TOTAL LICENSING
Becky Ash sat down with the Lang Brothers, Thomas (CEO), Jonathan (CCO) and Axel (COO), who are the founders of the phenomenon which is Chefclub to talk food, licensing, and the exponential growth of the brand.
A Unique Position in ‘Eatertainment’ Can you outline how you came to found Chefclub? At the beginning of 2016 we came up with the idea for an original cooking concept: have fun in the kitchen using ordinary ingredients and turn them into extraordinary recipes. But how to best translate this spectacular cuisine? Through video of course! This unique positioning between easy recipes and entertainment turned out to be an immediate success with hundreds of thousands of views! Chefclub became the answer to an uncomplicated cooking experience, a far cry from traditional stuffy culinary shows. Our mission was simple: bring everyone together in the kitchen with inspiring, fun and accessible products
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and services. Our first videos were shot in our family apartment which soon became the HQ of the startup, prior to setting up our offices in a former printing house in the 11th arrondissement in Paris. And did you have culinary experience? Despite our reputation for the French being gourmets, we are like most people in France and other places, Chefclub’s goal from day one was to re-ignite an interest in the kitchen and have fun using ordinary ingredients to create extraordinary recipes. Can you tell us some of your impressive viewing figures to date? Chefclub gets 2.5 billion monthly views from 100 million subscribers in Europe, the US, China and Latin America – with almost half of our views in the US alone. And crucially, our views are very sticky with an many seconds per video which is six times higher than the Facebook average. This is a real achievement considering how fierce the competition is on social platforms
where all publishers are fighting to keep the attention of their viewers. What is the appeal, do you think? It is our unique positioning as eatertainment which resonates far beyond cooking enthusiasts. Our motto is to get everyone in the kitchen, from men and women, to children. We have put having fun in the kitchen at the center of everything we do with and around cooking. We also have designated channels (Chefclub Original, Light & Fun, Daily, Cocktails and Kids) that appeal to special interests for a wide audience. Chefclub really offers something for everyone in the family. We are especially proud of our initiatives for children which give them inspiration and autonomy in the kitchen. On top of our eye-catching and entertaining video recipes, we offer a whole new experience to children with kid-friendly utensils to facilitate their cooking experience. Did you notice a rise in popularity during the pandemic? Certainly. It seems that cooking and the internet became the main source of entertainment during the pandemic.
