Celebrated Great Chefs® Television Series Introduces Its Next Chapter

NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In the late 1960s and early 1970s, before cooking shows and celebrity chefs were considered entertainment, and prior to the Great Chefs®' premiere in 1981, Julia Child's French Chef was a food lover's main experience with top chefs. Great Chefs shattered the mold of the studio TV cooking show in the early 1980s, by taking cameras into the kitchens of the world´s finest restaurants for Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). For the first time ever, viewers watched over the shoulders of the renowned chefs as they worked and chatted, explaining their techniques and the secrets of how they work their magic.

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The original Great Chefs series had a 30+ year run featuring hundreds of chefs from around the world, introducing them and their kitchens to a hungry television audience. Launched in New Orleans, Great Chefs embarked on an epicurean journey that would take viewers to food meccas such as San Francisco, New York and Chicago, expanding the moniker to include Great Chefs of the Caribbean, South America and Europe, and much more. Success was unparalleled, with Great Chefs eventually taking its place within the Discovery Channel for two hours every afternoon, and producing ancillary products such as cookbooks and videos.

Fast-forward more than three decades to an ever changing media landscape, including Federal Communications Commission requirements of close captioning, has caused Great Chefs to re-think its brand and deliver to a hungry audience what it wants and an efficient way of getting it. After 700 television shows, 300 cities and over 1,000 chefs, Great Chefs has taken the next step to giving its still eager audience something new, and exciting-to-watch: the Great Chefs HD website with free recipes, cooking techniques, a gift store, and travel recommendations as to where to eat.

Just in time for the holiday season, Great Chefs 2.0 in BETA will go live on November 1^st for two months.  On January 1, 2014, the BETA format will be concluded, with the launch of Great Chefs 2.1, www.greatchefs.com, which will include streaming.

According to founder and CEO of Great Chefs, John Shoup, "Great Chefs was ahead of its time, playing a pivotal role in broadcast cuisine. But times have changed, and to continue to be successful-to be relevant-we must change, too." 

The greatly expanded Great Chefs 2.0 website is the newest chapter in the Great Chefs' story, giving the brand room to grow online. For the first time, every recipe featured on Great Chefs is accessible online, removing the need to purchase an entire book to get a handful of recipes. Now hungry patrons can search online for tantalizing recipes. Plans are also in place to develop corresponding recipe videos ensuring that the tried and true combination of follow-the-recipe then watch-the-video will be possible on demand, without waiting for the next broadcast or the release of the next cookbook.

Highlights of the new Great Chefs 2.0 website include:

• New chefs and recipes daily
• Larger number of featured chefs than before
• Free recipes
• Chef/restaurant recommendations from around the world
• Product offerings
• Chef and restaurant referral solicitation
• Restaurant reviews

Shoup likens Great Chefs 2.0 to a combination of Urban Spoon, Yelp, Food Network and Top Chef, saying, "We invite you to be part of history. Let us know if you discover that one of the Great Chefs is working at a location near you. Let us know of outstanding chefs who should be added to our files, to be taped at the next opportunity. Tell us what you cook at home and how the Great Chefs have helped you with your cooking. And when you visit a Great Chefs' restaurant, let everyone know how you enjoyed it with a personal review. Because this is what Great Chefs has always been about: sharing the joys of fine dining."

For more information about Great Chefs 2.0 visit www.greatchefs.com.

Founded over 34 years ago, Great Chefs is a cooking series that spotlights future chefs, as well as celebrity chefs, their recipes and techniques.  It is not a cooking competition series and never will be. Shot in kitchens throughout the world, the series debuted on Public Broadcast Service stations, the Discovery Channel, and now being seen around the world in Russia, India, Japan, Italy, Singapore and the Mid-East. The Chefs are selected by peer chefs, attesting to their acclaim.  Many chefs were discovered by Great Chefs only to become celebrities later in their career like Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, Daniel Boulud and Lidia Bastianich.

SOURCE Great Chefs