Have money, will film
San Antonio's Top Chef Texas tariff: 200 grand paid to show for foodie exposure
29 contestants assemble in San Antonio for Top Chef Texas
Despite the best efforts of producers Magical Elves, more financial details about the filming of Top Chef Texas continue to emerge.
We've already learned that the state of Texas contributed $400,000 towards the production. Officials from both Dallas and Austin — cities that will serve as show locations — deny they paid for episodes to take place in their towns. Now San Antonio, which is featured in eight of the show's 14 episodes, has released some details of its deal with Top Chef.
According to records obtained by the San Antonio Express-News, the city paid an additional $200,000 for the exposure. The funds were raised from the San Antonio hotel occupancy tax and came from the Convention and Visitors Bureau's marketing and advertising budget.
"This exposure will showcase San Antonio in a more prominent way to a national audience as a premiere culinary destination,” deputy city manager A.J. Rodriguez told the Express-News. The city estimates the value of the exposure at $9 million.
Representatives from Dallas and Austin, cities that each were featured in at least one episode, have reported that they did not pay for the show to film in their cities — perhaps because the asking price was too high. The Express-News also quotes Lindsey Brown with the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, who says that Houston declined an offer of $120,000 to film a single episode here.
They wanted us to underwrite the cost of (one) episode and they were not going to give us any editorial influence for what was shot. ... We just felt it wasn't worth what they were asking. They could go out to Beaumont and film oil barracks for all we know. We would have no say what that segment or episode would look like."
Could Top Chef Texas cred make San Antonio a foodie destination? What do you think?
