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Ron Popeil

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Ronald M. Popeil (born May 3, 1935, New York, New York) is a millionaire inventor well-known for his company Ronco [1]. His television sales techniques might be considered the origin of infomercials.

Some of his better-known products, and their original sale pitch, include:

Popeil learned his trade from his father Samuel who was also an inventor and carney salesman of kitchen-related gadgets such as the Chop-o-matic (later called the Vegomatic - "It slices, it dices, it makes julienne fries!"). It retailed for $2.98 and sold over 2 million units. The invention of the Vegomatic caused a problem which marked the entrance of Ron Popeil into television. It turned out that the Vegomatic was too efficient at chopping vegetables, and that it was impractical for salesmen to carry the vegetables they needed to chop. The solution was to tape the demonstration. Once the demonstration was taped, it was a short step to broadcasting the demonstration as a commercial.

In August 2005, he sold his company, Ronco, to Fi-Tek VII, a Denver holding company, for $55 million. He said he plans to continue serving as the spokesman and inventor, but wanted to spend more time with his family.

Although many people associate the phrase "It slices! it dices!" with the Veg-O-Matic, Popiel has always denied that he ever said it. He claims to have the video tape to prove it.

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