Knight Enterprises
Knight Enterprises is an independent television production and broadcasting company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Since it began in 1996, Knight Enterprises has produced more than 400 half hours of television. Knight Enterprises is best known for food television series including "The Great Canadian Food Show," "Table d'Hote," "Cook Like a Chef," and "Licence to Grill," "Junk Brothers," as well as the latest project, "This Food That Wine". In December 2013, Knight Enterprises entered the broadcasting landscape with the launch of its first ever television channel - Gusto.
Programs
Knight Enterprises first program was "The Great Canadian Food Show", which celebrates ethnic and regional influences on Canada's culinary heritage, features cuisine and scenery from every province and territory in Canada. Each episode highlights great Canadian food, as well as the people - from growers to chefs - who bring food to the table. This series has aired on Food Network Canada, CBC, TVA and TVO and has been sold to more than 52 countries.
In January 2001, Knight Enterprises launched its second food show - "Cook Like a Chef," a series about how to cook. Several of Canada's top chefs show that gourmet food is not difficult to create. Chefs create dishes from the ground up while demonstrating cooking tips, techniques and skills. They cover everything from clarifying butter to how to make the perfect turkey.
"Licence to Grill" addresses summer backyard entertaining and barbecue fare such as hamburgers, steaks, kebabs, leg of lamb, sides of fish, and grilled desserts. Knight Enterprises also produced a one-hour winter BBQ special spin off from the series.
"Junk Brothers" is about furniture resurrection and transformation. Brothers Jim and Steve Kelley secretly patrol the streets saving cast off furniture from the refuse bin. They whisk the items away to their workshop and transform the trash into incredible pieces of furniture that maintain at least a hint of their former battered selves. Once complete, our dynamic duo silently returns the restored pieces to their original homes and watch as the homeowners are dazzled and mystified at the surprise restoration before them: they’ve just had a visit from the Junk Brothers. The series currently airs on HGTV in both Canada and the United States, as well as several other markets around the world.
"This Food That Wine" is the ultimate wine and food pairing experience. In every episode, hosts Angie & Stacey meet up with someone planning a party (birthday, games night, bachelorette party, home coming, etc.). They get together in Angie's kitchen for a day of menu planning, cooking and wine pairing. Then, armed with recipes and a wine list, our "guest du jour" returns to home to cook up a feast and bask in the adulation of his/her happy guests.
"Road Grill" is the ultimate barbecue road show that features tips and techniques on how to prepare the best barbecue. Each episode features host Matt Dunigan on the road in a different location cooking great barbecue fare as well as preparing rubs, sauces and marinades.
While propelling forward with these innovative programs, Knight Enterprises continues to develop new series including multiple new projects for Food Network Canada, Life Network Canada, CTV. The company is also positioning itself to be a leader in content development for the mobile media markets.
Gusto TV
On December 11, 2013, Knight Enterprises launched Gusto TV, a lifestyle specialty channel devoted to food, travel and design.[1] The channel features top rated food and lifestyle programming from around the world as well as original content from Knight Enterprises' library of shows.
Awards
Both "Cook Like a Chef" and "The Great Canadian Food Show" have been nominated multiple times for James Beard Awards. They have also respectively earned several nominations for Gemini Awards. "Cook Like a Chef" was most recently nominated for Best Television Food and/or Drink Show at the World Food Media Awards as well as for a Gemini for Best Direction in a Lifestyle/Practical Information Program or Series. "The Great Canadian Food Show" was most recently nominated for a Gemini as the Best Lifestyle/General Interest Series.
The Team
Executive Producer
Chris Knight is the President of Knight Enterprises, and the Executive Producer of some of the lifestyle programming.
His most recent projects include This Food That Wine, a look at the world of food and wine pairing, produced for Food Network Canada and due to air this October. Another one of his series is HGTV hit series Junk Brothers. This new furniture transformation series now airing in Canada, USA, and internationally has just completed its second season which will launch nationally in January 2007.
As Executive Producer, Chris is responsible for the creation of over 300 hours of mouth watering television including the series Table d’Hote. He was nominated for a James Beard and a Gemini award for his series ‘Cook Like a Chef’ & ‘The Great Canadian Food Show’. Chris has also brought back the fun in backyard BBQing with the extremely popular ‘Licence To Grill’ which recently completed its 5th season.
Also a prolific writer, his passion for and knowledge of haute cuisine has led him to write a plethora of food and travel articles that have been featured in some of the most prestigious magazines in the country. He has now penned 3 cookbooks based on his series; the International Gourmand Award winning cookbook ‘Cook Like a Chef’, ‘A Great Canadian Food Show Companion’, and this summers highly anticipated and best selling “Grilled to Perfection” based on his series Licence To Grill.
Chris continues to develop new concepts for broadcast on a variety of networks and platforms around the world. His latest projects include a reality series for Food Network Canada.
Senior Producer
Since joining the company in 2001, Senior Producer Kathy Doherty has produced, managed and co-written more than 300 half hours of television with Knight Enterprises including the Gemini Award nominated hit series “Cook like A Chef’ and “Licence to Grill”.
In the summer of 2005, Kathy moved into the world of Furniture & Design as co-creator, Producer and writer of the first season of ‘Junk Brothers, HGTV Canada’s run away hit. This furniture transformation series now airing in Canada, the USA & overseas has just completed its second season which will launch across North America in January 2007.
In 2005/2006 Kathy also acted as Producer for ‘This Food That Wine’ a funky “how-to” Wine & Food Pairing show with a focus on home entertaining for Food Network Canada.
Head, Business Affairs
Sheldon Speers joined Knight Enterprises as the Head of Business Affairs in May 2004. Since coming on board, Sheldon has overseen the company’s day-to-day operations, including broadcast licence and distribution agreements, human resources and public relations.
Support team
- Alexis Hamilton - Production Manager
- Vanessa Poirier-Ogg - Post Production Manager
- Matt Whitehead - Production Co-ordinator
References
- ↑ Gusto TV to launch nationally on December 11, 2013 with free preview on Bell Fibe TV and Bell Satellite TV