Gourmet Magazine to Close says Condé Nast

The NY Times said this morning before the official announcement, Gourmet is "a magazine of almost biblical status in the food world; it has been published since December 1940." And they're absolutely right. Anyone that is a dedicated foodie, will mourn the passing of the most glorified and trusted food magazine in the world.

There's no doubt about it, print magazines are struggling. With the rapid increase of online media, gorgeous food blogs giving away free recipes and thousands of recipe websites, what's the point in paying for a print subscription? If Gourmet Magazine – one of the biggest names in the industry is going down, are we in danger of losing all print media, newspapers included?

Subscribers are left to wonder about the rest of their paid subscriptions. I just checked Gourmet Magazine's website, and they're still advertising "Subscribe today. Get Gourmet for just $1 an issue and get a FREE cookbook."

Everyone's talking about it. Not only is the news media world covering the Gourmet story, it's also one of the most popular topics on Twitter as seen in, 'Gourmet & Condé Nast: Twitter's Hot Trending Topics'.

Official Memo from the CEO of Condé Nast

From: Townsend, Chuck
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 10:19 AM Eastern Standard Time
To: Conde Nast Publications-All
Subject: Announcing Changes within Condé Nast

"We have now completed an extensive review of our business – an important undertaking given the dramatic changes in the U.S. economy. The review has led us to a number of decisions designed to navigate the company through the economic downturn and to position us to take advantage of coming opportunities. (Note: I heard the review was done in 3 months. 3 months to decide the fate of the foodie world's bible?)

Condé Nast’s success comes from the ability of our publications to attract readers with a wide range of interests, as well as advertisers who value them. But in this economic climate it is important to narrow our focus to titles with the greatest prospects for long-term growth.......

Condé Nast continues, "Gourmet magazine will cease monthly publication, but we will remain committed to the brand, retaining Gourmet’s book publishing and television programming, and Gourmet recipes on Epicurious.com. We will concentrate our publishing activities in the epicurean category on Bon Appétit."

Well, that's a bit of a relief. 'Gourmet' Food Porn will continue to survive if at least in cookbook form and online. Time to get out this month's Gourmet magazine and pet it one more time. Sigh....