Celebrity Chefs Become Big Business
Backstage at Lincoln Center, stagehand Adam Lewis was multitasking. Fiddling with a soundboard, he was also trying to grab the attention of his new favorite food celebrities in the green room. "This is going right up there next to Beyoncé and Metallica," said Lewis, clutching his official 20th Anniversary James Beard Awards program, covered with autographs from chefs like Bobby Flay of Boy Meets Grill. Lewis is fascinated with the Southwest-spiced Flay and the other personalities who pepper the Food Network: "These people are on the money."
With the help of that cable network and other cooking shows like Bravo's reality show Top Chef, chefs are emerging from behind the kitchen doors and mushrooming into a new class of entertainers—and corporate pitchmen. As chefs turn the heads of viewers like Lewis, more companies are courting these culinary stars to help add flavor to their brands and sell products. At the same time, foodie investors are betting on chefs' newly found star power to fuel restaurant empires. As a result, the people who perform the sweaty, blue-collar work of restaurant cooking are being transformed into white-collar professionals, complete with entourages of accountants and publicity managers.
Five chefs were on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list this year, including Flay, whose 2006 earnings weighed in at $2 million. That's far above the $50,000 to $62,000 that executive chefs typically make according to PayScale.com. Big-name chefs don't even have to be in the kitchen to earn about $1 million a year just to slap their name on a Las Vegas restaurant, says Dorothy Cann Hamilton, founder of the French Culinary Institute and host of a new PBS show called Chef's Story.
"Once you become a celebrity, you have something to brand," says Dana Cowin, editor of Food & Wine magazine. "Companies outside the restaurant world can get a little glamour from having a star chef," she says, pointing to hotels, cookware companies, and other business that have recently signed cooks to help market their products.
Endorsements and nail polish. The deal cookware company Pyrex signed this year with Food Network siren Giada De Laurentiis was the first celebrity endorsement deal for the almost 100-year-old company. "We're trying to reinvigorate the Pyrex brand and reach younger consumers," says Michelle Maslanka, brand manager. This year Pyrex released a new line of prepware and baking dishes with contemporary-looking red silicon handles. "Someone like Giada lends credibility to the product line, because she represents everyday cooking and entertaining."
De Laurentiis has been taking advantage of her newfound fame. While she has turned down offers to open restaurants, she is considering coming out with a line of Italian cooking products and has been busy helping host the Today show and signing books. She concedes that her star power has grown beyond food. Now at book signings, "I answer questions about what color nail polish I am wearing," she says.
Smithfield Foods, trying to kick-start its business, went with Savannah, Ga., grandmother Paula Deen, best known for dishing up treats laden with the likes of Miracle Whip and butter. Smithfield, the world's largest pork producer, was looking to make home cooking less intimidating; its sales took a hit as people started cooking less and eating out more. The company looked at a number of Food Network personalities and settled on Deen, whose southern flavor fit well with Smithfield. "The research shows she is approachable, makes food fun and meals easy to prepare," says Jim Schloss, corporate vice president of sales and marketing. "You feel like you're talking to someone in your family."
advertisement
