The Duchess of Sussex is cooking-up a string of tasty deals to establish herself as a leading kitchen and lifestyle guru via her American Riviera Orchard website.
For starters, her own recipes will appear on the site – due to launch “imminently” – alongside gourmet foods, ingredients and cooking utensils that will be sold under her new brand name’s own label.
And, we can reveal, fans hungry for even more are likely to be able to watch her creating her favorite dishes in a new TV cookery show on Netflix as well as following her recipes step-by-step in a cookery book for publishing giant Penguin Random House.
Meghan and Harry already have long-term contracts with both companies, which are expected to greenlight her latest projects after weeks of negotiations, according to a source close to her Hollywood agents WME.
The source confirmed: “This is an incredibly savvy cross-marketing strategy and there has even been talk that – if the American Riviera Orchard label really takes off – the most popular items could eventually be distributed to physical stores and supermarkets across America and beyond.
“Her handlers at WME are far more excited about the possibilities for her lifestyle brand than they have been about many of the projects proposed by her and Harry’s Archewell production company.”
Meghan’s legal team has reportedly applied for “dozens and dozens” of new product trademarks at the US Patent Office, from cookware and crockery to jams and savory spreads as well as a huge array of diverse lifestyle items from yoga mats and beach towels to soaps, jewelry, cosmetics, bird baths, dog beds and stationary.
They will all be on sale via both the new website and Meghan’s reactivated Instagram account and her cookery cross-marketing comes as no surprise to her former commercial agent Gina Nelthorpe-Cowne, who said last week: “Everything Meghan does is carefully curated and forensically planned.”
LA based media financial analyst Mike Raia added: “By all accounts, Meghan is positioning her new brand much closer to the wholesome, family-oriented style of Martha Stewart than the risqué appeal of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop. Don’t expect to see, for example, any gold-plated sex toys on sale at American Riviera Orchard.”
Our Hollywood source also claimed that her advisers at WME “talked her out of using her own name as part of the brand” following recent dismal figures in US popularity polls, adding: “This was a smart move given the welter of negative publicity she and Harry tend to generate.”
It remains to be seen what recipes Meghan aims to share on her website, in her book and on her hoped-for TV show, but a likely taste of things to come can be found in the archives of The Tig, the much more modest website she closed down before marrying Prince Harry.
Her recipes included “comfort meals” such as Crispy Chicken Stew and Coconut Thai Curry as well as trendier dishes like Baked Eggs in Avocado, Barolo Braised Short Ribs and even Spaghetti Alla Chitarra, which involves making your own fresh pasta from scratch.
