Using media to promote artisan food and beverages: insights from the television industry

Purpose: The increasing frequency with which food and beverage producers feature in mainstream media, including television cooking shows, provide opportunities and pitfalls for using media to promote artisan food and beverage businesses. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate these, as experienced by a group of food and beverage producers who appeared on the popular Australian television show, Gourmet Farmer.

Design/methodology/approach: Findings are based on semi-structured interviews with 14 of the producers featured on the show, plus textual analysis of relevant segments of the show.

Findings: While all of the producers felt that food television offered a good promotional tool, those who were most familiar with the practices of media production and whose businesses offered experiences through which viewers could access (or imagine) a “taste” of the Gourmet Farmer life tended to be more satisfied than those who were less familiar with the practices of media production and who expected a greater focus on their products and production practices.

Practical implications: The development of media skills is essential for artisan producers to get the best outcomes when using media to promote their businesses.

Originality/value: The experiences of food and beverage producers using food television to promote their businesses have not previously been the subject of thoroughgoing research. This paper offers new insights into how artisan producers can best capitalize on the opportunities offered by food media.