The kitchen whitegoods market, including cookers, rangehoods, dishwashers and refrigerators, is strong with more than 600,000 cooking appliances, 650,000 refrigerators and 200,000 dishwashers sold in Australia every year. Steady growth is expected through to the year 2000. According to a survey among retailers, shoppers for whitegoods are becoming smarter, demanding higher quality and better value for money. In a market which has seen a strong influx of imports since tariffs were cut during the 1980s, Chef has retained more than a one third share in its traditional cooker sector and remains the biggest selling brand in the market. Market trends in the cooker sector have shown a move away from upright models to wall oven and cooktop combinations. There is also a trend away from gas ovens to electric, while the market for cooktops is increasingly towards gas, reflecting a change in lifestyle to quicker meals and Asian style cooking.
	Chef has had an impressive record for innovation throughout its history, starting with Australia’s first all pressed metal cooker in 1948. At the same time, the company patented the first stainless steel three-part stove burner. Until then, burners had been made from cast metal. Since then, Chef has achieved many milestones for Australian-made products including the introduction of the gas wall oven in 1968, Australasia’s first catalytic “self-cleaning” enamelled oven in the same year and the first natural gas burner in 1972. Chef was the first in Australia to introduce white glass in its cookers. The company’s manufacturing methods have also been pioneering.  In 1978 it became the first company in the world to apply two coats and one fire wet-on-wet cover coat enamelling system to high volume production. It followed this breakthrough in 1982 when it became the first company in the world to install a dedicated tailor-made luminous wall grease firing furnace for oven chassis. In 1998 Chef released the Chef Professional, a top-of-the-range stainless steel upright cooker that includes Australia’s first steam-capable domestic oven and a raft of other innovations for serious domestic chefs. Plumbed water for the steamer is a world first for domestic ovens. Chef has been selected as the main supplier of domestic appliances for the 2000 Olympic Games Village in Sydney.
	The Chef brand dates back to 1937 when Scottish immigrant Edgar Ferrier and his sons Sidney and Frederick began making cast iron stoves in a shed at the bottom of the garden of their home in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda. The Chef name was the brainchild of Edgar’s wife Rosa Mary. Immediately after the end of the Second World War, the company E. S. & F. Ferrier moved first to a factory in North Fitzroy and later to Brunswick. In 1948, Australia’s first pressed sheet metal cooker rolled off the Chef production line. It met instant success and marked the commercial beginning of the Chef brand. But E. S. & F. Ferrier ran into financial trouble and was sold in 1961. By 1964, the company was back on its feet, producing 35 cookers a day and expanded its range to include solid fuel stoves and a range of room heaters. In 1972, Vulcan bought Chef. It was the beginning of a period of takeovers which would see ownership of the company change hands four times in 16 years. Since 1988, when South Australian Brewing bought the business, ownership has remained stable, although South Australian Brewing changed its name to Southcorp Holdings in 1994. Through the changes, the company’s management team remained stable and both profits and production rose steadily. Today, Chef is a thriving, innovative organisation with more than 700 employees. They produce more than 1,000 cookers a day in about 300 different models and styles. Chef products can be found in the Pacific Islands, Asia, the Middle East, the United States, Canada and Europe. Last year, 16,000 units were exported.
	As Australia’s number one domestic cooking appliance brand, Chef is synonymous with cooking in Australia. Located in Brunswick, Victoria, Chef designs, develops and manufactures a full range of domestic cooking appliances.  Product development is based on extensive market research, working closely with consumers to understand their needs and how today’s products can be further improved for tomorrow’s consumer. The present range of domestic cooking appliances includes electric and gas wall ovens, cooktops and upright cookers as well as rangehoods.  The built-in range of wall ovens and cooktops is made up of three distinct ranges/styles targeting different segments of the market. The Chef Select range is aimed at the value-oriented consumer, the Chef Classic range is for the traditional cook and the top of the range is Finesse by Chef. Chef offers a wide choice in wall ovens and cooktops, with colour options including the increasingly popular stainless steel. Some of the features which have distinguished Chef from its major competitors are a large 80 litre oven capacity, a generous range of oven accessories and the power-ful 17 Mj wok burner to cater for the growing demand in Asian-style dishes. Freestanding upright cookers range right up to the 900mm gas and electric model with a fully programmable electronic clock. Chef also continues to build a range of products specifically for campers, as well as elevated ovens designed to sit on benchtops with a separate grill, for the replacement market.
	To coincide with the 50th Anniversary of Chef, the commemorative “King of Uprights” Chef Professional was launched in 1998. The Chef Professional is the first Australian manufactured and marketed domestic cooking appliance incorporating a unique steam facility.  This 900mm upright cooker is hand crafted in stainless steel, and includes six gas burners (including a wok burner), 93 litre electric multifunction oven, steam cooking, fully programmable electronic clock, heat curtain, cool touch doors, and is approximately 95 per cent Australian content.  The Chef Professional typifies Chef’s dedication to product excellence and innovation through cooking performance and ease of use. In 1999 the Chef brand has been repositioned to become ‘The Kitchen Specialist’, offering a comprehensive range of cooking appliances and dishwashers. The repositioning strategy also presents to the market a new brand logo and two distinctive new designs based on consumer research.
	Chef is repositioning itself as a mainstream kitchen brand - not just a specialist cooking brand. Supporting Chef’s new look and brand position as ‘The Kitchen Specialist’ is an exciting new media program that starts with a more contemporary, fully researched logo. The design typifies a bold new era for Chef as the brand extends beyond its traditional realm of cookers into dishwashers. The media program is spearheaded by a new lifestyle TV advertising campaign. A variety of upbeat scenarios depict independent, contemporary people in both social and professional environments, illustrating how, with a Chef, life is easier in the kitchen. Another major part of the total kitchen focus is the release of a comprehensive Kitchen Specialist Brochure for the Chef Classic range, covering every aspect of kitchen planning, design, decor, surface choices, cooking media, and hints and tips on storage and appliances. The brochure is designed to become a handbook for anyone planning, renovating or re-fitting their kitchen.
	With 50 years of experience in the kitchen, Chef has always kept pace with Australians’ way of life and has been very much a part of the changes along the way. In fact, Chef has led the way in the market for most of its history. As Australia has become a more multi-cultural society that enjoys an increasingly varied array of foods and cooking styles, Chef has evolved. Chef’s focus is built firmly around the fact that people no longer want to devote their home life - and their time - to old-fashioned cooking techniques and the clean-up that goes with it. As Australia’s Kitchen Specialist, a big part of Chef’s design thinking is to make its entire range of appliances more versatile, efficient and easy to use - as well as fashionable and stylish additions to the entire home. The objective is to make the kitchen experience both more enjoyable and easier. Like no other brand, Chef truly is ‘The Kitchen Specialist’.