New kids on the block: the next generation of celebrity chefs

In the 1980s, Keith Floyd reinvented the TV chef. Today, his successors aren’t just on the box, they’re earning big bucks through endorsements – and a new generation of stars are waiting in the wings. Rob Brown reports


He once said he could happily napalm the lot of them.

While Keith Floyd may not have liked the current crop of TV chefs, the rest of the nation’s love affair has continued to blossom.

Today, supermarket shelves are crammed with products bearing the faces of the foodie A-list. And at times these endorsement deals such as Marco Pierre White’s with Bernard Matthews or former AA Chef of the Year Phil Vickery’s with discount chain Aldi have raised a few eyebrows.

Now there’s a new generation of celebrity chefs catching the eyes of the industry. Plucked from the kitchens of the country’s finest restaurants and the growing number of foodie TV programmes on our screens, these rising stars are attracting increasing attention from those on the hunt for brand ambassadors.

But both they and the brands need to choose wisely. Get it wrong and culinary credibility and brand equity could be damaged.

Would the omnipresent Jamie Oliver be as effective for Sainsbury’s if he’d taken Kentucky Fried Chicken up on an endorsement deal he was offered before he teamed up with the retailer?

Probably not, says Oliver’s former agent Borra Garson, MD of Deborah McKenna, a management agency specialising in celeb chefs, and it wouldn’t have been right for him either.

“The important thing is to know when to say no,” she says. “Jamie was approached by all sorts of people Coca-Cola, KFC but the first one he agreed to endorse was Sainsbury’s. Today, a lot of chefs are spreading themselves too thinly. With people like Worrall Thompson endorsing so many products it’s not the brands that will suffer in the end but the chefs themselves. You have to ask, is it credible? If it’s not, the press will have a field day.”

Some have shown more questionable judgement than others. Did the world really need Antony Worrall Thompson cleaning wipes (in addition to the panoply of other products bearing his cheery smile); Gary Rhodes’ face slapped across Tate & Lyle Sugar; or indeed Ainsley Harriott’s infamous “prick with fork” sausages? Probably not. Which is why agents are advising their aspiring celeb chefs to think long and hard before putting their names to brands.

Their words of advice are not falling on deaf ears. This Morning regular and rising star Dean Edwards recently turned down a deal with a cleaning brand, says Garson, his agent. “They’re the wrong kind of products for chefs,” she says.

But others have found perfect matches. TV chef and author Jo Pratt has put her name to Tilda rice and Tenderstem broccoli while Cornwall-based double Michelin-starred chef Nathan Outlaw has teamed up with Davidstow Cornish Cheddar and is now in talks with Simply Cornish.

The reason for caution is simple, says Tommi Miers, the winner of Masterchef 2005 and co-founder of the Wahaca Mexican restaurant chain: the public can spot a sell-out a mile off.

“Credibility is everything,” she says. “If you start putting your name to things that you don’t believe in, it will be so apparent from the word ‘go’. The more you put your name to things, the greater the risk of losing your credibility is.”

Credibility is, of course, one of the many factors that makes Miers attractive to brands. Of course she’s a talented chef and passionate about food but, perhaps just as importantly, she has the looks and personality for TV.

“She has credibility with the trade, consumers and the category,” says Jossie Clayton, a consultant at branding consultancy The Value Engineers. “Not only did she win Masterchef, she’s created a unique dining experience at Wahaca and she will appeal to brand owners because of her enthusiasm and passion for Mexican food.”

But Miers hasn’t put her name to any brands (although she says her latest Channel 5 series, Mexican Food Made Simple, in which she travels Mexico in search of the best of the nation’s street food, could not have been produced without the backing of sponsor Mission Foods), for now at least.

“I have been approached by people and there are some things I’d say yes to immediately, but I am cautious,” she says.

And that’s because there’s a lot more to it than simply putting your name to a product. Today, brand ambassadors need to demonstrate a real affinity for the organisations they work with and somehow enhance their customers’ experience of a product or retailer through the association. Jenny Mitton, account manager at sponsorship consultancy Synergy Sponsorship, points to the threesome of Waitrose, Heston and Delia as an illustration of how the role of brand ambassadors has evolved.

“You can’t just slap someone’s face on a pack,” she says. “If you’re going to align your brand to a personality, you should be looking to give something back to your consumers. Waitrose has done this very well by creating an experience through the Heston and Delia recipes but I’m never quite sure how Jamie Oliver actually adds to the experience of shopping at Sainsbury’s, for example. If Tommi Miers teamed up with El Paso it might seem like a great idea, but what would I actually get back from that as a consumer?”

If the stars are not giving something back, or are seen to be simply selling out to the highest bidder, the public will soon become wary, agrees Andy Richards, MD of the agency ASL Celebrity Chefs.

“People can get fed up with seeing the same faces again and again,” says Richards. “The superstars will always be in demand Gordon Ramsay’s booked out for more than a year in advance and costs £30,000 a day and the Hairy Bikers are about £10,000 to £15,000 a day but there is a need for new blood. We’re constantly looking for new talent.”

Everyone has hot tips for future foodie celebdom and brand ambassadorship. The appearances of Beverley Glock who set up kids cookery company Splat Cooking in 2001 on Ocado.com and the video demonstrations of Spanish cuisine-inspired chef Jason Atherton (alongside others by Marco Pierre White and Jean-Christophe Novelli) on Tescorealfood.com might hint at some of the faces ready to join the A-list.

Sainsbury’s or Waitrose are unlikely to give up on their stars any time soon, says Garson. “But whoever becomes the face of Tesco will be very lucky,” she adds. “That would be a deal worth doing.”

That’s all well and good for today’s stars but Floyd, who reinvented the TV chef when he swaggered on to our screens in 1985, never enjoyed the megabucks deals of those following in his footsteps.

He may not have liked the current crop of TV chefs, but he would have leapt at the chance to diversify beyond TV, believes David Pritchard, long-time friend and author of Shooting the Cook, which chronicles his career producing Floyd’s many series in the 1980s and 1990s.

“Keith would be wailing and gnashing his teeth if he were looking down or up from where he is at this Klondike boom,” he says. “He definitely would have endorsed a few products to keep the old Bentley going. The boat of chefs promoting products sailed without him. It’s a shame, because he would have loved it.”

So would we.


The Floyd factor

Tommi Miers
Hot stuff. Brands have been trying to bag Miers for ages but the Masterchef winner and restaurateur is biding her time for that perfect deal. She wants a brand she believes in. With her latest TV series, Mexican Food Made Simple, hitting our screens in May, the right match may soon come knocking. Trouble is, the show’s on Channel Five. Will anyone watch it?
Floyd pedigree: 10 out of 10

Dean Edwards
Edwards has been on a culinary rollercoaster since he made it to the Masterchef final in 2005. The former digger driver worked at the double Michelin starred Midsummer House and has appeared alongside Gary Rhodes, Angela Hartnett and Jean-Christophe Novelli on the box. Now he’s a regular on ITV’s Daybreak with Lorraine Kelly. Brands are bound to be lining up.
Floyd pedigree: 8 out of 10

Jo Pratt
Tilda Rice, Appletiser, So Good Fat Free Soya Milk, Zyliss kitchen tools… the list goes on. She’s even been the face of Tenderstem Broccoli. Chum of Gary Rhodes, author and all-round foodie, Pratt has no qualms about putting her name about a bit. Real food for real people is what she’s all about, she says, but will the people tire of seeing her name on so many brands?
Floyd pedigree: 2 out of 10

Nathan Outlaw
Cornish food producers have been quick to clock the opportunities of having the 2011 Good Food Guide’s best fish restaurant Restaurant Nathan Outlaw in their back yard. Davidstow Cornish Cheddar’s signed him and now Simply Cornish is courting him. As the world’s only double Michelin-starred seafood restaurant, bigger fish could soon be circling.
Floyd pedigree: 9 out of 10

Yotam Ottolenghi
Already a hit with the lentil fanciers, Israeli veggie chef Ottolenghi would give the team at Linda McCartney a few sleepless nights if he jumped into retail. Author of the Ottolenghi Cookbook and The Guardian’s New Vegetarian column, Cordon Bleu-trained Ottolenghi has proved that there’s much more to veggie than cardboard sausages.
Floyd pedigree: 4 out of 10

Jason Atherton
Surely Ramsay is the best chef in the Gordon Ramsay Group? Actually Atherton won that accolade in 2006. He went from his hometown Skegness to Spain’s elBulli the legendary eatery that receives more than one million reservation requests a year (it closes in December) before joining Ramsay. Now he’s opening his own Spanish restaurant, in Mayfair.
Floyd pedigree: 10 out of 10

Luke Thomas
Is this the next Jamie Oliver? That’s what his agent reckons. Of course he would say that, but he might be on to something. He was named Future Chef 2009 aged just 15 and has gone on to work with food’s biggest names. He’s already on Sainsbury’s radar (he won their cookery contest as a nipper) and now, aged 17, he’s after his first Michelin star.
Floyd pedigree: 7 out of 10

Lorraine Pascale
She was no lightweight in the world of fashion and when Pascale sashayed from the catwalk to the kitchen, she took her success with her. She’s since worked in some of the world’s most prestigious kitchens as a pastry chef and made it on to our screens in the BBC series Baking Made Easy. The book spin-off made it all the way to number three in the Amazon bestsellers list.
Floyd pedigree: 9 out of 10

Gizzi Erskine
Named Britain’s sexiest chef in 2009, Gizzi’s been catching the eye of TV companies and brands alike since getting her on-screen debut in 2006. Her tattoos and punky image didn’t stop her becoming a regular on ITV’s This Morning and she’s teamed up with Innocent Drinks and backed campaigns for Stilton and British Eggs among others. Bigger things surely await.
Floyd pedigree: 10 out of 10

Anna Hansen
She’s big in New Zealand (she was voted Kiwi of the Year in 2010, despite being born in Canada). And she’s doing pretty well for herself over here, too, appearing on TV’s Market Kitchen, Saturday Kitchen and several radio shows. Later this year her first book, The Modern Pantry, an expansion of the menu at her restaurant of the same name, is coming out. One to watch.
Floyd pedigree: 4 out of 10


Back to schoolFirst they signed food’s oddest couple, molecular gastronomist Heston Blumenthal and Delia Smith she who taught Britain how to boil an egg. Then Waitrose opened its London cookery school, headhunting some of the country’s culinary kingpins.

“Waitrose shares a love of food and drink with our customers,” said marketing director Rupert Thomas when the school opened in November. “Across our business we have enormous expertise, which we aim to pass on to our customers.”

The school bagged some big names former Rick Stein school chef Gordon McDermott and Michelin-starred James Bennington amongst them and runs courses on everything from bread making to knife skills.

But it came under fire from some restaurateurs for poaching the cream of the capital’s cooks and a course claiming to teach the art of the Michelin star in just one day inspired some derision.

“It’s not about teaching people how to cook Michelin star food,” says Marco Pierre White. “I think it’s about dissolving their fears of the stove.”

Still, that’s not putting off the punters.