Marriage of Brands: Celebrity Chefs and Wholesome Sweeteners

As growing numbers of chefs and restaurateurs embrace social responsibility, they’re integrating more organic, fair-trade Wholesome Sweeteners sugars, syrups and nectars into their recipes — both in their professional kitchens and at home.

For Wholesome, the result is a successful marketing partnership that puts chefs’ faces and favorite recipes on the product lines’ packaging. It’s a win-win-win: Chefs gain visibility, Wholesome benefits from aligning its brand with top-notch chefs, and customers gain access to the same recipes being whipped up in top kitchens across the U.S.

“These famous chefs love what we do and what we stand for,” says Pauline McKee, vice president of marketing for Wholesome Sweeteners, “so they’re allowing us to feature them on the backs of all our packaging as non-compensated advocates.”

Celebrity endorsements are nothing new. This arrangement is more of a branding alignment, says Wholesome Consumer Marketing Manager Karen Stevenson. “It’s a blending of the chefs’ values with Wholesome’s values,” Stevenson says.

“All the chefs we work with, we work with because they are advocates for the brand and the bigger picture of social and environmental responsibility. They really do believe in more than the bottom line.”

For example, when consumers purchase a bag of Wholesome Sweeteners natural cane sugar, they may notice the back-of-the-bag face and favorite recipe of Marcus Samuelsson, who was the guest chef at the Obama Administration’s first State Dinner. He is chef and co-owner of restaurants Aquavit and Riingo, as well as a cookbook author.

Marilu Henner, author of seven healthy lifestyle and cookbooks, is an advocate of organic sucanat.

He is also a staunch advocate of fair trade, which is why he has aligned himself with Wholesome’s products by appearing on packaging and mentioning the benefits of the sweeteners in his cookbook, The Soul of a New Cuisine.

He writes, “Brown sugar is manufactured throughout the African continent. My favorite is a fair-trade raw cane demerara from Malawi, which is sold under Wholesome Sweeteners brand at many upscale grocery stores. It has an intense, multifaceted flavor that really stands out in recipes.”

Two of Samuelsson’s favorite recipes made with Wholesome’s products? Coconut Cookies and Ginger Citrus Cookies.

Other celebrity faces appearing on the company’s packaging:

Marilu Henner, author of seven healthy lifestyle and cookbooks, is an advocate of organic sucanat, which is whole cane juice that has been rapidly evaporated and hand-paddled to create a dry, porous, free-flowing organic brown sugar.  The ingredient stars in all seven of her recipe books and is a featured ingredient in her Marilu’s Brownies.

Food Network star Tyler Florence visited the organic sugar cane fields at one of Wholesome Sweeteners’ supplier’s farm in Costa Rica, then made an appearance on The Today Show to cook using unrefined and organic sugars made by Wholesome Sweeteners. His favorite recipes: cranberry relish, Marmalade Ice Cream, and a Warm and Crusty Date Pudding.