HAY RIVER - For 10 years, Claire-Anne Bouchard has been a representative in Hay River for The Pampered Chef, an international catalogue-based seller of high-quality kitchen tools and serving ware.

Claire-Anne Bouchard is a sales representative for The Pampered Chef in Hay River. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"It's kind of like Avon," said Bouchard, who is officially known as an independent consultant.

However, instead of selling makeup like the iconic Avon, The Pampered

Chef offers items such as serving plates, knives, frying pans, pots, cheese graters, spatulas, ceramic stones and bowls, plus spices and sauces.

Bouchard, 43, is a fan of the products she sells, noting she uses them every day.

"I'm not Martha Stewart or the best cook in the world, but it's motivated me to do some cooking and cook for my family," she said.

Bouchard describes her role with The Pampered Chef as a "very part-time" business. Her full-time job is as a special needs assistant at Harry Camsell School.

She sells The Pampered Chef products at cooking shows held either at her house or hosted by other homeowners.

"We make food and then we sit around and look at the catalogues and talk," she said. "That's the biggest fun part of it for me."

For her efforts, Bouchard gets a commission on sales and, if she sells a certain amount during incentive months, she gets some products for free.

For every $1,000 in sales, she makes a 25 per cent commission.

"That's after 10 years of doing this," she said, noting she started off at 20 per cent commission.

Anyone hosting a cooking show also gets some free products and other items at a large discount.

"If I wasn't selling, I'd host one at least once a year just to get the stuff at a good price," Bouchard said.

As it is, she attends a couple of cooking shows every month.

"I have to be active," she said. "I have to do a certain amount of selling. It's not a lot."

Plus, she enjoys the social aspects of cooking shows.

Bouchard believes in The Pampered Chef products.

"I like it," she said. "I use it every day. It's in my kitchen."

What she especially likes is the products make food preparation faster and less tedious.

"I like getting to the point, actually getting to the cooking part faster," she said. "The prep stuff gets a little monotonous and tedious.

I never realized until I started using good stuff, it makes it easier and faster.

I'm a gadget person, so the gadgets get me into the kitchen."

Bouchard started selling The Pampered Chef products at the suggestion of a friend who was selling the items in High Level, Alta.

That person gets a percentage of Bouchard's sales because she recruited her to the business. Likewise, Bouchard gets a percentage of the sales by a woman in Hay River whom she recruited to sell the products.

In fact, Bouchard said some independent consultants with The Pampered Chef can make a living at it by recruiting a lot of other consultants.

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