Jean-Christophe Novelli: Ultimate Products

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Kitchen appliance makers often team up with celebrity chefs to brand their products, just like pots and pans producers. Super Chef decided to look at how a company chooses a chef and matches them with products. News from across the Atlantic is that a new line from Ultimate Products is set to shake things up in the UK. The 27-product line is branded under the name of Jean-Christophe Novelli, the French-born, UK-based chef once voted "5th Most Alluring Man in the World" by Harpers and Queen and "World’s Sexiest Chef" by The New York Times. Europe's version of Todd English? Jean-Christophe's competitors are other British chefs like Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver, but both are branding pots, pans and tableware and neither has a range of appliances. Jean-Christophe is currently head of Novelli Academy, his culinary school that opened in 2005 in his 14h-Century Hertfordshire farmhouse. He also runs a gastro pub called the White Horse in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, and has plans already for more gastro pubs in the near future. Ultimate Products, which claims to be the UK's biggest product design and sourcing business, supplies more than 6,000 electrical and housewares products to major UK retailers, including Argos, John Lewis, Comet and Harrods. Super Chef asked Ultimate's Ruth Grundy to explain how Ultimate chose to work with Jean-Christophe and what the new line is all about. Why choose Chef Novelli? How long has this relationship been developing? Who approached whom? Jean Christophe Novelli's popularity, thanks to appearances on GMTV, Saturday Cooks and Celebrity X-Factor will help with brand recognition in-store. He has also recently launched his own wines and frozen foods, which compliment some of the new appliances very well. [Novelli has also starred on Hell's Kitchen and ...Cooks.] The relationship began in November last year. Ultimate Products was aware that Novelli was interested in launching a small domestic appliance range and made the approach. Ultimate's ability to offer a complete end-to-end service including design, packaging, manufacturing and distribution, means that desirable high quality product lines can hit shop floors within months of the initial concept being agreed. These factors, along with the business' longstanding expertise in electrical product development in the home market, have played a major role in the success of this collaboration with Jean-Christophe Novelli. Super Chef: What appliances will be produced? What is being produced first? Why? Ultimate: The collection features 27 products, incorporating appliances for food preparation, gadgets for the kitchen and easy entertaining: juicers, blenders and microwaves, espresso makers, an electric wine cooler and ice cream maker. The collection is sleek and contemporary and therefore appeals to the gift and impulse buying element of the market, which makes it an ideal line to stock for everyone - from large supermarket chains, department stores, electrical multiples and mail order businesses, through to independents in the high street and online. The range also appeals to retailers focusing on the premium and aspirational end of the market, where consumers may be looking to trade up when replacing appliances. Ultimate Products has purposefully launched a large range so that retailers can have a point of difference with customers. Super Chef: Will these appliances be sold outside the UK? In the US? In what time frame? Ultimate: Ultimate Products is focusing initially on the UK and Ireland markets, and response from retailers has been very positive. We will keep you posted on times. Previous articles: Kerry Simon on HSN Paula Deen: Egg Muffin Machine Todd English: Pots and Pans Pucked? Daniel Boulud v. Todd English: Initial Branding Wall Street Journal: Beef Over Chef Sponsorship? [Chef & Branding--complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, novelli --> back to Super Chef