A stunning, quality kitchen knife kit with everything you need to get started, and an interactive experience and story that makes learning kitchen skills fun and easy.
Let’s Play With Knives.
*There is a mix of computer render and real products shown. All products are prototype and subject to change.
A stunning, quality kitchen knife kit with everything you need to get started.
An interactive experience and story that makes learning kitchen skills fun and easy.
Dive into the city of Haven, a post-Fracture cyberpunk port where Feed Hubs operate as restaurant, food factory, and grocery store all in one, and serve as neutral ground between perpetually warring mega-corps. Meet an eccentric cast of misfits fighting to survive and retain their humanity in a world where life is cheaper than a stimpak, and join a vibrant community of like-minded enthusiasts to hone your knife and culinary skills like never before.
I’m Tim, founder of Vite, and I used to cook at a Michelin Star restaurant, and many years ago, started making Vite Ramen. With the support of people like you, we were able to bring that vision to life, without investors, with our goal of putting people over profit.
And that was awesome.
But that wasn’t my dream.
I had different dreams, once. Dreams that I had in my head, always dangerous, always risky, never the right time.
Once upon a time, I wanted to be a writer.
But writers don’t make money, I reasoned with pathologically asian logic, and becoming a destitute writer would only confirm the failing grades and struggles I had with school.
So I threw away that dream.
Once upon a time, I wanted to be an actor.
But male asian actors don’t get roles, I thought, and I’d end up taking on small roles as I made ends meet serving at restaurants, and never make it.
So I threw away that dream.
Once upon a time, I wanted to make knives.
I’d spent a month working on an essay, trying to convince my parents why it would be a good idea to let me have a knife. They said no, and threw away that paper.
So I threw away that dream.
Once upon a time, I didn’t want to be a chef.
On a whim, I chose this profession, went to culinary school, graduated at the top of my class, and started cooking for a Michelin Star restaurant as my very first job.
And then I was asked, one day, “Do you want to open your own restaurant?”
I stammered, stuttered, and said “Yes” without thinking. Why did that question trouble me so much? It hung over my head for my remaining days, until one day, I wrote a letter to the chef, talking about my decisions to leave, and resigned.
He smiled despite himself when reading it, impressed, and said, “Maybe you should try being a writer next.”
We laughed, one to diffuse the situation, one in bitter irony.
And I cried that night, for so many different reasons.
When this BackerKit opens, July 28th, it’ll be my birthday. I’ll be 32.
I’ve gotten to taste these worlds that might’ve been-- I’ve gotten to write scripts, act in stupid little ad videos, make some knives for partners we’ve worked with. Always with caveats. Always with restrictions. Always in service to another goal, another dream. Glimpses and mirages of what could’ve been.
Maybe the right time never comes.
Maybe life and reality always get in the way.
But if there’s never a right time, then there, too, is never a wrong time.
To be is to dream, and to dream is to live.
I want to dream again. I want to create something and do something that is truly and wholly mine, something built out of the dreams that were and dreams to be.
I want to start the dreams that I’d thrown away so long ago. Knives and kitchenware I can call my own, write characters and worlds and stories, and do it all in a unique, special way that can help people become confident in their own skills, and fall in love with knives, and cooking, and if I may be so bold, the world and characters you’ll have a hand in creating and steering.
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You were told knives were intimidating.
Difficult.
Hard to learn.
A beautiful knife is showstopping, and wielded with skill, doubly so.
What if I told you that it’s easier than you think? What if you could get a stunning, high quality Knife Kit with the right tools that taught you in a fun, exciting way, with a vivid cyberpunk world filled with misfits trying to find their place, teaching and learning alongside you?
You’re a new FeedTek, here to fill in at VK-24601 after a mass exodus of the previous staff. Vivian, Executive Chef and lead FeedTek is struggling to manage the feedhub with a skeleton crew, and can be often caught cursing colorfully at the ‘bots that somehow seem to be hurting more than they’re helping.
VK-24601 Feed Hub
You’ve never worked as a FeedTek before. It’s a rare opportunity in a world where most food is prepared with the push of a button in constitutors. At first, you were nervous— after all, you didn’t have any of the skills or kit, and wondered why you were brought in at all. Vivian doesn’t seem the type to just hire anyone, and you’ve seen a lot of others be rejected outright.
Still, she told you not to worry, and had given you a Kit that once belonged to someone who worked here before you, along with a few MemStates to go over, saying it’d teach you real quick how to use the kit with the best of them.
A unique, exclusive design made by a former cook at a Michelin Star kitchen, this knife is designed to be stunningly eye catching with components and design language usually reserved for knives many times its price.
With VG-10 Steel at 61HRC and distinct handles inspired by Japanese “wa” octogonal handles, this knife cuts through the competition like no other. I can, and will talk for hours about this knife design, and every single detail and aspect of it... but I was also told to heavily summarize so we have enough time and space for the rest of this.
If you're interested in hearing more about the design process, material selection, etc, etc, then let me know!
The VKP:
The perfect pa(i)ring. The VKP paring kitchen knife has a modernized tapered Japanese “wa” handle that makes it easy to get a grip for peeling tasks and small items.
No compromise just because it’s smaller. Still the same VG10 steel at 61HRC, sharpened to be hair shaving sharp.
QR Board:
Your access point to the VKS world.
Follow the instructions provided in the FeedTek manual closely.
//#IF conditions are met
//#THEN Reveal QR Code
//GRANT ACCESS:
Allow access the next chapters of your journey.
Updates are distributed every season, free of charge if the last season was completed.
Archived Story Seasons can always be accessed even after the end.
Doubles as a cutting board, as its constructed of Teak, one of the most durable, waterproof, and low maintenance hardwoods. The high natural oil content of teak makes it naturally antibacterial and easy to take care of, requiring significantly less re-oiling than other hardwood cutting boards.
When you back this project, you’re helping dreams come to life, and get a beautifully designed kitchen knife kit with an interactive story that teaches you the skills to become a master in the kitchen.
The QR Board will receive updates to print out, with community puzzles and knife skill challenges for each Story Season and Chapter, teaching you new techniques, new kinds of knives, new kinds of gear, and much more, all while the story of VKS unfolds around you.
Each Story Season and Chapter will be free to access, with the next one unlocking upon completion of the previous one, until you catch up to the live story.
We want to start with a blend of illustrations, writing, and 3D renders along with live shot video where it makes sense to tell the story, and one day grow to be able to do fully animated story content, all while delivering the best kitchenware and ways to learn how to use them!
Shown below: V1.0 handles of the VKS and v3.0
I'm going to be honest. I have so much I want to talk about and show and I'm just running out of time to talk about it all and show it all and this is already REALLY LONG. I already was told to summarize the knife stuff or I would've yapped about the design of the knife for HOURS and wrote this much just about the knife itself... and that's not counting the pages and pages of worldbuilding notes and character designs and concepts and everything else that we've been doing, and the end of the first season and chapter storyline arcs already figured out!
From the "Living World" aspect of the Vite Kitchens social media accounts, tweeting and posting as if they're from the VK-24601 world, to the "endgame" content that "Living World" will provide once you're done with the season's "Main" story, to forming new VK Feed Hubs with friends and completing challenges against others, to even creating full, real life sets with costumes and kitchens for community members to challenge real life bosses that will affect the "Living Story", there's so, so much more planned!
If you want to hear more and want more, make sure you let me know any questions you have in the community discussions, on social media(@viteramen, @timjzheng), or on our discord!
Cherish and care for your tools, and they will take care of you. It’s just as important to take care of your equipment as it is to learn to use them well.
Honing Rod:
Ribbed Rod, hardened to 62HRC±2, Magnetic, #70 Steel
Starter Sharpening Kit:
It’s not the best kit in the world, but it’ll do in a pinch. Only a poor craftsman blames their tools. Trust me, FeedTek, you’re not gonna be able to use the nice stuff anywhere near their potential yet. Hell, you’ll need some practice before you can even use these ones well.
Flattening Stone 400/1000 Grit Dual Sided Stone
3000/8000 Grit Dual Sided Stone
Stone Base
Angle Guide
SynthStrop
Aluminum Chromium Stropping Compound
Food Grade Mineral Oil:
NF 70 FDA Food Grade Cutting Board Mineral Oil. Use regularly to prevent drying and cracking, and maintain the water resistance and anti-bacterial nature of teakwood.
This isn’t our first crowdfunding project. We’ve done many others before, including Vite Ramen, one of the most successful edible food crowdfunding projects ever. We’re also no strangers to making knives and kitchenware, with many different projects under our belt.
Backers in the first 48 hours will receive special gifts!
Why are the discounts so high?
Well... because to be honest, this is really scary. It's something new done in a way that no one's ever done before. We could just be selling knives by themselves, and probably do pretty well, and the pricing would cover that alright. But we're doing more than that-- We're creating a world, telling stories, figuring out new ways that people can learn the kitchen in ways never done before.
Between artwork and 3D renderings and the pages and pages of writing, worldbuilding, development, and much more we need to do, costs are just significantly higher. But without community, without feedback, without people trying this out, we won't know if it works either.
So, for the BackerKit launch, not only are we giving a hefty discount, we're putting a huge amount of our time and money in, and charging just enough that we can cover the cost of production and pay everyone who's working on this. We want to prove that even the kitchen can become a narrative experience unlike any other, and that dreams can come true.
//TIER 1 Just A Donation
$1
This is a simple "observer" pledge level. Pledge at this $1 level if you would access to the pledge manager and add-ons.
Shipping is not included in each pledge tier, and due to fluctuating shipment fees, we cannot provide an accurate rate for shipping now. Estimates may be between $9-$20 USD depending on pledge tier and distance from California. Please note these are estimates and will change based on the number of items being shipped with each pledge and add-on. Once we get closer to shipping and fulfillment, we will charge for shipping through the Pledge Manager.
You'll be able to update your shipping address in the final survey before shipment. Please keep an eye on your email from Backerkit and us when we get closer to the target ship date.
Due to shipping restrictions, knives are only available for shipping to US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Italy, France, Spain, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Philippines, India, Thailand, Greece, Bulgaria, Laos, New Zealand, Portugal, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Croatia, Japan, Vietnam, Germany, & Romania.
This is an ambitious project of a kind that’s never been done before. There will be things to smooth out along the way, but we are committed to be as transparent as possible to let everyone know what’s going on, and why.
Our experience with manufacturing means that the physical goods, such as the knife, cutting board, and other products all have well established relationships with manufacturers and suppliers, meaning we will have a significantly lower chance of running into unforeseen issues.
Building out the story and teaching in an interactive part digital, part physical experience will be something new to us(and everyone else!). Every step of the way, in between seasons and chapters, we’ll be constantly talking with the community to understand what worked for them and what didn’t!
After funding, we’re off to get things started! We’re hoping not only to be able to fund the production of the kitchenware, but to be able to hire full time writers and the creation of other assets required for this project.
We’re expecting that it’ll take 5-6 months after the project is finished to produce both the physical products and the assets and systems required for the story.
