Banijay’s Endemol Shine Germany & celeb chef Tim Mälzer launch culinary firm Potatohead Pictures

LR: Sven Steffensmeier, Tim Maelzer, Fabian Tobias

Banijay’s Endemol Shine Germany has linked up with celebrity chef and presenter Tim Mälzer to launch a new production firm, Potatohead Pictures.

The new German division will deveop culinary formats and is led by Endemol Shine Germany’s MD, Fabian Tobias, and executive director, Sven Steffensmeier.

Endemol Shine Germany and Mälzer have worked together for eight years creating cooking formats such as Kitchen Impossible and Chefs To Go, which has been adapted in France. Steffensmeier has been behind shows including Knife Fight Club, Ready To Beef and Kühlschrank Öffne Dich! (Open The Fridge!).

Banijay has been expanding its operations in Germany over the past year, striking a deal last July to buy Sony Pictures Television (SPT) Germany, including its existing unscripted IP.

“We have been playing with the idea of founding a company for a long time,” said Steffensmeier. “We will build on our successful formats, the now huge network of chefs, and the fun and creative atmosphere we have when working together to become the go-to company for food content in the German-speaking world. However, we don’t want to limit ourselves completely to one genre and also want to develop formats beyond the topic of food with Tim.”

Tobias, who becomes co-MD at Potatohead with Steffensmeier, added that the company would looked to replicate previous success with shows such as Kitchen Impossible, which had been “due to the interplay between Sven and Tim, which sparks creativity time and time again.”

Mälzer added: “The collaboration with Sven had a special quality right from the start: creative, innovative and – this is what I particularly like – highly implementation-oriented. It is with this positive gut feeling that I am now entering the joint venture and I look forward to working even more closely together, developing formats, and of course, discovering new talent.”