Still Cooking

Celebrity chefs and bakers continue to enter or expand their presence in consumer products, with several announcing new initiatives within the last year or so. Many of these have used one or more of the following tactics to separate themselves from their competitors in this already crowded arena:

• Ethnic focus. Maria Loi, who is a TV, restaurant, and cookbook star in her native Greece and is known to U.S. audiences through her cookbooks and speaking appearances, focuses specifically on products that support Greek recipes or are inspired by Greek tavernas, art, and lifestyle. Partners to date include Hampton Forge for cutlery, ceramics, cookware, and flatware and Sysco Foods, which distributes her Loi Pasta line.
• Unique positioning. Paul Hollywood, a judge on The Great British Bake-Off, has signed deals with Kitchen Craft for bakeware and accessories and with Premier Foods for artisanal bread, dessert, and savory bake mixes. His products are touted as having a number of unique characteristics: a focus on baked goods beyond the traditional cakes; products that are designed for display as well as use, and a skew toward male bakers. Meanwhile, Andrew Zimmern, who hosts Bizarre Foods, introduced a line of hard-to-find meats, such as harissa-infused Merguez lamb sausages, available under the World’s Best Meats brand through shopping channel Evine Live.
• Strength in numbers. Daniel Boulud, Dominique Crenn, and Michel Richard launched a line of dinnerware, cookware, bakeware, and serveware last year under The French Chefs brand. Products, which reflect the varied expertise and interests of all three restaurateurs, come with tips and recipes from the trio.
• Categories beyond the norm. While most chefs focus closely on foods, food kits, and tools for preparing, serving, and eating food, Jason Santos has licensed Card.com for debit cards. Santos, who owns two restaurants in Boston, was a finalist on Hell’s Kitchen, and appears on The Talk, also has signed Buzzy Seeds for vegetable and herb grow kits. Separately, Gordon Ramsay, known for hosting MasterChef, MasterChef Jr., and Hell’s Kitchen, partnered with TCC for knives, glassware, dinnerware, and cookware available for retailer loyalty and rewards programs globally.

Some of the many other chefs involved in brand-extension activities of late include Robert Irvine of Restaurant: Impossible, who retained The Brand Liaison to help him expand beyond existing cookware and nutrition bars into healthy meals and snacks, appliances, spices and oils, supplements and fitness products; Michael Symon, restaurant owner and host of The Chew, who introduced a cutlery set through licensee Ergo Chef; and Maeve Rochford, owner of Sugar & Scribe Bakery in La Jolla, California, who signed Coastal Limited to expand her personal and bakery brands.