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Emeril says Martha is the perfect business partner

Posted by The Times-Picayune February 20, 2008 5:27PM

Categories: Living: Food
AP PHOTO/THE MARTHA STEWART SHOWEmeril Lagasse appeared on Martha Stewart's TV show in November, and joined her business empire on Tuesday.
By Brett Anderson
Restaurant writer
Eighteen months ago, Charles Koppelman showed up on the set of "Emeril Live." Koppelman, a former music industry executive, is an old friend of host Emeril Lagasse's, although the two had fallen out of touch.
After the show, the celebrity chef remembers asking Koppelman what he was up to these days.
"He handed me his card and it said 'Chairman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia,'" Lagasse recalled.
Lagasse was talking Tuesday from New York, filling in the background to the bombshell dropped on Tuesday: the selling of Lagasse's nonrestaurant holdings to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia for $45 million in cash and $5 million in stock.

Lagasse was winded. He'd traveled late at night from an event in Houston, which was preceded by an intense month launching Table 10 in Las Vegas, his company's 11th restaurant. Tuesday was largely spent answering questions about a deal no one could have predicted. Not even him.
Lagasse explained how his chance meeting with Koppelman led to a dinner, during which he told his friend, "'Charles, I want to pick your brain a little bit about how to take my brand to the next level.'"
Lagasse spelled out how his line of branded products, which runs from television shows and cookbooks to kitchen equipment and grocery items, had reached a point where continued growth was going to require significant capital investment.
"In order to do what I need to do, it's not only going to take me three to five years," he said. "It's going to take me millions and millions of dollars."
Meetings with Stewart and her key personnel followed. Eight months ago, talks had progressed to the point where Lagasse looked to Tony Cruz, his chief financial officer, and said, "This could really be a good fit. When you look at really combining two brands, this is remarkable."
Lagasse said Stewart's company "brings this incredible core that can really handle multi-platform businesses. All of the things that I'm attracted to -- radio, television, selling products -- she excels (at). She's the bomb."
While Stewart is a successful television personality in her own right -- Lagasse appeared on "The Martha Stewart Show" Tuesday -- it is not likely either of the new partners will be playing Ed McMahon to the other's Johnny Carson.
"The whole idea is for me to be me and to do my own show," he said. "Martha's giving me that opportunity."
"Emeril Live," Lagasse's popular Food Network program, recently ended production, freeing the chef to explore other television opportunities. But he emphasized that he's still under contract with the Food Network, which continues to run both "Emeril Live" and the still-in-production "Essence of Emeril."
"I still have a great relationship with the Food Network," he said. "And I will continue that relationship."
Lagasse said he never considered selling his restaurants. Stewart's company has no restaurant expertise, he explained, and the chef wanted to ensure Emeril's Homebase, the New Orleans-based parent company that runs his restaurant empire, wouldn't be harmed by the alliance. All 40 Homebase employees will keep their jobs.
"I have a lot of very special people who have been with me over the years, which is kind of why we've left the restaurant business as its own business," he said. "My dad works for me, my brother works for me, my sister works for me. My love for the city will not change."
What will change is his official status within the framework of the businesses he created.
Lagasse said he has "total creative control" over his brand, despite the fact that it's now owned by someone else. Nevertheless, for the first time since leaving Commander's Palace in 1990, he will be, at least part of the time, someone else's employee.
Lagasse laughed when asked his new job title. He had posed the same question himself.
"They said, 'You're Emeril,' " he explained. "'Martha's Martha, and you're Emeril.'