The local version of Masterchef leapt onto Australian TV screens in 2009, with enormous success. The finale of the first series was the third most watched show of the decade. The impact of the show has influenced our buying habits. More of us are spending time cooking at home, creating a demand for fresh and interesting ingredients.

That means, while the major grocery chains are going for scale, there’s an opportunity for specialist retailers to provide the variety and niche products we crave to impress our friends. It also creates a ready market for new producers.

The program arrived in perfect conditions - In mid-2008, economic uncertainty and recession, put pressure on the available discretionary dollars, leading consumers to reduce out-of-home food expenditure and prepare more meals at home with food purchased at retail outlets.

Sponsors have responded - in Masterchef’s second season, sponsorship deals worth more than $20 million have been sold as brand owners seize the opportunity for greater exposure.

Masterchef has been successful not just because of the fortuitous timing of launch when consumers were returning to more home meal preparation, but it also:

• highlighted the high quality local produce and ingredients available to Australians;
• embraced “scratch preparation” of meals at home as positive and a way to enhance meal quality;
• touched the nerve regarding the food preparation skills of young parents, as a result of their busy working lifestyles.
• made cooking entertaining, educative, and enjoyable rather than a time-consuming cumbersome task.
• appealed to children and young adults by making home food preparation “cool” and “OK”.
• broadened the awareness among consumers of all ages about the value of healthy food preparation and consumption.
• drew consumers to look at more diverse and difficult cuisines and ingredients for home cooking preparation, moving the attitude towards cooking from “difficult and inconvenient” to “OK”.