If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Stay Off the TV Set! From the Kitchen to the Studio-TV Tips for Chefs-Part One

By Rachel Elsberry, Pickie Pie Productions, LLC

The Food Network took what happens in restaurant kitchens and catapulted food, fire and foie gras into America’s living rooms, making celebrities and even rock stars out of chefs and giving some of them justification and permission to have larger-than-life egos.  It’s okay chefs, we still love you. This trend has also given chefs and restaurants everywhere both opportunities and added responsibilities when it comes to promoting their business.  While not every chef will be the next Food Network star, television is now on the menu and chefs everywhere better be prepared to serve it.  Lights!  Camera! Cook! From what to wear to what to prepare, here are some television tips for chefs.

PREPARATIONS:

1-What to Wear: Most chef coats are either black or white.  It just so happens that those are the two WORST colors to wear on television.  White blasts out the screen, the camera and throws too much light on your face while black does the opposite. It sucks the color out and leaves your face looking dull.  If possible, get a chef coat just for television that’s khaki, chambray or any color other than black or white.  Colored coats add color and warmth to your face and don’t distract the way white coats do.  Keep your colored coat pressed and ready for when a television station calls.

  

2-What to Prepare:  Let’s face it.  You’re a chef.  You have mad culinary skills and you want to show them off!  Television is a great place to do it but it won’t happen with your most-involved recipe.  Because most local television cooking segments are anywhere from a little more than two minutes to a maximum of four or five minutes (a lot of time in the world of TV news but not a lot of time when it comes to a real-world recipe), simple is the name of the game when choosing a recipe to prepare.

A good way to gage your recipe is the number of ingredients. Stick with less than ten. A recipe with fewer ingredients is the way to on-air culinary success. 

Another way to impress the viewer: show them a quick and easy skill they can do at home along with the recipe.  If all else fails, bust out a blow torch.  Fire makes great television!

You should also email a copy of your recipe to the television station several days in advance of your TV appearance so it will be available and ready on the station’s webpage as your segments wraps up.

3-What to Bring:  Along with your ingredients (which should already be measured separately in CLEAR glass bowls) and your recipe, be prepared to bring everything you need to prepare, plate and serve your dish.  Not every television set has a cook top.  Find this out in and advance and be ready to bring your own heat element if your recipe requires it.  Also bring a plated version of the finished product and any props you might have to make the table where you’re preparing the dish look nice and in the style and theme of your restaurant. 

Finally, the most important thing to remember when preparing for a television appearance is the television crew.  You better come prepared to feed them.  It’s the best way to guarantee you’ll be asked back as television stations are the hungriest places on earth.  You don’t have to serve them what you prepared in the television segment.  One chef I’ve worked with made seared tuna on television but brought a giant pot of etouffee and cornbread’ for the crew.  They stood around that pot like savage, ravenous beasts.  It was gone and their bellies were full in about five minutes and you can bet they can’t wait for that chef to come back again.

In Part Two, I’ll tell you everything a chef needs to know when the camera and lights are on in my list of on-air tips for chefs.

Rachel Elsberry has an extensive 20-year background in television as an award-winning producer and journalist.  She has produced television segments featuring several great chefs in Detroit and Austin including Chef Jeff Blank of Hudson’s on the Bend who took her once-unadventurous palate and turned her into a big-time foodie.  Rachel founded Pickie Pie Productions, LLC, a full-service public relations, publicity and television production company, in 2009.  Pickie Pie specializes in lifestyle, food and medical clients.

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Thanks to the Fabulous @Rachel_Elsberry for being so good to @austintidbits!

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3-2-1! You're On! Tips for TV Appearances

Your PR person just called.  She's so awesome, she's landed you an interview or a segment on TV.  What a great get for your business!  Here's a list of things you should know before you go in front of the camera to make the most of your on-air appearance.
• If the interview is at the TV studio, arrive early to take in the scene and familiarize yourself with the distractions such as lighting, cameras and a busy crew.
• Have a cup of water or tea to soothe your throat before the interview.  Avoid carbonation or dairy.
• Expect last minute changes and be prepared to handle them on the spot.  TV almost never goes as planned.
• Always look at the reporter, not the camera during an interview.  Envision that you are having a conversation just with that reporter. Forget the cameras are there.
• Turn your cell phone off.
• If you need notes, put them on a small note card. Don't write out complete sentences on the card, just put bullets points.  You'll talk more conversationally.  If seated, tuck the card under your leg or put it in your seat.  If it's in your hand you may have a tendency to wave the card around and that is distracting to the viewer.
• If seated, position yourself about three-quarters of the way back and lean forward.  Don’t sit back and slouch, it looks uncomfortable.
• Have your hands free for gesturing and your feet on the ground or ankles crossed. This is most comfortable, flattering and the least distracting.
• Avoid crossing your arms.
•If standing, avoid bobbing back and forth.  Firmly plant your legs by standing with your legs slightly apart.  This will keep you from wobbling.

• Use your head, your eyes and your facial expressions to make your words come alive.  So much of communication comes from our body language.  It's okay to gesture.
• Enjoy!  Remember that the reporters are humans too and it is their job to make TV interviews run smoothly.  If you stumble, freeze or falter, a good reporter will take care of you.  Don't get too caught up in mistakes.  Keep going. 
•Keep your answers short and succinct.  Remember, TV interviews go by very fast and at some point the anchor, if you're on set, will have a producer yelling in their ear to wrap up the interview. Don't run at the mouth and force the interviewer to interrupt you to keep the segment on time.   When an interview is taped out in the field, a reporter has more leeway, but keeping your answers short and succinct means you'll sound better and make it easier for the reporter to make you sound your best during the final edit.
 •Don't try to give too much information. Stay on topic. Typically, viewers come away having learned about three points of information.  Just give what's necessary.
•Don't ask the anchor about where to get a copy.  Let your PR person handle that later.
•Smile!!
Remember, an interview is simply a conversation.  Look at it as no different than a discussion over dinner with a new friend about something you're excited about (in this case, your business).