Reality TV star and chef Andrew Zimmern and butcher Pat LaFrieda are partnering with Evine Live to provide the digital retailer with a new line of meat products.
Evine CEO Mark Bozek took over last year after a proxy battle between activist investors and previous management. Since then he has renamed the Eden Prairie-based company from ValueVision Media, returned the network to 24-hour live programming and launched a slew of new celebrity partnerships.
Central to Bozek's turnaround plans has been to create proprietary new products that can't be found elsewhere. So far the company has some successful new product launches with celebrities Lisa Vanderpump, Paula Deen, and Todd English.
The company has been trying to become less dependent on its luxury watch and jewelry categories. Last week the company reported better than expected second quarter results after it took a more balanced approach to its airtime mix of product categories than it had in the first quarter.
Minnesota-based Zimmern, isn't offering any of the more obscure items from the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern program but will be offering eight hand-crafted, limited-edition cuts of meat.
Partnering with his friend Pat LaFrieda, a meat purveyor to some of the best and well-known restaurants across the country, Zimmern has created eight unique items for EVINE Live including: sweet and hot Italian sausages; chorizo habenero and hot Italian sausage; bratwurst, cheddar bratwurst, and Piedmontese all-beef hot dogs; 100 percent Black Angus with beef belly 6 oz. burgers; Sierra Cut (Denver Cut) steaks; pork tomahawk chops; lamb ribs and merguez sausages; and Korean boneless short ribs.
Zimmern will introduce the new products Sept. 8 on Evine Live..
EVINE Live reaches over 87 million households through cable affiliates and satellite networks and is streamed live at evine.com and on select mobile devices and on Facebook.
photo courtesy of Steve Henke
