Help us launch Australia’s first Sous Vide Kitchen

We are going to create Australia’s first purpose-built SOUS VIDE kitchen and workspace to help chefs and home cooks explore new ideas and enhance their skills.

Sous Vide Australia is a dynamic, community focused, family based business that specialises in providing local access to the highest quality and specifically designed sous vide cookery equipment, and cooking experiences that bring people together. We hope to launch an exciting new collaborative space in Melbourne with the goal of exploring new ideas and to do recipe development with the latest sous vide and molecular equipment. We’ve called it The Upper Room – created to help wickedly talented chefs or aspiring home cooks to cook more, cook better, and get incredible results every time. While the kitchen hasn’t changed much over the last 50 years, the new technology has allowed us to do remarkable things, and we believe everyone deserves a cooking experience that truly shows off what can be achieved.

In the lead up to our launch, we are now offering DISCOUNTED products and cooking classes, plus we have some amazing dining experiences. Read on to find out more about our big plans!

Meet the Owners

Hi! We’re Dale and Libby Prentice, and we are absolutely passionate about food, its origin and have the ultimate respect for maintaining its integrity through cooking. We both share a vision to help transform the way chefs and home cooks think about preparing and creating really delicious food. Dale has been a chef for over 23 years and has worked and helped many high-calibre chefs during his time, including Greg Malouf, George Calombaris, Philippe Mouchel, Riccardo Momesso and Frank Camorra. While Libby is a Chartered Accountant and the backbone of the family business. From our humble beginnings ten years ago in the back shed of our home, we’ve grown Sous Vide Australia to become the largest provider of sous vide equipment in the country. But we’ve also worked especially hard to freely share our knowledge with education and training centres and health departments to see sous vide become a staple in most commercial kitchens. When you cook using the sous vide technique you will achieve absolutely delicious and consistent results every time. The key is in low temperature cooking, which retains more flavour, nutrients and texture in harder to cook meats and vegetables with very little fuss and no mess. It really is that new trend in cooking and we want to share this with the world so they can learn and taste the wonderful benefits too!

What We Do

At Sous Vide Australia, cooking is about three things: experimentation, community, and quality. And a commitment to going above and beyond for our community of cooks to help them learn the art of sous vide, and find a way of using their new found skills in their work and home environments.

We not only bring in some of the best equipment from around the world to share and use, but we provide specialist training, support, care and understanding to those who are interested in modern cooking techniques. We continually run courses for apprentices, trainers, chefs, home cooks and even health inspectors, which reflects our commitment to sharing and advancing our knowledge in cooking that is integral to the kitchen of the future. And we’re making it a reality with the creation of The Upper Room.

We Support Our Community

We’ve come from an age in the hospitality industry, that share a commitment to going above and beyond for our community of chefs and cooks in everything we do. That’s why we show our continual support for the Australian Culinary Federation, Johnsons Club Chef Cookery Challenges, Appetite for Excellence, Nestle Golden Chefs Hat, AusTafe and the Foodservice Australia Chef of the Year Awards. We are wholly dedicated to providing the best sous vide equipment for our chefs and home cooks, and continue to improve their training and experiences over time. Plus we also manage the largest specialist repair network in Australia so your equipment is always working when you need it.

Experimentation and Exploration

We’re always striving to create better experiences for our cooking community, and that requires building the only sous vide kitchen in Australia where we can come together to explore, test and trial new recipe ideas while learning crazy new cooking techniques. Plus you’ll have access to the latest and highest quality sous vide equipment in Australia, which you can use in a fun and relaxed space with like-minded people that share common interest in modern food.

What’s the Need?

The Sous Vide Australia workshop, development and training program has been limited by our access to appropriate training venues around Australia, which is why we have been working on this project for the last six years to create a purpose built space for our community. There is so much discussion about where chefs can share and collaborate and learn from each other. The benefits of collaborative learning at The Upper Room will go a long way to supporting chefs who operate in an often-stressful environment by providing a creative, fun and relaxed environment.

For the home cook, sous vide can be quite a daunting and technical undertaking. The Upper Room will totally transform your mindset by creating a simple, friendly, hands-on environment where you can cook sous vide with greater confidence.

For those in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, then this space will also provide an affordable studio for book photography and YouTube content creation.

How the money is being spent

As you can appreciate a project like this is a massive undertaking. We have thrown everything we have at this project, but we would really appreciate your help to get it over the line. We’ve even had our four sons help out with the demolition process …and there’s nothing better than a boy with a sledgehammer in his hand!!

All money raised will go towards renovating the current space to create The Upper Room, and decking it out with all the necessary equipment to bring this dream to life. The centrepiece of the kitchen will be a 4.5m by 1.8m training bench. To comply with the Australian Commercial Kitchen and Building Code we still need to add a range hood, tile the back wall splash back and add commercial flooring.

Appliances and Tradesman Costs

• Ceiling Range Hood: $3,799
• Electricians: $5,000 (Approx)
• Tiling Splash Back $828
• Commercial Grade Kitchen Flooring $10,000 (Approx)

Other Building Works to be Completed

• The ceiling is currently being replaced
• The cabinetry is being built
• Plumbing is being installed to accommodate  new 3-phase commercial hot water supply
• Flooring is being replaced
• Lighting and air conditioner are being repositioned

As part of this campaign, we are offering exciting incentives for each donation we receive. Donations under $20 are greatly appreciated, and every little bit will go towards making this dream possible! For donations of $20 or above you will receive either a special product or a wonderful experience. There are lots to choose from and you are free to select more than one package too.

Risks and Challenges

Raising the money to finish this project is absolutely time critical. Unfortunately with every day passing, we face running over time and costs are mounting, which ultimately means this fantastic new culinary space will be delayed. We have exciting new sous vide and molecular gastronomy cooking courses planned and the first events are now scheduled. Your participation in this project will change the landscape of cooking in Australia forever. New cookbooks and textbooks will come to life, learning will be shared and modern cookery will help our community advance to the world stage. When we say we are all in on this project, we mean that our house, business and everything else in on the line to create something that will be truly amazing. So we would love the help from our extensive community to help get us over the line to a greater cooking future together.