The award-winning magazine, which has a circulation of 350,000 and deep roots in Vermont’s fresh and local food ethic, will remain in Charlotte, said editor Lisa Gosselin Tuesday afternoon. The publication was founded in Vermont in 1990.
“We have been told we’re staying in Vermont,” said Gosselin, whose own roots go back to her great-grandfather’s grocery store in Rutland.
That’s good news for EatingWell’s 40 full-time and part-time employees. So is the commitment from Meredith to boost the circulation and digital presence of the magazine and all its other publications, Gosselin said. When Meredith Corp. announced the deal to purchase EatingWell earlier this week, it launched Recipe.com, a website and quarterly magazine that expands its reach in the food media market.
Meredith, based in Des Moines, is a leading publisher of women’s magazines, including Ladies’ Home Journal and Better Homes and Gardens. It did not disclose the financial terms of the deal with EatingWell Group. The company had $1.6 billion in annual revenue last year, according to Yahoo Finance.
Meredith said it plans to increase the circulation of the bimonthly EatingWell Magazine from 350,000 to 500,000 by early next year.
In addition, Meredith said it will use its resources to cross-market its new holdings to the “75 million American women we engage every month” in its other magazines and digital media, according to Chairman and CEO Steve Lacy.
EatingWell has a content-rich website featuring healthy recipes, food and shopping tips, and meal preparation, as well as articles, blogs and nutrition advice. It also publishes cookbooks and has one of the highest rated “mobile recipe apps,” according to Meredith Corp.
Gosselin, who came to EatingWell in 2006 when it was taken over by a group of private investors, called the sale “a nice sort of David and Goliath story.”
“It’s really hard to grow beyond that without the relationships a large media company can offer,” she said.
EatingWell has been able to make a profit in a very difficult media climate, Gosselin noted, adding that it also won three James Beard Foundation Journalism awards in 2010, in a competition with newspapers and magazines across the United States. She said it also has one of the top-10 food websites in the world, and it is involved in innovative licensing and cross-marketing deals, such as a contract with General Electric to provide nutrition and cooking information in microwaves GE sells. The magazine also sells proprietary diet and nutrition information to Internet firms that include AOL, MSN and Yahoo.
EatingWell’s focus won’t change with the change in ownership, Gosselin said.
Thomas Witschi, 50, EatingWell’s CEO, is joining the Meredith National Media Group as president overseeing Women’s Lifestyle, with responsibility for “More, Fitness, and Diabetic Living” brands, in addition to EatingWell.
In addition to its emphasis on healthy recipes, the magazine has featured stories on everything from honey bees to the thriving new food complex in Hardwick, Vt. EatingWell has also critically examined food fads and diets.
According to Gosselin, the private investors who own the magazine under FreshTracks Capital, bought it with the intention of selling and getting a return on their investment.
The magazine has had an up and down history since it was founded by its visionary publisher James Lawrence in 1990. Its Canadian multi-media owner eventually went bankrupt, and the magazine was sold to New York media conglomerate Hachette-Filipacchi, which changed its focus, lost readers and eventually shut it down in 1999. The staff was laid off.
EatingWell was relaunched in 2002 by Lawrence against considerable odds, but slowly regained its readership and position. Lawrence was also the founder of Harrowsmith, well-known, now-defunct magazine about rural living and values also based in Shelburne.
“We believe Meredith will be a terrific steward of the EatingWell brand, which has been carefully nurtured here in Vermont,” said Cairn Cross, FreshTracks’ co-founder and chairman of the EatingWell board since 2005.
“We are proud of what the EatingWell team has accomplished during the past eight years and we wish them continued future success under new ownership,” he said in a press release.
