By Patrick Avenell
While chefs in the best restaurants will tell you it is the tastiest method of cooking, cooks at home have not necessarily been so easily convinced.
And neither have the retail staff selling it.
Sous vide — cooking vacuum sealed foodstuffs in a water bath at precise temperatures — is not the easiest method to describe to potential customers, but it is easy to pick up through demonstration, according to Sunbeam cooking product manager Nicole Norton.
“I think sous vide is one of the easiest cooking methods available,” she said. “As soon as everyone sees how it’s used — it stuns everyone when we do our retailer staff training — they are always surprised by how easy it is.”
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And soon consumers will share in that surprise, Norton said, when the product is featured on an upcoming episode of MasterChef Australia.
“When viewers see the sous vide on TV, they will see how easy it is to drop some food into a pouch and then put it into the sous vide pan of water: it really is a walk away appliance,” she said.
Sous vide first went mainstream in Australia when Breville launched its Sous Vide Supreme model in August 2012. Breville’s release is a co-branding between the venerable Australian brand and the American Sous Vide Supreme brand, the most famous name in sous vide cooking.
Breville’s model is RRP $799 and comes with a Thermal Pro Grill (BEF100, RRP $99) and the Fresh Keeper vacuum sealer (BVP700, RRP $129).
Sunbeam was next to launch in February 2013, but with a totally different strategy.
“Sunbeam has designed the Duos for the home chef,” Norton said. “Previously, there have only been commercial machines available, and they are at a commercial price, and that acted as a barrier for consumers.
“Many potential consumers had heard about sous vide in restaurants and on TV and wanted to know more, and wanted to experiment, but $800 was too high a price to pay.”
Sunbeam does not offer a gift with purchase on the Duos, which is RRP $199, but it is available as a bundle with the Food Saver vacuum sealer for RRP $299.
Norton said this strategy has worked, citing 90 per cent market share in unit sales for May 2013 as evidence. She is expecting more consumer interest in the category once the unit is featured on MasterChef in the coming weeks.
“The contestants will be using the Duos sous vide on the show. The meals they produce are restaurant quality and they do this using sous vide.
“We will advise retailers in advance of the episode airing. There is always a flow-through into store to replicate what is seen on television.”
