Social media baker Gemma Stafford will launch the Bold Baking Network in Q1 of 2024 to offer new shows and series from Stafford’s Taste Buds Entertainment and recipes from her “Bigger Bolder Baking” digital channels.
Irish-born Stafford has more than half a billion views of her shows from eight million fans, whom she calls “Bold Bakers,” as a creator on YouTube focusing on baking. Stafford will lead the curation of the Bold Baking Network, which will launch with a lineup of more than 800 unique sweet and savory recipes and baking how-to shows.
The 24-hour-a-day programmed baking network will be on free ad-supported television (FAST) platforms. The programming lineup will include content from a roster of accomplished bakers with diverse backgrounds and skills. It will feature programs ranging from baking instruction for beginners, master classes for more experienced bakers and out-of-the-kitchen programming, including travel shows, product reviews, and live events.
“There are hundreds of millions of avid home bakers worldwide who bake daily or weekly, but there’s no dedicated baking cable, streaming or FAST network that caters to their passions, which is an enormous opportunity for the Bold Baking Network,” said Kevin Kurtz, CEO and co-founder of Taste Buds Entertainment, which produces Stafford’s digital content.
“We’ve conceived the Bold Baking Network to be much more than a channel — it’s the culmination of a decade-long journey I’ve been on to inspire bakers of all ages,” Stafford said. “Along with an incredible array of diverse baking talent from around the world, we want to reach out to every baker everywhere and offer a place to learn, share and be entertained every day.”
Stafford studied professional cookery at the Dublin Institute of Technology and trained at the acclaimed Ballymaloe Cookery School with chef, cookbook author and Irish TV celebrity Darina Allen. In 2008, Stafford moved to the United States, working in a Michelin-starred restaurant and living in Northern California before moving to Los Angeles. There, she and Kurtz, an entertainment executive with 25 years of experience managing and growing entertainment franchises at Lucasfilm, Electronic Arts, Disney/Pixar and Zynga, founded their media company Taste Buds Entertainment.
Kurtz and Stafford are joined at Taste Buds Entertainment by partner Ronald C. Pruett Jr. of The Boston Associates and formerly of As Seen On TV and Al Roker Entertainment.
