Doris Christopher founded Pampered Chef in 1980 in the basement of her suburban Chicago home. Christopher came up with a party plan to offer kitchen tools directly to consumers through in-home cooking demonstrations, a concept first popularized by Tupperware. The company expanded to Canada in 1996, the UK in 1999, Germany in 2000, Austria in 2019, and France in 2020.

The company was acquired in 2002 by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway corporation. On October 30, 2014, Berkshire Hathaway appointed long time advisor Tracy Britt Cool to the position of CEO. According to Direct Selling News, "the company’s revenue has fallen from $320 million in 2015 to $280 million in 2018." In March 2020, the company's COO, Andrew Treanor, took over on the role of CEO.