethics, quality and customer service. Often compared to as the
    Leader in Direct Sales (not Multi Level Marketing).

    I hope this clarifies some of the confusion.

    • Dave Fennell says:

      Hi Sandy

      Thank you for your feedback.

      MLM is defined as:

      Multi-level Marketing (MLM), (also called Network Marketing, Direct Selling, Referral Marketing, and Pyramid Selling) is a term that describes a marketing structure used by some companies as part of their overall marketing strategy.

      I will take this a step further:

      Anytime a company offers commissions and bonuses based upon not only personal production, but the production of personally enrolled Associates/Dealers (distributors) going down several generations, this is a MLM Business model.

      Now, please do not fall under the impression that MLM is a bad thing, or that I believe MLM to be anything but positive. Saladmaster is a fantastic company! But MLM and Direct Sales fall under the same category. The overall business model and how they are structured is one and the same.

      Thank you for your comments.

      Best Regards,

      Dave F.

      • Sandy says:

        Perhaps but SM does not go down ‘generations’ any more than my brother in law who is the Ad manager for a newspaper. He gets bonuses on his team’s production and is responsible to motivate them and keep them accountable.
        All corporations could also be considered as ‘MLM’ then to some degree. But in SM we most certainly do have a corporate structure in our Dealerships (which are a little like franchises except we earn them instead of buying them).

        • Dave Fennell says:

          Hello Sandy,

          I cannot disagree with you there; many companies can be looked at as being similar to MLM when you take a closer look. Also, having an opportunity to earn a Dealership is very cool.

          Thanks again,

          Dave F.

  8. Ruth M. says:

    Dear Sandy
    I had a saladmaster presentation in my house to upgrade my set. I had a saladmaster set before but when i got a problem with 1 of my pots i called the dealer and she said i need to contact saladmaster directly. She was acting like she doesn’t even know me. When i called saladmaster, they didnt accept my claim because they said the blue and black (and rainbow) color is normal on the 400 series outside. which was not told at their presentation. So i am stuck with some ugly saladmaster pots and pans. I found nutriply.com with 316 titanium stainless steel cookware and called them. They took the time to educate me over the phone about nutriply cookware and the details about the different stainless steel.
    Saladmaster is 316 inside but outside is a magnetic metal (400 series) which is not surgical steel, but nutriply is 100% inside and outside surgical stainless steel with titanium. Saladmaster needs to use the magnetic 400 series outside to make the cookware induction stove ready. Regarding the Thicker bottom of Nutriply: If you would do a flour test in the saldmaster pots you will see that they don’t have an evenly heat distribution as they say. But do the same test in Nutriply and you will see that nutriply doesn’t have any hot spots which means that in nutriply you have 100% evenly heat distribution because of the thicker bottom. The thicker bottom acts like a heat regulator and is an added protection between the food and the heat where all magnetic metals are enclosed in that part and not exposed to the human body. Just put some flour inside and put it on medium heat, after couple of minutes you will see the hot spots in saladmaster. The problem is the way the reps represent saladmaster so they can sell a set to make money with commissions (MLM) If you buy saladmaster you are the one paying for 8 different levels of commissions it doesn’t mean because it is expensive it is a better quality. We are now in 21 century and the global trade is a standard for all business and manufacturers worldwide. If you would do a little research you would find that saladmaster is made by regalware and realdware is the manufacturer for couple of different cookwares, they are made in china as well as made in US so you are supporting a company that is also manufacturing their stuff in china. Or if the reps from saladmaster say we are supporting US workers then why are they all driving non US CARS or have Iphones (iphone is made in china) Mercedes and BMW are made in germany, so what are they supporting??? their sales. You need to open your eyes. Again you would be able to see that regalware is also manufacturing non stick cookwares and aluminum cookwares, how could you trust a company that is manufacturing non stick and selling it to the public but on the other hand they say non stick will kill you and is linked to cancers. So please do a little more research before writing a review. I hope you like your saladmaster set even after you do the flour test. I will always recommend http://www.nutriply.com because they deliver what they promise. They even cober the handles and the knobs with their lifetime warranty. They are very friendly and will not chase you to buy a set. If you buy from nutriply.com their 316 Titanium Stainless Steel Cookware you are buying it directly from the headquarters and not from some sales rep running from house to house to make commission. I just feel sorry for the reps because they are working really hard. Please do your research before investing in anything. You can try nutriply before you buy any sets. Just go to nutriply.com or call them.

  9. sam says:

    In comparing cookware you have to compare apples to apples. The Saladmaster has a TITANIUM cooking surface. That adds $’s to the cost of manufacture but titanium is the best thing going for you cook ware. I want my food on the cleanest possible surface and I think thats Titanium.

  10. Queen says:

    “In comparing cookware you have to compare apples to apples”

    0.5% titanium to be exact! 316 benefit if you cook over 800 deg i guess it may be handy on mars 🙂

    There are no health benefits in using this set over others.Any cast iron would be better! As fact this uses aluminium as it is cheap.

    $5000 dollars for a set of pans which i guess cost lest then $250 to make i would say is the mother of all mark ups! In other words you have been truly ripped off 🙂

    At 65% commission i am sure the sales man would be very happy!

    This could only happen in the US of A

    ps
    for $5000 you could have provided a luxury box rather then a $2 dollar one from china 🙂

  11. Patrick says:

    My wife and I had a saladmaster sales presentation in our home. Our impression was that it would take considerable practice to learn to use these products and it would require a time investment much like a hobby. I do not need a new hobby and this food preparation/cooking program is way too complicated. I cannot imagine taking the time necessary to get proficient. I have a food processor I use occasionally. This is not a product for us.

  12. Jmackelly says:

    I just bought my very expensive cookware set ever the Salad Master. It sure take time to really know how to use the products to get the most benefits of it. I love it except the grill. It don’t have the temperature gauge that you can change, only one setting. And no cover. So it’s going back and exchange for a bigger wok, instead. I also signed up as an associate rep so I can earn extra income and receive cookware for free as an incentive. My concern on commission base is very low only 10 % to start up less $25.00 for food used in presentation, and if finance another less 15 to 25% on the commission. I guess this is not the job if you are looking to make a big income commission base. If anyone can give me input on this commission base let me know. One last thing. I noticed, since I bought it in Finance, how come my financed amount is the same as on original documents approved amount finance not the lesser 85% as in my commission statement. I felt something is wrong on this figure. Need help anyone?

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