New Food Magazine Counts on Home Cooks

by Naomi Shulman, Posted Jun 14th 2010 @ 2:00PM

We've all heard the conventional wisdom: print media is doomed. Last fall's demise of Gourmet, shocking as it was, was only one of dozens of magazines that have folded in the past five years. But now a phoenix appears to be rising from those journalistic ashes -- and that phoenix is wearing an apron.

Meet Dash, a new magazine slated to debut this September (online to start, at dashrecipes.com). A preview issue of the print version will follow in November, with regular monthly issues beginning in February. While Gourmet focused on cooking that was, well, gourmet, Dash promises food that is "simple," "fast," and last (but hopefully not least), "delicious."

Turns out that while many advertisers were fleeing magazines, food purveyors have been quietly buying up their ad space, according to The New York Times.

Con Agra, Heinz, Smuckers, and similar companies have apparently increased advertising spending in the first quarter by a significant amount -- in some cases by more than 80 percent, reports the The New York Times. Consequently, while Gourmet and other upscale lifestyle magazines were hit hard, down-to-earth titles like Martha Stewart's Everyday Food and Every Day with Rachael Ray have been trucking right along.

Launched by Parade Publications, Dash will be distributed with 100 newspapers to start, giving it a circulation of roughly 8 million. While its target audience -- busy working parents -- is different from Gourmet's, Dash is taking some editorial direction from Gourmet's old parent company, Conde Nast, and will even access the old Gourmet archives as well as Gourmet's still-running online presence, epicurious.com. The editorial collaboration between Parade and Conde Nast is new, and helps lend some weight to a print start-up -- which is still a somewhat risky proposition in this market. "With the partnership with those three great brands attached, there is some instant credibility," Brenda White, senior vice president and publishing activation director at Starcom in Chicago, told the The New York Times.

Among the magazines Dash will compete against is another fairly recent newcomer, Relish, owned by the Publishing Group of America. Carol Campbell Boggs, senior vice president, put an optimistic face on the upcoming competition. "Imitation is the best form of flattery," she pointed out to the The New York Times. And furthermore, it's evidence that they're doing something right.

Filed Under: Magazines
Tags: conde nast, dash, dash magazine, epicurious, featured, parade publications, relish