Presenter required for Food in a Minute

Allyson Gofton is leaving the highly successful Wattie’s Food in a Minute to pursue some other challenges – including running around after two active kiddies. And the Food in a Minute team is looking for someone with the same incredible skills to take her place.

“Allyson has seen us through more than a decade, many hundreds of recipes and many tons of Potato Pom-Poms®’, says Mike Pretty, Marketing Director for Wattie’s. “She’s going to be difficult to replace – so we’ve already begun looking. We’ve launched a nationwide professional talent search with a television production team, but we’d also like to invite anyone who thinks they could fill her shoes to show us their stuff by taking part in the Great Kiwi Cook Search©.”

There’s a comprehensive list of requirements. Among other things the successful candidate must understand what makes Kiwis tick and be able to prepare food with huge appeal that doesn’t break the bank. They need to know how to dish up something tasty night after night for the harshest critics – the family! They also need to be able to create passion for the art of cooking. “Allyson has inspired millions of us with quick and delicious recipes – now it’s time for someone else to take over the kitchen”, says Mike Pretty.

The Food in a Minute team wants to hear from anyone who thinks they meet the criteria. Details will be posted on foodinaminute.co.nz between the 22nd of September and the 5th of October, 2008.

Food in a Minute - a Kiwi phenomenon.

Back in 1995 Wattie’s identified what are now widely recognised trends:

- More and more New Zealanders lacked the time to prepare a proper meal
- It was more likely that both Mum and Dad were working
- Cooking skills were in decline
- And at 4pm every day, 80% of those who were in charge of the evening meal hadn’t a clue what to put on the table

Food in a Minute was a response to these insights. “The core idea for Food in a Minute was to develop something simple that would inspire stressed-out cooks, using ideas that were really easy and in line with food trends and tastes,” says Mike Pretty.

Food in a Minute continues to deliver everyday inspiration and importantly it drives sales. With over 750,000 people (50% of all household shoppers) watching every night of the week – the show has immense reach to a key audience. The viewer gets a great meal idea at just the right moment making Food in a Minute both timely and relevant.

Food in a Minute has become so much a part of the Kiwi meal repertoire that New Zealanders hit foodinaminute.co.nz more than any other food website to check out what’s for dinner tonight. Foodinaminute.co.nz boasts over 100,000 loyal subscribers, that’s 10% of all households who receive the recipe of the week direct to their inbox

Some Food in a Minute recipes have become the stuff of legend in terms of their sell-through. While the results are confidential the examples are many and varied: the self-saucing puds made with Craigs Jam totally reinvigorated the category; the show has run retailers out of lamb shanks on a number of occasions and the grand-daddy of them all, the Potato Pom-Pom® topped Cottage Pie – well that was a complete sell through.

Why does Food in a Minute have such a hold over Kiwis?

Briar Harland from Colmar Brunton says, “the audience of Food in a Minute is, broadly speaking, mainstream New Zealand. “Cooking is staging a bit of a resurgence probably thanks to a trend to ‘cocooning’ at home and the current financial pressures faced by many. One of the biggest issues also seems to be boredom. We all have a bit of a pattern of recycling the same recipes over and over again and then replacing them when we (or the kids) just can’t take it anymore. That’s why Food in a Minute is so good – it adds inspiration to a situation that can easily become quite monotonous,” says Briar Harland.

Food in a Minute enters a new era

In addition to a professional talent search for Allyson’s replacement, the Great Kiwi Cook Search kicks off on September 22. “We’re opening up the search to everyday Kiwis who think they may be able to step into Allyson’s shoes. We’re looking for someone who can inspire us all to create tasty, nutritious, good-value meals. They’ll be the one person who solves the ‘what’s for dinner tonight?’ problem.” Mike Pretty says, “It’s a tough ask to fill Allyson Gofton’s shoes, as one Food in a Minute fan said, ’she’s just like my Mum, but cooler!’”

As far as the team at Food in a Minute is aware nothing like the Great Kiwi Cook Search has ever been run before in New Zealand. To see if you are up to the job, go to foodinaminute.co.nz between 22nd September and 5th October for full details including terms and conditions.

ENDS

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