Several celebrity chefs have recently forged agreements with retailers to extend their names into home goods. Some are entering the category for the first time. Others are expanding existing deals focused on cookware and dinnerware by adding lifestyle categories such as bedding and furniture that take them well beyond the kitchen:
- Chef and TikTok influencer Jenny Martinez is building on her relationship with JCPenney to create a broader home collection that extends into every room, in an expanded deal announced in January. Martinez, who has more than 3.7 million TikTok followers, has been working with the retailer on cookware and entertaining essentials for more than two years. The new range is inspired by her Mexican heritage and includes bedding, throws, pillows, and bath essentials, along with stainless steel and cast-iron cookware. Since the beginning of 2025, JCPenney has been refocusing on the home category, positioning itself as “delivering standout design at an exceptional value.”
- Michelin-starred restaurateur, TV chef, and cookbook author Tom Kerridge paired with British retailer Marks & Spencer, in a deal revealed in November 2025, for an affordable professional-grade kitchen collection, the chef’s first. The 50-piece array consists of items including cast iron pots and casseroles, stainless steel sauce and frying pans, butcher’s blocks, knives and utensils, mugs, a dinner set, Denby Pottery serveware, and more. This marks an expansion of an existing partnership; Kerridge launched his first retail food collection with M&S in 2024, consisting of 19 take-and-go dishes and meals under the Gastropub x Tom Kerridge banner, and served as a brand ambassador before that.
- Daniel Humm, the chef behind Michelin-starred restaurant Eleven Madison Park in New York, paired with Crate & Barrel in June 2025 for his first home collection, focused on products for cooking and entertaining. The range was positioned as promoting culinary simplicity and its design was influenced by the Bauhaus movement. Items in the 30-piece assortment included kitchen and tabletop items, from wine and Champagne glasses to a Japanese clay cooking pot, as well as furniture and décor.
- Back in 2024, TV star, chef, cookbook author, and restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson entered the home goods space for the first time, in partnership with West Elm. The 32-piece capsule collection, which included tableware, textiles, lighting, furniture, art, and entertaining essentials, was inspired by the chef’s Ethiopian roots, Swedish upbringing, and current New York City home.
Chefs also continue to enter the home space through deals with manufacturers, as Cat Cora did when she debuted a line of soft home textiles with licensee Gul Ahmed/Sky Home last month. And they are still partnering with retailers and manufacturers alike for frozen, refrigerated, and shelf-stable foods, with recent examples including Guy Fieri with Circle K, Rodney Scott and Ann Kim with Target, and Masaharu Morimoto with Williams Sonoma, among others.
Celebrity chefs’ expansion into home goods — especially in categories beyond the more traditional kitchen-focused products where they have an established presence — represents another example of the diversification of their licensing programs of late. They have been increasingly testing the waters in categories such as fashion apparel, children’s books, beauty, and more, even as they continue to focus on core areas like food, cookware, and tabletop.
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