The Rise and Fall of Joule Sous Vide: An In-Depth History

For a few short years, Joule transformed home cooking and left an outsized impact on the sous vide industry. This innovative immersion circulator pioneered sleek, compact design and seamless app control. Though Joule‘s run ended prematurely, its technology and ethos live on.

Let‘s dive into the full story behind this game-changing cooker. If you ever owned a Joule, you probably have fond memories and unanswered questions. By the end, you‘ll understand why Joule shone so brightly yet faded so quickly.

The Origins of Sous Vide Cooking

To appreciate Joule‘s place in history, we need to start with the origins of sous vide itself.

Sous vide harnesses precise temperature control to achieve results impossible through traditional methods. Meats cooked sous vide come out perfectly evenly cooked edge-to-edge. Vegetables keep their vibrant colors without overcooking.

This technique was pioneered in the 1970s by French and American engineers. High-end restaurants adopted it early on. But sous vide required commercial-grade equipment well out of reach for home cooks.

Bringing sous vide mainstream required making it compact, affordable, and easy to use. That‘s the puzzle an ambitious Seattle startup aimed to solve with Joule.

The Dawning of ChefSteps

ChefSteps was founded in 2012 by Chris Young and Grant Crilly, two innovators and educators passionate about sous vide cooking. Their vision was to use technology to make advanced techniques like sous vide more accessible.

ChefSteps began by offering online sous vide cooking courses. But they saw an opportunity to go further by developing smart kitchen hardware.

"We believe there is a better way. Kitchen tools should be useful, usable & beautiful." – ChefSteps Manifesto

In 2013, ChefSteps joined startup accelerator Y Combinator. With investment funding secured, they got to work designing the future of home sous vide.

The Making of Joule

After months of iteration, ChefSteps launched Joule on Kickstarter in 2014. Joule blew past its funding goal, raising over $650,000 from over 3,000 backers.

So what made Joule so revolutionary? Nearly every design element optimized convenience and precision.

Tiny But Mighty

Joule was remarkably compact at just 11 inches tall and under 2 inches wide. It was slim enough to fit inside most drawers. No other circulator could match this portability.

Joule‘s slim profile made storage easy. (Image: TechGearLab)

Despite its small footprint, Joule pumped out a beefy 1,100 watts of power. This rapid heating minimized wait times to get cooking.

Precise Temperature Stability

Joule delivered absolute precision by maintaining target temperatures within 0.1°F —stellar for sous vide consistency.

An intuitive app let users set exact temps and track cooks remotely. Joule even automatically adjusted power to account for altitude.

Innovative Visual Feedback

Joule‘s LED band displayed heating progress, notified when water reached temperature, and showed current settings. This real-time visual feedback brought sous vide to life.

Combine these innovations, and Joule made sous vide foolproof for novice cooks yet flexible for pros. Sleek, capable engineering brought precision cooking home.

The Golden Age of Joule

Joule released to rave reviews praising its thoughtful design in November 2015. Home cooks finally had access to restaurant-quality sous vide.

In 2016, Joule won numerous awards and accolades:

• TIME‘s Best Inventions of the Year

• Popular Science‘s Best of What‘s New

• Fast Company‘s Innovation by Design Awards

Joule sales and popularity surged over the next three years. ChefSteps expanded their suite of online sous vide courses to further educate cooks.

For a time, the future looked bright for Joule and ChefSteps. But storm clouds gathered as competitors caught up.

The Challenges of Scale

While Joule led a wave of consumer sous vide adoption, competition heated up. Esteemed brands like Anova brought cheaper WiFi-connected circulators to market.

Despite Joule‘s innovations, ChefSteps struggled to scale up manufacturing and distribution. Ongoing supply chain and sales channel issues proved costly.

In this field, Joule was no longer the only thoroughbred. It needed to adapt to stay ahead. But ChefSteps lacked the resources and infrastructure for rapid iteration.

The Shocking End of Joule

In late 2019, ChefSteps announced a surprising acquisition by Breville USA, the kitchen appliance giant. People assumed Joule would thrive under this new ownership.

Days later, ChefSteps dropped a bombshell. They were shuttering the company immediately.

"ChefSteps is going away. After nearly seven years of innovation, our story comes to an end. ”

A somber blog post cited escalating costs and insufficient revenue growth. Just like that, Joule sous vide production ceased permanently.

For those at ChefSteps, it was an emotional end after sharing countless cooking adventures with their community. For Joule owners, it meant no more updates or support.

The Sous Vide Legacy of Joule

While its time was short, Joule made an indelible impact on precision cooking and connected hardware.

Joule brought sous vide to the mainstream public for the first time. It embodied how smart home appliances could enhance cooking through engineering and app integration.

Compact circulators today owe a debt to Joule‘s unique industrial design. Joule set the bar higher for user experience and connectivity.

Most importantly, Joule enabled home cooks to achieve professional-level results and rediscover their passion for food. That inspiration endures even as Joule fades into memory.

Where Sous Vide Goes Next

ChefSteps still publishes sous vide guides and recipes to continue inspiring cooks. But for Joule, the trailblazing stops here.

Joule‘s dream now passes to a new generation of startups tackling sous vide. Brands like Cosori and Inkbird keep innovating on connectivity and performance.

Sous vide wand devices get smaller every year. Machine learning may soon give us circulators that automatically optimize time and temperature. Joule‘s push for progress continues.

While beloved, no product lasts forever. For those fortunate enough to own a Joule, keep cooking and reminiscing. Joule advanced sous vide much further and faster than otherwise possible.

Not a bad legacy for a little immersion circulator that could. What sous vide wonders will we see in the next decade? Only time and human ingenuity will tell.