Cooking.com Beefs Up Food Network Store

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Often the key to success in many businesses is repackaging skills or content and selling to multiple customers. Tom Colicchio uses the back office of Craft for his other restaurants and restaurant concepts that are not his own – those of former employees. That way he can have a bigger, more effective back office, use the expertise in business he has built up for other projects, and generate more income. (See Super Chef pp. 202-4 for a full discussion). That is a little like the business plan of Cooking.com. Cooking.com is one of the biggest online sites for kitchenware along with other content like recipes, menus and articles. Its expertise is not only in sourcing the equipment consumers want, but also in the back office – managing customer's orders, customer service, fulfillment, shipping, and returns. Cooking.com has taken that expertise to other online retailers. It now operated five branded websites: Cooking.com, KitchenEtc.com, StarbucksStore.com, Pillsburystore.com, Bettycrockerstore.com. Late in August it signed a deal for its sixth with the Food Network to expand Food Network’s online storefront – FoodNetworkStore.com, which will launch October 1, 2007. FoodNetworkStore.com aims to increase the number of products from 1,000 to 20,000. Cooking.com says that the new Food Network site will launch with 15,000 products and will continually add more. What is the key to this strategy? Making sure that each online store is unique. Cooking.com already sells plenty of celebrity chef branded cookware among its 90,000 items, including Rachael Ray's pots and pans, Alton Brown knives and Emerilware that are also on the Food Network current site. So, what else could go on the Food Network relaunched store besides books and DVD of its stars? Last September, the Food Network announced a long-term licensing agreement with the department store chain, Kohl's, according to the press release: …to develop a Food Network-branded line of home goods, including cookware, dinnerware, kitchen gadgets, cutlery, pantryware and food storage, kitchen electrics and table linens. Continuing its strategy of bringing innovative and exciting brands to its customers, Kohl’s will carry the line exclusively at Kohl’s stores nationwide and at Kohl’s.com, beginning in the fall of 2007. Kohl's online store features 184 of items from a Food Network™ Stainless Steel Straining Saucepan to Food Network™ Silicone Cheftoku 7-in. Knife. It is not clear whether the Kohl's Food Network products will appear on the new site or remain Kohl's alone. The new site, according to the press release, is more closely connected to the Food Network's shows: Food Network and Cooking.com will create a uniquely branded shopping experience by going beyond the online store model – offering products that align with the Food Network brand, creating connection points to the store through recipes and searches on FoodNetwork.com, testing the products through the Food Network Kitchens, highlighting Food Network talent products, and offering unique product bundles that are only available at the FoodNetworkStore.com. The site will also carry gourmet foods and hard-to-find recipe ingredients. So, you can watch the show, order the book with the recipe, frying pan, knife, garlic press, and spice blend that your favorite chef used – all you have to do is try to cook. Previous articles: Rachael Ray Greases Dunkin' Donuts Valentines Knives: Cut to the Heart Xmas Shopping: Rating Celebrity Chef Cookware [Food Television00 - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, food network, cooking.com --> back to Super Chef