…Gizzi Erskine to present…

 

TX: September 5th, 8pm

20 x 60

Sky Living continues the flavour of summer this September as brand new factual entertainment series ‘Cooks To Market’ premieres. Presented by popular chef and food writer Gizzi Erskine and assisted by James Averdieck, founder of the £50m Gu Puddings empire, who will offer his business expertise, the series will give amateur cooks and bakers a unique opportunity to see whether they can turn their delicious homemade food products into life-changing business opportunities.

Innocent Smoothies, Covent Garden Soups and Ben and Jerry's are just a few examples of food companies that began life on a market stall and have become hugely successful global businesses - all started by people with a culinary passion. Each episode of COOKS TO MARKET will feature two pairs of cooks – friends, relatives or work colleagues - who will be given a budget of £250 and a kitchen to work in, with just one day to cook their products in more quantities than they’ve ever done before.

With original food creations and recipes such as ice-cream sandwiches, alcoholic cupcakes, Indian pastries, curry sauces, fudge and stews, the two pairs of budding cooks will go head to head, working against the clock and testing their relationships to breaking point as they try to sell their products at markets, festivals and events and make the highest profit.

In the moment of reckoning, the pair who succeeds will then be given the chance to pitch their product in front of a line-up of industry buyers including restaurant entrepreneur Sarah Willingham and executives and investors from the likes of Harrods, Waitrose, Easyjet, Virgin Atlantic, EAT, Coffee Republic and Budgens. Can their product become the next big supermarket brand?

COOKS TO MARKET will air exclusively on Sky Living HD September 5th, 8pm. Following the addition of Sky Living HD to Sky Go, customers will also be able to watch COOKS TO MARKET on the move on iPad, selected smartphones and laptops at no extra cost.

ENDS

For more information contact:

Jakki Lewis

PR Manager, Sky Living HD

T: +44 (0)20 7032 1494

M: +44 (0)7710 579911

Jakki_lewis@bskyb,com

www.skypressoffice.co.uk

Follow us on twitter @sky_livingPR

About Gizzi Erskine

Food writer and chef Gizzi Erskine’s career in TV started with the popular C4 primetime show, COOK YOURSELF THIN,. She has since appeared in IRON CHEF, COOKERY SCHOOL and DROP DOWN MENU.

As a food writer, Gizzi is a Contributing Editor for InStyle, writing a monthly column on food and culture. She also contributes to Sunday Times Style and Fabulous Magazine, and has written for a wide variety of magazines and newspapers such as Marie Claire, Elle, Elle USA, Vogue USA, GQ, The Times and The Evening Standard.

GIZZI'S KITCHEN MAGIC, published by Virgin Books in 2009, was her first solo book and received critical acclaim during its release. Gizzi was the co -author of the hit cookbook COOK YOURSELF THIN, author of MY KITCHEN TABLE: 100 FOOLPROOF RECIPES and has also contributed to COOKERY SCHOOL by Richard Corrigan.

Always at the forefront of any trend, Gizzi was one of the first to back the trend of the pop-up restaurant scene having opened 4 pop-ups in the past 3 years; one with Innocent Smoothies at the Tramshed in Shoreditch, one at Clarence House in association with START the sustainability charity, a Tiki lounge at Bestival and an East London gourmet pie shop. She has cheffed at many supper clubs for guests like Boy George, Adam Ant, Sadie Frost, Pearl Lowe, Carl Barrat and Grace Woodward.

Gizzi's edgy attitude has caught the attention of the fashion world and she regularly makes the fashion pages of the UK's press. She has effortless , unmistakably 60's with a Rockabilly twist, which has struck a chord with the public, helping her bridge the gap between food and fashion.

About James Averdieck

Yorkshire man James Averdieck is the founder and former MD of Gü Chocolate Puds. Spotting a gap in a seemingly overcrowded sector, Gü has taken on deeply entrenched competition and won highly coveted supermarket shelf space.

James began his career at a strategy consultancy in Europe, the US and the Middle East. From there he joined Safeway and then St Ivel, where he learned how to sell. He also got his first taste for desserts, running their own label business. James then moved to Brussels to establish a European operation, and soon became a convert to Belgian gastronomy. He saw the opportunity to marry high quality chocolate patisserie with efficient supermarket distribution. After a year back in London, James left to pursue his chocolate dream. He pitched his idea to a specialist supplier of handmade patisserie, and Gü was born - with a mission to use superior raw materials to deliver uncompromisingly good products.

Sky Living HD

Sky Living HD is one of the UK’s ultimate entertainment destinations on TV. Bursting with the glossiest UK and US productions, the channel embodies fun, optimism and friendship.

Hugely successful commissions like Steps Reunion and Britain & Ireland’s Next Top Model, hosted by global icon Elle Macpherson and now in its eighth season, have emerged as some of the UK’s most talked about programmes.

Making a welcome move into original scripted British drama, supernatural thriller ‘Bedlam’ starring award-winning Lacey Turner returns June 2012, swiftly followed by the eagerly anticipated new comedies ‘Gates’ starring Tom Ellis and Joanna Page, and Benidorm writer Derren Litten’s ‘The Spa’. Sky Living has turned up the heat to bring even more talent to the channel including Chris Moyles and Stacey Solomon to present The Love Machine, and Nicola Roberts and Henry Holland to host a brand new fashion format executive produced by global icon Rihanna.

Sky Living HD has built a reputation for cleverly identifying and out-manoeuvring its rivals to the best acquired shows and is the home of US hits like Bones, Cougar Town, Grey’s Anatomy, Supernatural, Criminal Minds, America’s Next Top Model and the forth

Sky Living HD's high-gloss output is available at channel 107 cementing its place in Sky’s strengthened entertainment line-up, on the front page of the Sky EPG and is available on the move with Sky Go.

For further information please contact

Jakki Lewis - Publicity Manager, Sky Living HD
T: 020 7032 1494
E: jakki.lewis@bskyb.com