In April, the Duchess of Sussex sent out homemade jam in gift baskets to some of her friends and allies. Those friends quickly posted their jam-baskets on Instagram. The whole jam-basket thing was seen as Meghan soft-launching her lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, which already has an Instagram account and dozens of trademark filings. But since April, we’ve only gotten one update – Meghan sent raspberry jam and dog biscuits to Nacho Figueras, and he posted his gifts on his IG Stories around the same time as the Princess of Wales’s grand reemergence during Trooping the Colour. The timing really bothered the keen camp, and “sources” promptly declared that Meghan and her jam were “absolutely pathetic” for stealing Kate’s thunder. But again… nothing is being sold yet! We want to spend money on jam! Sell something, please! Well, according to Us Weekly’s new exclusive, Meghan is very happy with how her ARO launch is going thus far.
Meghan Markle‘s American Riviera Orchard lifestyle brand is off to the races.
“The rollout for American Riviera Orchard is already off to a strong start. The website has over 100,000 who have signed up to hear about the first products launched,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly. “Meghan is very pleased with the early interest it has gained.”
The Duchess of Sussex, 42, quietly announced the brand’s launch in March by debuting an official Instagram account. (Meghan previously shuttered her personal social media pages ahead of marrying Prince Harry in 2018.) At the time, Us confirmed that Meghan filed trademarks for the brand to sell cutlery, cookbooks and jarred foods. The United States Patent and Trademark Office accepted the patent requests.
“[She] is so excited to see how people enjoy her products and use them in their everyday lives,” the insider adds.
American Riviera Orchard’s first product was strawberry jam, which Meghan sent to an array of her celebrity friends.
“This jam is my jam,” Abigail Spencer, Meghan’s former Suits costar and longtime friend, wrote via Instagram in April. “A delicious taste of what’s to come indeed. Love you so M.”
I wonder if everything is being coordinated with Meghan’s new Netflix lifestyle/cooking show, as in, ARO will debut online and in stores (???) concurrently with the debut of the Netflix show? Is that the plan? Could be. But given the months of hype and the jam-baskets, I really hoped that she would have already put *something* out there already. We don’t even have a release date for the Netflix show!
Photos courtesy of Archewell, Instagram.
