Food Network

For the past 4 months, I've been working with a new client at work: Food Network. The coolest thing about working with Food Network is that everyone LOVES Food Network. As Elliott can attest, I am not very comfortable in the kitchen but I really enjoy watching Food Network.

So anyway, the project I've been working on was announced last week. Starting Fall 2007, there will be an exclusive line of Food Network-branded housewares at Kohl's. Housewares include cookware, bakeware, kitchen gadgets, kitchen electrics, dinnerware and textiles. In layman's terms, this means pots and pans, cookie sheets and muffin pans, blenders and griddles, plates and silverware as well as tablecloths and napkins. My role in this whole process is to work with both Kohl's and Food Network on all the product development, marketing and merchandising for the line.

Why am I telling you all of this information? Well, something really cool happened a few weeks ago that I've been wanting to write about but couldn't mention until the press release went out.

There is a group within Food Network called Food Network Kitchens. They are in charge of recipe development, culinary production, food styling and the sorts. In order to prepare for the brand immersion with Kohl's, we had to do some research at retail. Essentially, I had to go to a bunch of stores and pick the brains of these food experts.

Our first stop was a chef's store. I couldn't get over how much they knew about every single product in the store! Since I am slightly handicapped in the kitchen, I was taking copious notes. Elliott makes dinner 90% of the time and I really do want to learn to cook more. I thought that getting some tips from the experts might help.

After the chef's store, we stopped at Crate and Barrel which is one of the places we registered for the wedding. I asked them if they minded if I grabbed the registry gun to register for some of the products they recommended. At first they thought I was joking. When I came back with the gun, they could tell I wasn't joking.

I followed them around the store and zapped everything they liked: a mortar and pestle, a lidded rectanglar baking dish that goes "oven to table", an oven thermometer and more.

I am proud that our registry was partially selected by the experts at Food Network. If only their culinary skills would start to rub off on me...