Story Lab cooking format heads to Belgium

Jani Kazaltzis (left) and Dominique Persoone

SBS in Belgium has ordered a local version of a French live cooking format that launched while France was in lockdown in March.

SBS has ordered a first season of All Together at the Table, which is being shopped internationally by content investor, producer and distributor The Story Lab after it picked up the rights over the summer.

The remotely filmed cooking class format became a hit for France’s M6 after it started airing in late March, soon after the country’s coronavirus lockdown began. M6 has since ordered a third season of the show.

The format sees a famous chef host a live, interactive cooking masterclass directly from their own kitchen. Ahead of each episode, the chef reveals the menu and the necessary ingredients on social media, allowing viewers to replicate the recipe during the live show.

The chef is also joined remotely by a co-host, as well as three families from different parts of the country, all of whom must try to keep up with the live cooking instructions, working from their respective kitchens at home.

Produced locally by French production house Kitchen Factory, part of Storyplus, the French version is hosted by celebrity chef Cyril Lignac.

In Belgium, it will be co-hosted by Belgian celebrity chef Dominique Persoone and comedian Jani Kazaltzis. It will launch on SBS on November 11, airing Mondays to Fridays for a five-week run in the evening.

The deal with SBS was brokered by The Story Lab’s global sales and development manager Olivia Haynes, who introduced the format to the international marketplace at the recent Mipcom Online+.

Annick Bongers, programme director at SBS, said: “As we enter a challenging new phase of lockdown in Belgium, All Together at the Table offers a great recipe of cooking tips, celebrities and fun that is sure to whet the appetite of our viewers at home. We Belgians are famously proud of our cooking and we are excited to add this to the menu for our audience’s evening viewing.”

Haynes added: “SBS’s production of the show proves how this format is ideally suited to socially distanced filming and can, if needed, be delivered within an exceptionally short time frame.”