Chef Club - Fun in the kitchen

All the Fun in the Kitchen

Total Licensing caught up with Marie-Laure Marchand, SVP Global Consumer Products & Business Development at Chefclub, to see how the brand has grown over the last year and the massive licensing potential it offers – as well as some exciting breaking news…

Tell us how Chefclub has fared during the pandemic?

We saw a massive uplift in family home cooking and the performance of our digital channels have been very strong during the pandemic. Moreover, the demand for our Chefclub Kids set has encountered an exponential growth of +400% during lockdown. Changes in people’s eating habits tracked during lockdown showed a rise in families eating together and Chefclub Kids offering has been acting as a key tool and inspiration to a lot of families during this difficult period. Our range of Chefclub kids ustensils and cooking kits has expanded last year to meet this demand and the response so far has been very positive.

Being digital, have you seen a large rise in popularity over the last few months?

Yes, we are lucky enough to be a digital first company and moreover offering extraordinary video recipes. So being a digital company in the cooking space has been a successful combination during the pandemic and our viewership and number of followers encountered a strong growth. Parents had also been looking for new ways of occupying their children at home, and Chefclub Kids popularity definitely benefited from this. The playful universe we created for children to cook, including the products, books, and videos is incarnated by our characters, who also are becoming more popular. Our brigade, the Chefclub Friends, are there to amuse everyone, adults and kids, and to bring their smiles and colours to various kinds of products and experiences. And after only 2 years of existence, they are already friends with Peppa Pig! We collaborated with Eone/Hasbro and France Television in December and have produced a branded

Peppa Pig Christmas recipe that has been viewed on social media over 4 millions times in France. This has been a fantastic collab which will continue this Spring so stay tuned!

“Being a digital company in the cooking space has been a successful combination during the pandemic...”

What about licensing – which new areas are you exploring at the moment, and what is some latest news you can share?

We’re very proud to announce our global partnership with SEB Group, under the name of Chefclub by Tefal, for a full range of cookware, bakeware,

kitchen utensils, kitchen knives as well as small electric appliances. The new line of Chefclub by Tefal products will be launched soon during the first semester of 2021 and will first cover the territories of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, Canada, Brazil and Mexico. Co-created with Chefclub’s community, this colorful and fresh line will rely on Chefclub’s expertise in inspiring people in the kitchen and Tefal’s know-how in high quality and reliable kitchen products. The line will reflect Chefclub’s disruptive tone and has been thought to appeal to millenials and families. We’ve recently launched our first DTC Chefclub by Tefal initiative, the Raclette King, a raclette device paired with a card game. Partnering with the best-in-class global cookware brand will give access to Chefclub’s fans to a wide selection of products at retail. This agreement sets a milestone in Chefclub’s licensing expansion and will accelerate our offline and online retail footprint massively in major territories.

How do you translate the ethos of the brand into product?

The content - and everything that comes with it: meaning, authenticity, community, storytelling is the first checkbox - and certainly the most difficult one - in the creation of tomorrow’s brands. More than ever, consumers are looking for a full brand experience. Content creates an emotional bond with the end consumers and, specifically in the case of homeware/kitchenware/cookware categories, inspires them in their day to day life. In the case of Chefclub, the quality of our content, the inspiration and trust it generates allows us to enter the kitchens of hundreds of millions of people every month, and to become a love cooking brand, offering real unique experiences through the products we sell.

Can you give us some idea of viewership numbers?

Chefclub’s content generates 1 billion organic monthly views, all platforms included globally. We talk to 95 M followers across the globe and have a very engaged community. In december 2020, more than 50 million Americans and over 15 million French people watched Chefclub recipes.

And what would you say is the most popular platform for Chefclub?

Chefclub reaches more than 200 million people monthly by tailoring content to fit with each social platform’s DNA. Chefclub’s performance is very well balanced across all platforms and children, teenagers, men and women find a reason to engage with our content. We’re leaders on all social networks: on Tiktok talking to teenagers, who engage enormously with our content; on Snapchat, with young adults from 18 till 29; with women from 25 till 34 on Facebook and Instagram, and so on.

What do you think makes Chefclub so unique and fun?

Positioning is unique and contributes to explaining the hyper-growth since launch. Chefclub brings everyone together in the kitchen through the creation of fun, inspirational, and approachable content, products and services. ”Food meets entertainment” is an appealing proposal both to consumers and licensees. In order to give faces to this unique positioning, beyond content itself, we’ve created a crew of 6 animated characters who have been introduced to our audience through billions of views, and through our style guide.

And lastly, what is your favourite recipe from Chefclub!

Hard to say, but I guess the Salmon and Zucchini Pie. The brand’s DNA is there, creativity and wow effect, it’s an easy to do yet impressive recipe, I just love vegetables and the result is simply delicious!