Rational focused on one machine — the combi-steamer — and took half the world market

The combi-steamer — one cabinet that both steams and roasts — was the idea of Siegfried Meister, an electrical engineer who had worked at the Wienerwald chicken chain and thought food could be cooked better. He founded his metalworking firm in 1973 with about 25 employees, built the first combi-steamer in 1976 (legend says he delivered it personally to Munich caterer Käfer), and in 1978 dropped his other products to focus on it alone.

The mechanism was total focus plus engineering: electronic control of steam quantity and temperature let one machine replace pots, pans and ovens in mass catering; devices are built individually by hand at the Landsberg plant, each taking four to six hours; and Rational internationalized early (UK 1991, France 1992, 100,000th unit 1996) while keeping production exclusively in Germany. About 75% of output is exported.

The result: 41% of the world market for professional cooking technology in 1998 on revenue of DM 222 million, an IPO in 2000, an S-Dax listing at €545 by September 2017, and more than 1.5 million combi-steamers produced to date. Neither Siemens, Miele nor Electrolux has entered the niche; the company says it holds about 50% world market share.

One machine, one niche, world leadership

From 1978 Rational made only combi-steamers, concentrating all learning.

Electronic steam control made the machine dramatically easier to use.

Hand assembly and one German plant kept quality and margin under control.

Direct international sales subsidiaries controlled the customer relationship.

World leadership can come from deliberate narrowness: pick one hard problem, make the whole company its servant, and compound engineering for decades until the niche becomes a fortress.

Rational went public in 2000 and became a steady S-Dax performer, with its share at €545 in September 2017; founder Meister died that year and management promised continuity. With more than 1.5 million units produced and about 50% share, it remains the category's world and technology leader.