General Mills Signs Mario Batali

By JULIETTE ROSSANT What do Super Chefs do to cash in on their fame and business know-how? Wolfgang Puck led the way when he nailed a deal with ConAgra who bought his frozen pizza line for a reported $20 million in 2002 (See Super Chef, p. 35). What did Wolfgang have to offer Conagra to help market the pizza? Wolfgang had a popular Food Network TV show, a chain of fast casual Expresses and Cafes and his high-end restaurants. He had been selling his pizza since 1981 in various forms (See Super Chef pp. 25- 31) and he was always in the press at Oscar time. Mario Batali is following suit, this time with General Mills. Back in 2005, Mario ventured out with a do-it-yourself pizza kit (see previous article). You assemble the crust and toppings at home and pop the two dinner-plate size pizzas in the oven for a quick meal -- to avoid the soggy crusts that have plagued frozen pizzas. Batali sold them exclusively at Whole Foods. This time around he will be selling the frozen pasta entrees at warehouse retailers Costco Wholesale Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale Club Inc, according to the Associated Press. Mario has developed 10 frozen pasta dinners for General Mills. AP reported that annual sale of frozen Italian entrees in U.S. club stores grew 24% to more than $52 million US from 2004 to 2006, according to market researcher Nielsen Co. The meals are portioned to serve five and will sell for a suggested retail price of $10.99. The first two offerings include gemelli and meatballs, and orecchiette with sweet Italian sausage and broccoli. Why choose Mario? He has made a name for himself as an expert in Italian food. He has successful Food Network shows, cookbooks and restaurants in New York, Los Angeles, and as of tomorrow when B&B Ristorante opens in the Venetian, in Las Vegas as well. However, perhaps the biggest lure for General Mills is Mario Batali's involvement with NASCAR. Mario has appeared at NASCAR races, published a cookbook of NASCAR recipes, Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style, aligned himself with NASCAR barbecue sauce. Why is NASCAR so important? It stretches Mario's brand from upscale fine dining to fast food. It reaches thousands of people who would never watch the Food Network or visit his restaurants. Many of them buy frozen, prepared foods. General Mills is betting that they'll buy Mario from them, too. Related news: Forbes, Business Week, Wall Street Journal, CNN-Money, Yahoo! Finance (BizJournals), Orlando Business Journal, SmartBrief, Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle, Vancouver Sun, MediaPost Marketing Daily Previous articles: FOOD FLICKS: Mario Batali on Jimmy Kimmel Mario Batali Marketing Webcast Mario Batali Adds Life TIME for Mario Mario Batali: 2 Brothers Mario Batali Tailgates NASCAR Style Mario Batali: Molto Mario Anita Lo Defeats Mario Batali on Iron Chef America Iron Chef Pizza Wars: Batali vs. Puck Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali's Mozza [Chefs & Branding - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to Super Chef