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Wouldn't It?
Instead of Marshall McLuhan, I'd like to have a chef standing behind my kitchen door ready to answer questions, give advice and teach me everything. But life isn't like that, which is why we have television chefs. They're everywhere: The Food Network, PBS, Bravo, TV One, Fox, daytime talk shows, morning news shows, The Home Shopping Channel and QVC in the middle of the night. They even strut their stuff in your own store. Little wonder many of us (it's okay to admit it) stand in our kitchens and, for no reason, begin explaining to absolutely no one how and why we roll a lemon before juicing or stick it in the microwave for 15 seconds, exclaiming, "Look at all that juice!"
TV chefs are only one segment of the seemingly endless parade of them showing us how to do it. According to the Internet analysis firm Jupiter Research, 50 percent of consumers use the Internet to learn about food. More food businesses are turning to video on the Web to teach us the hows and whys of what we eat, including Whole Foods and Kraft. There are also hundreds of video blogs -- or vlogs -- where anyone with a camera and a little know-how can be a "TV Chef." It's certainly something to consider.
The bottom line? TV chefs sell. They sell everything from food, books, magazines and gadgets to Viking ranges. We all know using L'Oreal shampoo won't make us all look like Eva Longoria any more than a Viking range will make us cook like Bobby Flay. But the suggestion can't hurt. And it's great for business.
Firsthand Experience
Now, more than ever, there is more information about the growing, gathering, preparing, serving and consuming of food. But how do we use this information, and the people disseminating it, to our advantage? How can it drive business into our stores? What can we learn from these chefs, cooks and TV hosts that will help us better educate ourselves, and then share that valuable information with our customers? More importantly, how can we get some of these celebrity chefs into our stores?
David Freeman is vice president of Kitchenware
Outfitters, a four-year-old, 4,000-square-foot store in Savannah,
Ga., situated between a Lenscrafters and a Publix. TV chefs, he
says, have had a tremendous impact on business."When they hold up a Microplane and say something about it, I get a run on Microplanes," Freeman says. "When Martha Stewart talks about something, I get a run on that, too. It's amazing. The reaction is almost instantaneous."
Heather McGinty and her sister-in-law, Jackie McGinty, are co-owners of Cook, a 1,400-square-foot store in Somers Point, N.J. Open for less than a year, Cook is conveniently located next to a ShopRite supermarket.
"We've found while we get people asking for specific items that they've seen on television, people do come into the store, see a product on our wall and that jogs their memory of having seen it on TV," McGinty explains. "For example, Giada De Laurentiis ("Everyday Italian," Food Network) did a show on homemade ravioli and we sold out every ravioli maker we had. They see it and say, 'This is what she used,' and then they buy it."
McGinty says she now carries the Peppermate pepper mill that Ina Garten, host of the Food Network's "Barefoot Contessa," uses because so many customers ask for it.
And then there's the power marketing punch of Oprah Winfrey.
"We carried a line of spices featured in O Magazine," McGinty adds, "and although we don't aggressively use that kind of signage, (we) put up the featured page from the magazine and some of the information the company sent us. It worked. As soon as the signs went up, the spices just flew out the door."
How Do You Keep Up?
In a perfect world, retailers would have access to a list of what ingredients, products, appliances and kitchen tools are being featured on every television food show. And that information would be available far enough in advance to order and take delivery of the appropriate stock. But that's not going to happen.
"There isn't a source list for anything prior to air except what's on the Web (foodnetwork.com)," says Allison Page, vice president of programming at the Food Network. "That listing, which only gives a week or two of advanced notice, gives titles of each episode, a couple of lines of description and recipes."
Page explains, "Each show is independently produced. The production companies and directors at the Food Network have the information ahead of time but it's not something we're sending out to anyone. The rationale is, the programs are ever changing while filming and editing take place so there's really no final information that can be sent out. There's information on the Web but not one clearinghouse with all the information on individual shows."
Retail Buyer Beware
Freeman has learned from experience that seeing is not believing.
"If a TV chef holds up an item, you have to be careful -- now that the
chefs are beginning to promote their lines -- that that item measures up to your store's standards," he cautions. "Every one of those chefs subtly shows their products. Some will even say, 'This is very helpful.' If you watch Bobby Flay, you'll see he's cooking on a Viking grill, that he's using a Viking knife, a Viking saucepan and it's all very subtle because the camera picks up the label. That kind of subliminal advertising doesn't drive sales, it's when they show an item -- that drives sales."
Page quickly refutes that and says the network doesn't decide what to promote. "That's up to the consumer," she says. "It's whatever piques their interest, whatever elements viewers pick up on."
What about when a chef comes out with a new product?
"If Rachael (Ray) is using a new knife that she came out with, she would simply use it," she says. "We don't call attention to it or put out specifics. We don't do product placement. The chefs can use their own line if they have one, but we don't want to turn the show into a commercial."
Page says popular products are "always a question of what elements within a show viewers pick up on and call in about versus what they won't. It's a matter of what consumers get excited about."
TV Chefs Make Business Soar
Most independent retailers can't afford the "A-list" TV chefs (personal appearance fees generally run between $5,000 to over $200,000), still there are plenty of excellent chefs and published authors on food who are affordable. And how about recent graduates of culinary schools, which, because of the exploding popularity of TV cooking shows, have grown exponentially.
Although Cook in Somers Point, N.J., needs to additional equipment before beginning an in-store chef program, it's something that's on their "to-do" list.
Co-owner Jackie McGinty is a graduate of the Academy of Culinary Arts in southern New Jersey.
"Lots of people have asked for cooking classes and in-store demonstrations, and we fully intend to do it," Heather McGinty explains. "Jackie has many contacts at the culinary institute who are just waiting for us to give them the go-ahead."
Kitchenware Outfitters is beginning a very aggressive in-store chef program for September and October.
"It's the first time we've tried to do anything with chefs who have some kind of celebrity," Freeman says.
The store is bringing in Tre Wilcox, a viewers' favorite on Bravo's "Top Chefs," to do cooking classes and an in-store demonstration of Chantal's new Copper Fusion, a health-conscious and environmentally friendly cookware. Wilcox is the national spokesperson for the line. Each participant in the class ($90 per person) receives a Chantal 8" fry pan, while the store receives a discount on the order.
In October, Elizabeth Carmel, creator of Grill Friends, a line of outdoor cooking tools, visits the store. Harold Import Company, the company that handles the grilling line, is also giving the store a discount on the order.
"Chefs will be signing books, but booksellers will not discount us anymore," Freeman says. Chef Virginia Willis, author and former kitchen director for Martha Stewart, is also scheduled.
Make It Happen
How does a store owner contact these "celebrity chefs?" Getting a graduate of your local or any other culinary school is as easy as making a phone call, but what if you had the money to hire, say, Alton Brown, of the Food Network's popular and long-running "Good Eats" series?
"All of the talent on air have their own agents and managers, so that's separate from us," Page explains. "We can certainly direct you to the right agencies and their specific agents, but it's not something we control. We've never published a list of agents, we just answer questions when they arise."
Freeman managed to get TV chefs into the store because he has a connection.
"We're the luckiest store in the world because Damon Lee Fowler, a noted cookbook author, works for us (as culinary director) and he knows all these people," he says. "He's the one who booked Carmel, Willis and the rest. I booked Tre Wilcox through the Chantal Cookware Company."
Fowler has written six cookbooks and Freeman says his latest, The Savannah Cookbook ($34.95, Gibbs Smith), is flying off the shelf.
"We sold over 250 copies since it was released in May. He's got another one coming out, a reprint of his first, Classical Southern Cooking: A Celebration of the Cuisine of the Old South ($30, Crown)," Freeman notes, adding he's also lucky to have his wife, Barbara, as the brains behind the company. She was the CFO for Le Creuset of America.
"We also have the good fortune to be in Savannah, which is the home of Paula Dean, so they purchase items here for Paula's show," he says proudly. "She mentioned our name on her show once and that brought in some business."
Kitchenware Outfitters runs 100 TV spots each month on the Food Network via its local cable system that covers an area 30 miles north and south of Savannah. "We make sure some of our Food Network ads run during Paula's show," Freeman says.
Kitchenware Outfitters
Twelve Oaks Shopping Center
5500 Abercorn St.
Savannah, GA 31405
912-356-1117
www.kitchenwareoutfitters.com
Cook
Ocean Heights Plaza
41 Bethel Road
Somers Point, NJ 08244
609-927-9406
www.cooknj.com
Comments? shoffman@gourmetretailer.com
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