Food Network Takes Star Chefs to the Aisles
The Food Network is collaborating with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to bring Paula Deen, Rachael Ray and others of its celebrity chefs into supermarkets—on DVD.
A new line of 12 cooking DVDs showing the kitchen stars from the foodie cable channel in action will hit supermarkets just before Thanksgiving. The new “Meals on DVD: Shop, Watch Cook” series will present dishes grouped around a central theme or holiday and will also include a complete shopping list on the outside of the package and the chance to download recipes from the Internet.
Sony will distribute the discs in grocery outlets where it has distribution deals. These number about 9,000 stores and include Kroger, Safeway, H-E-B and ShopRite. The discs will sell for $7.99 each.
Sony plans to integrate display of the “Meals on DVD” titles within the grocery portions of the stores and not merely at the checkout counter. Locations in the produce and deli sections are being tested, as are displays in the spice and baking sections. The marketing effort will include both new signs and placement on existing signage.
“We want it in the main body of the store so people pick it up before they finish shopping,” Jack Talley, Sony vice president of retail expansion, said in a press report. “This is for the person who might be in the grocery store thinking about something for dinner, and at a minimal price, they can pick this up too. And there are Rachael Ray and Alton Brown showing them how to prepare meals for their families.”
Sony is also reportedly considering in-store cooking demonstrations and cross-promotions with retailers on related food items.
The ability to access further recipes over the Web is also a nod to the growing use of laptops in the kitchen, Talley said. Reports show that 35% of U.S. homes have a laptop somewhere in the vicinity of the kitchen, ad most standard laptops now come with DVD players built in.
Besides Ray, Brown and Deen, the “Meals on DVD” series will feature such Food Network luminaries as Giada De Laurentiis (“Everyday Italian”), Tyler Florence (“Tyler’s Ultimate”) and Ina Garten (“The Barefoot Contessa”).
