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Cynthetiq · 04-25-2005, 11:36 AM

I didn't even begin to think about product placement on food shows. I did of course think of the obvious untensils, but not the food itself.

Something to chew on.... literally.

Quote:

The Sponsored Chef
LINK
And our special for the day is... a deal with a veal group. More big chefs are getting paid to pitch everything from shrimp to raisins -- and not telling their customers. Kelly Crow on dining for dollars.
By KELLY CROW
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
April 22, 2005; Page W1

At the Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Mass., one typical East-West fusion offering is "Miso Risotto with Shrimp Mousse and Roulade of Seared Monkfish." With its fancy name and $28 price tag, diners might expect the seafood is all fresh off the boat.

But the shrimp that gourmet chef Ming Tsai uses in that entree and others is frozen. And that's no coincidence: Mr. Tsai cut a deal with a big supplier of frozen shrimp, which pays more than $550,000 a year to sponsor both of Mr. Tsai's TV cooking shows. The company also sells him frozen shrimp at "below cost." Under the deal, the underwriter asks that Mr. Tsai features shrimp on two or three episodes.

"For me, frozen is a tastier shrimp," says Mr. Tsai, who on occasion buys shrimp fresh from other vendors. "Fresh is not as fresh as frozen, I think."

MEAL DEALS

Famous cooks are increasingly accepting money and freebies from food-industry trade groups and manufacturers in return for promoting their products. Below, some chefs and menu items where the sponsor's food appears0.

And now, a meal from your chef's sponsors. Some of America's most respected culinary stars are signing contracts with trade groups from raisin farmers and avocado growers to canned-good promoters -- and getting cash, discounts and freebies in exchange for using their products. New York chef David Burke pockets $5,000 from a major beef lobby every time he cooks veal on the "Fox and Friends" morning show. In Salt Lake City, chef Ty Fredrickson's restaurant group gets $10,000 a year from an Alaska seafood trade group -- just for putting the word "Alaska" in front of the king crab and halibut dishes on the menu. Charlie Palmer, the high-profile restaurateur, says he is in early talks for a marketing deal with an American caviar maker, and has asked to get paid in fish eggs.

In an era when celebrity chefs sell themselves as artists with unique passions and new approaches in the kitchen, they're also serving diners some old-fashioned marketing techniques. Some could be featuring a food item because a trade group they're working with wants the chef's customers to shop for the item later, or recommend it to friends. On television programs, chefs often cook with appliances and products supplied by sponsors. While there's no outright deception here -- it's more an issue of omission -- some diners who hear about the arrangements say they leave a bit of a bad aftertaste.

Chef David Burke

Helen Stone, a food lover who runs a trade group for landscape architects in Las Vegas, says she "would feel better if there were some kind of disclosure," in cases where chefs are being paid to promote certain foods and products. Betsy Rosen, a regular at Blue Ginger for seven years, only recently learned that Mr. Tsai's kitchen is filled with ingredients and tools from his sponsors. She brought up the matter with Mr. Tsai's wife, but has concluded that Mr. Tsai is just being entrepreneurial. Still, she says, "I was just totally clueless that that kind of thing went on."

Frozen Shrimp, No Labels

Indeed, consumers rarely know about the deals. For instance, Mr. Tsai never uses fresh shrimp on his PBS cooking show, "Simply Ming," and all of his frozen shrimp comes from sponsor Contessa Premium Foods -- with the labels peeled off. He also doesn't mention the sponsorship deal while cooking. (The company's name appears in the credits at the end of the show.) Destin, Fla., chef Tim Creehan, whose upscale eatery emphasizes seafood, also puts up to four pork dishes at a time on the menu, including such cuts as pork belly and pork butt. Not included: the fact he's a paid representative for the National Pork Board. And then there's chef José Andrès, of Washington, D.C., who since signing up with the California Avocado Commission has increased the number of dishes with avocado in them on his menu to eight from two.

Chefs say they only make deals with manufacturers whose products they believe in or that they already use. "We would never put our name on a substandard product just because it's basically free," says Mr. Tsai. "I mean, my livelihood is sitting on the plate." Mr. Creehan says he's always been a pork fan, but "I became more educated on pork, so I'm more apt to use pork now than before." Mr. Andres says he cooked with avocado for years, even before hooking up with the California commission.

French haute-cuisine chef and author Jacques Pepin, the star of the TV cooking show, "Jacques Pepin: Fast Food My Way," agreed last year to add the Canned Food Alliance as one of the show's sponsors. (The Pittsburgh trade group represents the tin-plate industry.) Since then, Mr. Pepin has featured such dishes as a dip made with canned beans on "Fast Food" and appeared at promotional lunches to talk about how canned foods are healthy and easy to use. Says Mr. Pepin, "They asked, 'Do you have anything against cans?' and I said, 'Not at all.' I've tried them all, and I'm not a snob." He adds that he doesn't consider the arrangement an endorsement, since the Alliance's check doesn't come to him personally.

Jacques Pepin

Industry groups and manufacturers who line up chefs say the deals are good marketing -- and less expensive than paying for big advertising campaigns. For example, Contessa says the mere fact that Mr. Tsai uses frozen shrimp on the program helps show its product can be used in gourmet cuisine. "Part of our mission is educating consumers in being more confident to cook seafood at home," says a Contessa spokeswoman. (The company says Mr. Tsai is not contractually obligated to use the shrimp at Blue Ginger.) Similarly, the pork, veal and avocado organizations say that consumers pay more attention when they see big-name chefs serving or using their products.

The marketing can even be used to counter negative publicity. After some critical studies on farmed salmon appeared in January 2004, the fish's sales dropped 22%, according to Salmon of the Americas, a lobbying group. Alex Trent, the group's executive director, decided to enlist some chefs to influence public opinion and to use its products at industry events. One of the first big names he approached was Chicago's Rick Tramonto, the chef of Tru, who has submitted a few recipes to the salmon group's Web site. (While mulling the offer, Mr. Tramonto says he asked the salmon organization for 500 free farmed salmon filets to use at an industry dinner for other chefs.)

The group also signed up chef Graham Kerr, the former "Galloping Gourmet," to vouch for the fish during public appearances and television interviews. Now, according to Mr. Trent, sales are back to $3 billion annually in the U.S, the same as they were in 2003. He credits the efforts of Messrs. Tramonto and Kerr. "We need our chefs to re-educate consumers," says Mr. Trent. "They give us reach and credibility."

Contracts with chefs don't generally create the outright conflict of interest that arises, for example, when television "experts" take fees to mention a company's products during news interviews, without informing viewers of the business relationship. Such arrangements violate journalistic ethical guidelines, under which viewers expect their news to be unbiased. Instead, the arrangements are more like product placement on commercial TV shows or the marketing tactic that has become widely known in Hollywood -- where actors take free clothes from designers in return for buzz and exposure.

Emerging From Behind the Stove

The culinary contracts really got their start with the rise of the celebrity chef. As some big names emerged from behind the stove, industry groups figured they could tap into the glamour quotient, and use the chefs to help their products stand out. Just last year 5,311 specialty-food products were introduced, up 38% from 2003, according to the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. At the same time, a new crop of business-savvy chefs are looking for new sources of income, especially as the $164 billion full-service restaurant industry struggles with growth in the 2% range.

Ming Tsai

"When something comes my way, when it's something I love and when it gets me a little extra money, I'll do it," says Mr. Andrès, who is currently considering marketing proposals from 20 food companies.

Some chefs have become such huge celebrities they actually get commercial endorsements, much like sports stars, singers or other celebs. Emeril Lagasse is now endorsing Crest toothpaste, Nobu Matsuhisa is pushing Calloway golf clubs, and Mario Batali is promoting plastic wrap. These sorts of deals are relatively new. Just two years ago, when Chicago chef Rick Bayless accepted $300,000 to appear in a Burger King commercial, he was widely criticized by his peers for working with a mass-market food company -- and he eventually donated the money to charity. "We're trying to forge a new area of business here," says Mr. Bayless. "You learn by trial and error what's the right thing to do."

Not all chefs embrace the food-industry sponsorships or endorsements. Julia Child, for example, never cut financial deals with trade groups to use their products or made commercial endorsements, says Geoff Drummond, who produced her PBS show, "Cooking with Master Chefs." Mr. Drummond says Ms. Child, who died in 2004, turned down everyone from fast food chains to butter makers. "She wanted to be tied to food," he says. Chef Roy Yamaguchi, the owner of the national Roy's Restaurants chain, says he won't cut deals with any food companies because it reflects on his creativity as a chef (though he recently accepted a free Sub Zero refrigerator, worth $6,000, from the manufacturer). For its part, PBS has guidelines that require chefs to either remove or obscure the labels of products provided by sponsors, says Suzanne Zellner, head of the television system's sponsorship group.

Sometimes, the mutual back-scratching has limits. Though Mr. Bayless accepts underwriting from V&V Supremo, a Mexican cheese-maker, for his PBS cooking show, "Mexico: One Plate at a Time With Rick Bayless," he doesn't use the company's products at his restaurant, Frontera Grill. When Supremo executives asked him why, he said he preferred artisan cheeses. Now, Supremo has a new artisan-cheese line, but Mr. Bayless still hasn't incorporated the new cheese into his menus. Supremo executives did not return repeated interview requests.

Whether or not chefs are up front about their marketing deals isn't an issue for all diners, of course. Tom Provost, a Los Angeles screenwriter says he doesn't need much truth in menu -- just good food. "I'm a capitalist, so it doesn't irritate me that chefs could be making a little extra money," he says. "If I don't want it, I just won't order it."