NEW YORK — Andrew Rea, a YouTube cooking creator, announced a partnership with CookUnity to offer Babish-branded pre-made dishes. CookUnity will initially sell four Babish-designed dishes in the New York tri-state area. Plans for expansion to Chicago and Los Angeles are scheduled for the coming months. Rea developed each recipe for the partnership and worked with CookUnity’s test kitchens to ensure they were scalable.

Rea's business operation, which has Sawyer Jacobs as CEO, employs four full-time staff, including two editors, and received a $3 million investment from the cookware brand Made In to fund native content for his channel. Rea stated that he has separated himself from the business side to focus on creative work. The eventual Babish meal lineup will rotate between 10 mainstays and five seasonal items.

Rea's Babish portfolio also includes multiple cookbooks and a cookware line available through Walmart and Amazon. Earlier this year, Rea reached 4 million subscribers on YouTube. He started his channel in 2016 and left his job in post-production within six months. The podcast 'In the Booth with Babish' premiered on May 25 and runs every other week, with guests including William H. Macy and Alton Brown. Vox Media provides back-end support for the podcast, which is set for 26 episodes in its first season, while Rea maintains creative control. Rea is also scheduled to begin production on a short film this summer; he previously attended film school.