Food52
Company type | Recipe and cookware website |
---|---|
Founded | 2009 |
Founder | Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs |
Headquarters | New York |
Website | food52 |
Food52 is a recipe and cookware website. Founded in 2009 by Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, formerly of the New York Times, its website is intended as a platform for users to publish recipes and discuss cooking. The company also produces its own books.
History
2009–2019
Former
By 2014, the website had 29,000 recipes, 90% of which were user-submitted recipes, according to the New York Times.[7] The company started an imprint, Food52 Works, in partnership with Ten Speed Press in 2015. Its first title Food52 Genius Recipes, a crowdsourced cookbook, was set for publication in 2015.[8][9]
In February 2017, noting that 92 percent of the company was white, Hesser and Stubbs released a statement on the company's intent to address the racial equality of its workplace. In January 2018, the company published a letter on their efforts, noting that the staff was now 76% white.[10] The website also began selling its own brand of products in 2018; it had until then only sold other brands. The company reported revenues of $30 million that year.[3]
TCG ownership (2019–present)
The private equity firm
TCG invested $80 million in capital into Food52 in 2021, and the funds were used to fund Food52's acquisition of Schoolhouse, a lighting and lifestyle shopping website, for $48 million.[6][12][13] In 2022, the company announced it would be laying off 20 people and later named Alex Bellos, formerly of West Elm, as a CEO in advance of Hesser becoming executive chair.[13][14]
Content
The website was founded to serve as a platform for users to publish recipes and discuss cooking. It also produces its own books.[3] The website employs like buttons to allow readers to moderate the quality of its content, the majority of which is user-generated (of the 29,000 recipes on the website in 2014, 90% were created by users).[15]
Until 2020, the website held a yearly cookbook tournament, the Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks, in which the website asked food industry figures, such as chefs, to judge cookbooks against each other in a 16-cookbook
Publications
- Amanda Hesser; Merrill Stubbs; Food52 Community (2011). The Food52 Cookbook: 140 Winning Recipes from Exceptional Home Cooks. Morrow.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)[18] - Amanda Hesser; Merrill Stubbs; Food52 Community (2012). The Food52 Cookbook, Volume 2: Seasonal Recipes From Our Kitchens To Yours. Morrow.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)[19] - Kristen Miglore (2015). Food52 Genius Recipes: 100 Recipes that Will Change the Way You Cook. Ten Speed Press.[20]
- Editors of Food52 (2015). Food52 Baking: 60 Sensational Treats You Can Pull Off in a Snap. Ten Speed Press.[21]
- Food52 Holiday Recipes & Party Planning Guide (2015; video book available on Apple devices)[22]
- Gena Hamshaw (2015). Food52 Vegan: 60 Vegetable-Driven Recipes for Any Kitchen. Ten Speed Press.[23]
- Amanda Hesser; Merrill Stubbs (2016). Food52 A New Way to Dinner: A Playbook of Recipes and Strategies for the Week Ahead. Ten Speed Press.[24]
- Editors of Food52 (2017). Food52 Mighty Salads: 60 New Ways to Turn Salad into Dinner. Ten Speed Press.
- Editors of Food52 (2017). Food52 Ice Cream and Friends: 60 Recipes and Riffs for Sorbets, Sandwiches, No-Churn Ice Creams, and More. Ten Speed Press.[25]
- Paula Disbrowe (2018). Food52 Any Night Grilling: 60 Ways to Fire Up Dinner (and More). Ten Speed Press.[26]
- Kristen Miglore (2018). Food52 Genius Desserts: 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Bake. Ten Speed Press.[27]
- Tyler Kord (2019). Food52 Dynamite Chicken: 60 Never-Boring Recipes for Your Favorite Bird; A Cookbook. Ten Speed Press.[28]
- Editors of Food52 (2020). Food52 Your Do-Anything Kitchen: The Trusty Guide to a Smarter, Tidier, Happier Space. Ten Speed Press.
- Emma Laperruque (2021). Food52 Big Little Recipes: Good Food with Minimal Ingredients and Maximal Flavor. Ten Speed Press.[29]
- Kristen Miglore (2022). Food52 Simply Genius: Recipes for Beginners, Busy Cooks & Curious People. Ten Speed Press.[30]
Awards
Food52 won the James Beard Foundation Award for Publication of the Year (2012) and was a nominee for the Group Food Blog award in 2015.[31] Mayukh Sen received the 2018 James Beard Foundation Award for his profile for Food52, "She Was a Soul Food Sensation. Then, 19 Years Ago, She Disappeared."[31] As of 2024[update], there are 8 other writers for Food52 who were nominated for awards from the James Beard Foundation: Kristen Miglore (2014), Michael E. Hoffman, Ryan Hamilton, Ryan Merrill, James Ransom, and Timothy McSweeney (all 2015), Allison Robicelli (2017), and Layla Khoury-Hanold (2023).[31]
The website won the International Association of Culinary Professionals Award for Culinary Web Site in 2013;[32] Best Culinary Website and Publication of the Year (both ties) in 2014;[33] and Best Culinary Website in 2015.[34]
References
- ^ Fleischaker, Emily (May 11, 2010). "The Future of Food Media? food52 and Crowd-Sourced Recipes". Bon Appétit. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
- ^ a b Mullin, Benjamin (September 29, 2019). "TCG Buys Majority Stake in Food52 for $83 Million". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on September 29, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
- ^ a b c Martin Wrenn, Jill (February 4, 2019). "How two friends built a popular food website". BBC News. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Touby, Laurel (March 8, 2012). "Food52: Figuring out the future of food media". CBS News. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
- ^ Kurutz, Steven (June 24, 2015). "Office Interior Design on a Dorm Budget". The New York Times. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
- ^ a b c Studach, Mel (December 14, 2021). "Food52 to Acquire Schoolhouse in a $48 Million Deal". Architectural Digest. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
- ^ Kaufman, Leslie (August 1, 2014). "More Online Publishers Let Readers Fill the Space". The New York Times. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
- ^ "Food52, Ten Speed Partner on Cookbook Imprint". Publishers Weekly. April 30, 2014. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
- ^ Bean, Joy (February 26, 2015). "Ten Speed, Food52 Launch New Imprint With 'Genius Recipes'". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
- ^ Sen, Mayukh (November 15, 2018). "Where Food Writing Leads". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
- ^ Studach, Mel (May 3, 2021). "Food52 Acquires Dansk, Plans for the Danish-Designed Homeware Brand's Revival". Architectural Digest. Retrieved April 6, 2024.
- ^ a b Fischer, Sara (December 14, 2021). "Exclusive: Food52 triples valuation with new investment from TCG". Axios. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
- ^ a b Kafka, Peter (April 20, 2022). ""Be ready": Why investors are worried our pandemic boom is about to end". Vox. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
- ^ Akkam, Alia (September 26, 2022). "Food52 Appoints West Elm Alum to Co-CEO, The Invisible Collection Opens in New York, and More News". Architectural Digest. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
- ^ Kaufman, Leslie (August 1, 2014). "More Online Publishers Let Readers Fill the Space". The New York Times. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ Onion, Rebecca (February 7, 2020). "Making Stock of the Piglet". Slate. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
- ^ Ayer, Brinda (December 16, 2019). "The 10 Most Legendary Cookbooks of the Last Decade". Food52. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
- ^ Reviews for The Food52 Cookbook:
- "The Food52 Cookbook: 140 Winning Recipes from Exceptional Home Cooks by Amanda Hesser, Merrill Stubbs". Publishers Weekly.
- "Community cookbook for the 21st century". Chicago Tribune. November 9, 2011. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
- ^ "The Food52 Cookbook, Volume 2: Seasonal Recipes from Our Kitchens to Yours by Amanda Hesser, Merrill Stubbs". Publishers Weekly.
- ^ "Food52 Genius Recipes: 100 Recipes that Will Change the Way You Cook". Publishers Weekly.
- ^ "Food52 Baking: 60 Sensational Treats You Can Pull off in a Snap by the Editors of Food52". Publishers Weekly.
- ^ "Food52 Holiday Recipes & Party Planning Guide". Library Journal.
- ^ "Food52 Vegan: 60 Vegetable-Driven Recipes for Any Kitchen". Library Journal.
- ^ Shapiro, Laura (November 30, 2016). "From Brooklyn to Kentucky to Iran: Cookbooks for Every Taste". The New York Times. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
- ^ "Food52 Ice Cream and Friends: 60 Recipes and Riffs for Sorbets, Sandwiches, No-Churn Ice Creams, and More". Library Journal.
- ^ Reviews for Food52 Any Night Grilling:
- "Food52 Any Night Grilling: 60 Ways to Fire Up Dinner (and More) by Paula Disbrowe". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
- Campbell, Lisa (March 15, 2018). "Food52 Any Night Grilling: 60 Ways To Fire Up Dinner (and More)". Library Journal. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
- ^ Reviews for Food52 Genius Desserts:
- "100 'genius' dessert recipes all in one cookbook, including tips and techniques". Los Angeles Times. August 29, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
- Laskey, Margaux (December 4, 2018). "The Best Baking Cookbooks of 2018". The New York Times.
- Campbell, Lisa (August 1, 2018). "Food52 Genius Desserts: 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Bake". Library Journal. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
- ^ Reviews for Food52 Dynamite Chicken:
- Tyler, Kord. "Food52 Dynamite Chicken: 60 Never-Boring Recipes for Your Favorite Bird; A Cookbook". Library Journal. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
- "Food52 Dynamite Chicken: 60 Never-Boring Recipes for Your Favorite Bird by Tyler Kord". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
- ^ Reviews for Food52 Big Little Recipes:
- "Food52 Big Little Recipes: Good Food with Minimal Ingredients and Maximal Flavor by Emma Laperruque". Publishers Weekly.
- Puckett, Susan (January 5, 2022). "Cookbook review: Tricks to make a simple dish stand out". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
- ^ "Food52 Simply Genius: Recipes for Beginners, Busy Cooks & Curious People by Kristen Miglore". Publishers Weekly.
- ^ a b c "Awards Search". James Beard Foundation. Archived from the original on March 10, 2024. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
- ^ Brion, Raphael (April 9, 2013). "IACP Announces 2013 Food Writing Award Winners". Eater. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
- ^ Forbes, Paula (March 15, 2014). "IACP Announces 2014 Food Writing Award Winners". Eater. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
- ^ Krystal, Becky (March 29, 2015). "Local authors are among IACP award winners announced in Washington". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 10, 2024.