Williams-Sonoma founder learned to love cooking from his grandmother
Chuck Williams, who founded cookware retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc. in 1956 and helped spur a gourmet revolution in American kitchens, has died at the age of 100.
Williams died Saturday, Dec. 5, of natural causes, the company said.
A building contractor with a passion for cooking, Williams started the company in Sonoma, Calif., selling kitchen items then unfamiliar to most Americans, such as saute pans, souffle dishes and fish poachers. In 1952, he had visited Paris, where he became fascinated by French cookware. After returning to the U.S., he renovated a hardware store in Sonoma and opened his first shop, offering imported French cooking equipment.
Two decades later, he brought in partners who expanded into home furnishings, building a retail and mail-order empire that now includes eight brands and generated revenue of US$4.7 billion in the latest fiscal year.
Williams learned to love cooking from his grandmother and “filled the store with what I wanted to see in my kitchen,” he said, according to a 2003 interview in Fortune Small Business magazine.
He helped introduce kitchen equipment, including garlic presses, food processors and pasta machines and said he was the first to import balsamic vinegar from Italy.
In 1958, Williams moved his store south to San Francisco, where the company is based, and soon added three locations. In the early 1970s, he started a mail-order business that thrived as Americans became more sophisticated about cooking.
Culinary awareness swept through the culture, with French cuisine becoming popular. Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking was published in 1961 and her televised cooking show debuted several years later.
“She really encouraged people to cook, and as her show began to find an audience, we found more customers,” Williams said. “One night she showed how to make a souffle, and the next day people came in asking about souffle dishes.”
James Beard, another teacher of the gastronomic arts, was a friend who cited Williams in his syndicated newspaper columns as a source for quality cookware.
Realizing he needed a more business-savvy co-owner to manage the company’s growth, Williams sold a majority interest to W. Howard Lester and his associate, James McMahan, for US$50,000 apiece.
Williams stayed on as chairman, travelling the world on month-long buying trips to find more products to elevate the art of cooking.