Tefal is a French cookware and small appliance manufacturer owned by Groupe SEB. Its name is a portmanteau of the words TEFlon and ALuminium.The company is known for creating the non-stick cookware category and for frying products like French fries more healthily with far less fat than is standard. However, some may dispute that Tefal was innovative based on a DuPont chemical patent (US 2776918 A) of a year earlier.In some countries like the United States, Tefal is also marketed as T-Fal.