To leverage content and IP assets.

Breville Group has acquired Seattle-based food and technology company, ChefSteps. The deal will strengthen Breville’s existing commercial sous vide range of products following its acquisition of the PolyScience Culinary division in 2014.

ChefSteps, with its website ChefSteps.com, uses high-quality interactive content, techniques, tools and other resources to inspire home chefs to experiment in the kitchen. In 2015, the company announced its expansion into smart kitchen hardware with its Joule™ product – the world’s smallest and most powerful sous vide immersion circulator controlled by a smartphone app that includes recipes and tips.

The acquisition will enhance the long-term research and development (R&D) capacity that brought Joule™ to market and allow for continued and sustained focus on innovation, while increasing global commercial scale to further maximise the value of the ChefSteps content platform and portfolio of fast-growing connected Joule™ products.

Breville Australia and New Zealand general manager, Mark O’Kelly told Appliance Retailer, “It’s an exciting time for ChefSteps to be joining the Breville family. ChefSteps and ChefSteps.com is a Seattle based food and technology company, inspiring creativity and experimentation for the consumer in the kitchen. I look forward to engaging with their US team and learning more about their overall business.”

Breville CEO, Jim Clayton (pictured) said, “ChefSteps has produced tremendous innovation in the content and connected hardware space, and we are excited at the scale we can achieve by combining their content and intellectual property with our current and future consumer products.

“We also look forward to engaging with, and serving, the very active and enthusiastic community ChefSteps has built around its product and content. I am thrilled with the opportunity to leverage this extraordinary combination of assets while pursuing our shared mission.”

ChefSteps will be integrated into the Breville Group business while maintaining its offices in Seattle. The ChefSteps business will be reported as part of the Breville’s Global segment but is not expected to have a material impact on the business of the Group.