Plans to create an exciting farm-based tourism dining experience, coupled with the growth of their private fine dining and luxury wedding catering businesses has opened the gate for young Margaret River chef George Cooper and his wife Kayleigh to create a new brand – Tiller Dining.

Tiller Dining has been born from the passion of George and Kayleigh to bring exciting, innovative and meaningful dining experiences to the south west and Western Australia.

Their existing businesses FoodbytheChef and The Wedding Caterer will now be known as Tiller Dining and Tiller Weddings and the new brand will soon extend to their exciting new paddock to plate dining experience planned for their recently-purchased 21-hectare farm at Yallingup Siding.

George said the Tiller Dining experience will deliver much more than just a restaurant meal.

“Our aim is to create a true tourism dining experience on the farm. I've always sourced high quality local ingredients for my cooking, but want to now take this a step further and grow as much as I can on the farm to take the process from start to finish and share this with our guests,” he said.

Tiller will be the culmination of fresh home grown produce, a dining experience, and the opportunity for guests to become part of George and Kayleigh's life on the farm for a few hours.

“We want to give guests a complete Margaret River food experience, so they can walk the land, pick the fruit and veg in season for their meal, see the livestock, pull a marron or freshwater mussels out of the dam and then see me prepare the food for them.

“As I do in my private dining events, I'll introduces each course, telling the story of how it came about and making it relatable to guests.

“By doing it on the farm we won't be limited to what we can transport and cook – we'll have it all there,” he said.

Building will soon commence to create a dedicated indoor and outdoor dining room, kitchen, and function space, opening out into the farm with sweeping views over the paddocks, and taking advantage of spectacular sunsets.

“I don't want it to be a restaurant as such, I want you to be coming to a building that's a part of Kayleigh's and my life, to spend about four hours with us, share our life on the farm and hopefully our passion for what we do and for our beautiful part of the world, so they can connect with the land, the produce and the food.”

The word 'Tiller' has meanings which resonate with the Coopers and their plans. In Greek the meaning of the name George is from 'georgos' meaning tiller of the soil, or farmer. A Tiller is a person or machine that turns over soil for planting crops, a handle that turns the rudder of a boat, or a shoot growing from the base of a plant.

Tiller represents an exciting new beginning for the ambitious couple.

The Coopers hope to open the gate to the Tiller Dining farm experience in Summer 2019/20. Learn more at their new website www.tillerdining.com.au

View the Tiller Dining story here: https://vimeo.com/264580302/ff2548cf0c