Archive for July, 2025

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Eric Hoffman To Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni: We’re Fundamental Believers In The Power Of Our People, Our Creativity, Our Brands Being Authentic.”

July 28, 2025

Honoring their mom’s legacy, Eric Hoffman and his twin brother Brian Hart Hoffman, are leading Hoffman media to new heights, two years after Hoffman Media founder Phyllis Hoffman DePiano died.  Eric is the CEO of the company and Brian is the COO.  Eric brought the business to new heights and Brian brought the content to new heights.  Between the two of them, Hoffman Media is a thriving magazine, video, events and book publishing business.

I had the opportunity to interview Eric Hoffman who is determined on focusing the business.  We talked about the new book publishing venture, the new business model for the magazines, the events and retreats that Hoffman Media is hosting, and the video shows and programs.

Eric is very optimistic about the future of the business and places the biggest bet on his people.  He places, in his words, “a lot of emphasis on our people and values our company culture, being a family business.”  He is both happy and proud that it is a family business and that they have no outside investors.   He told me, “Being family owned and being private and not having outside investors, it gives you a lot of latitude that, unfortunately, our industry, so many along the way, have been bought, sold, bankrupt, shut down, relaunched.”

As for AI, Eric is joining The Magazine Coalition in an advisory capacity and is working with Michael Simon to ensure that magazines receive what they deserve from the AI companies.  Eric is quick to mention that “100 percent, we will never be creating content with AI.”

So, without further ado, please join me in reading what Hoffman Media is up to and enjoy my interview with Eric Hoffman, CEO, Hoffman Media.

But first, the soundbites:

On the new book publishing business: “Our imprint, 83 Press, 83 as a nod to 1983 when she (Phyllis Hoffman DePiano) started the company.”

On the event business: “For example, Bake from Scratch magazine alone will do over 15 events all around the world.”

On the magazine business: “In the core magazines, you’ll see that we still very much value print. We value our print media. But magazine revenue is only about 50% of the company’s total revenue now. Much in part to subscription, it’s still a very stable business.”

On the new offices in downtown Birmingham: “The creative center that we have now really does lend itself to thinking about the future of the business with digital, with video. Our test kitchens are second to none.”

On what should AI companies offer the magazine companies: “I do think that there are some clear opportunities for the publishing industry to flex that muscle and have the proper representation to let the AI world properly compensate but also let publishers then have a true path to partner.”

On a major highlight of his tenure at Hoffman Media: “I would say that 83 Press, our book publishing side.”

On the role his twin Brian plays: “What he’s done is taking his passion for travel and his passion for baking and really build something that harnesses all that.”

On what keeps him up at night: “What keeps you up at night is the several places in this business that can scale, well beyond where we are today.  We are about 33 million in revenue and, my brother and I’ve set the target that we can reach to 50 million in the next five years.”

And now for the lightly edited conversation with Eric Hoffman, CEO, Hoffman Media:

Samir Husni: It has been a little bit over two years since your mom died and you and your brother, took the lead and moved Hoffman Media into new grounds. I know you’re a private company, but imagine you are reporting to a shareholder meeting. What would you tell them? What have you done in those two years?

Eric Hoffman: Sure. First, we very much honor her legacy. We place a lot of emphasis on our people and value our company culture, being a family business. I would say that the biggest thing that we’ve tackled over the last couple of years is focusing the business. We had 11 magazine brands.

We consolidated a couple of them, so we have eight magazine brands today. But what we found is that there’s significant growth opportunities in our book publishing business. Our imprint, 83 Press, 83 as a nod to 1983 when she (Phyllis Hoffman DePiano) started the company.

Our book publishing will be approaching close to 30% of our revenues this year. Then the event side of the business is just amazing. For example, Bake from Scratch magazine alone will do over 15 events all around the world.

We’ve got events in France, Sweden, Italy. We’ve got two next year in Japan. We’re seeing an amazing way to take the core magazine brands and build out the other revenue streams in a significant and very intentional way.

Going through the journey of losing her, it allowed Brian and I to really challenge the business model and figure out where do we want to focus going forward. In the core magazines, you’ll see that we still very much value print. We value our print media.

But magazine revenue is only about 50% of the company’s total revenue now. Much in part to subscription, it’s still a very stable business. We’ve pulled back a lot on the newsstands.

Newsstand used to be, as you know, a very large piece of our business. It’s not even 10% of the revenues now. We’re focusing a lot more on subscription.

Then on the digital side, we’re doing a lot more with video. We’re in our fourth year of a wonderful partnership with Williams-Sonoma. In fact, it’s Monday, so today is Baking School. Monday nights at seven, we do a live baking class. We film it right out of our studios in Birmingham and have several hundred attendees participate online.

It’s become a great brand builder. If I was to say, what have we done the most, I think focus keeps coming to mind. With that, 2024, we produced revenue growth and profitability growth, which is exciting.

Coming into 2025, we’re feeling great about the pipeline that we’ve got. I will say that even just in the core business, what we found is advertising is growing. We were up double-digit last year.

I think we’re tracking to beat that number again, probably up another 10%. We’re seeing advertisers are valuing the quality of the readership, which you and I have talked about for the better part of 18 years now. We’re seeing that shift to where people want high quality, they want engagement.

One of the things that Hoffman Media can bring to our clients is we’re great at the content business. We’ve been producing content for over 40 years. Now we’re able to turn the power of the publisher to the benefit of the client.

We’re doing a lot of interesting things like developing cookbooks for our advertising food brand clients. We’re doing video where we’re leveraging our test kitchens and our video teams. It’s been really exciting to see that shift.

I told this story the other day, and you’ll really appreciate this. When I joined Hoffman Media in 2007, the business was about the same size as we are revenue-wise today. Think about that.

We were 100% magazine, and probably 30% to 40% of the business was newsstand. But in totality, Cooking with Paula Deen magazine was over 80% of our revenues. We had private equity owners that owned half the business.

If you look at the 18-year progression of being with the company, not only Cooking with Paula Deen’s magazine sunset last year, so it’s not even in the business. We’ve shifted the business entirely to offset that. Along the way, we ended up buying out our private equity investors in 2012.

It’s just been a long but exciting journey. I must get you to Birmingham. One of the things we did coming out of COVID, we bought a building downtown Birmingham right in the heart of the city and redeveloped it.

The creative center that we have now really does lend itself to thinking about the future of the business with digital, with video. Our test kitchens are second to none. We’re using that.

We do a lot of consumer events in our space. We host advertisers in our space. It really gave us that thrust forward to lean into where we think the future of the business is going.

It’s been exciting. Mom got to see that project come to the finish line. We keep her office for her there every day. My brother and I, keep a lamp on her desk. It’s still there. Can’t touch it. Don’t turn it off.

Samir Husni: That’s great. You’re keeping up with the change. Change is happening faster than any time in our lifetime.

Where does AI fit in all the change that’s taken place? Do you use it? Is it a thief? Is it a helper? Where does AI fit in the equation of what you’re doing?

Eric Hoffman: I would say one is, I think we’re early in thinking about AI. 100 percent, we will never be creating content with AI. We’re fundamental believers in the power of our people, our creativity, our brands being authentic.

We always want that to be a pillar by which we stand on. But if you think about processes and things that can be automated, sure. There’re some things that we’re looking at.

But again, I would say we’re early in it. I have followed closely, in terms of the industry, just what’s going on. I know that Michael Simon and his team with the Magazine Coalition is certainly resonating very well with us.

We’re joining the Magazine Coalition. I’ve asked to help Michael in an advisory capacity to really get some momentum because I do think that our industry needs to have the proper representation. I think that the AI companies must accept that they’ve done things to violate copyright and learn off the backs of publishers.

I would say, I think enthusiast publishers that have very niche content that’s very deep in nature. I think there’s some things that will play out there. I think there’s been precedent with a lot of the larger publishers have already had settlements and licensing agreements put in place.

Gaining some traction there for the rest of the industry is important. I chaired IMAG back in the day when all the independent magazines association was together. I got to see it very young in my career, the cohesiveness of our industry, enthusiast publishers, independent publishers from across the country coming together and sharing in our learnings and having that representation.

I would say that some of that’s not as in place as it used to be with some of the consolidation with associations and everything else. I do think that there are some clear opportunities for the publishing industry to flex that muscle and have the proper representation to let the AI world properly compensate but also let publishers then have a true path to partner. That’s still early, but there’s something coming there.

I’m excited to help Michael and his team there.  I think there’s a lot of action there.

Samir Husni: Is Bake from Scratch now the cornerstone of Hoffman Media? It just celebrated its10-years anniversary.

Eric Hoffman: Yes, Bake from Scratch is our most profitable brand. It is by far and away our most followed digitally on social media. I would say that when you think about just the quintessential enthusiast magazine brand that started with a newsstand special, we tested it, saw that we had something there, got the subscription side going. I give 100% credit to Brian.

He came up with this idea truly from scratch.  He’s just plowing his passion and energy into that brand. It’s very reminiscent of how my mother started the business with her own interests and her own hobbies.

We have an annual cookbook. We have these events around the globe. We’ve got this Monday night video partnership with Williams-Sonoma, that is a real revenue generator, and the magazine. It’s the model by which we think about on a go-for basis, and how can we get our other magazine brands to replicate that. It’s incredible.

Kudos to Brian, Brooke Bell, our test kitchen, and our video team. Really the organization, everyone that touches that magazine has just done a fantastic job. It’s quality in everything we do. It’s truly every recipe, every video, every event, every page. It’s intentional and there’s a lot of good people that are spending time thinking about it and how to continually improve.

We’ve got seven other magazine brands, so I’m not going to say it’s the cornerstone, but it is our perfect business model and how we want to continue to grow the rest of the business.

Samir Husni: Are you continuing to shuttle between New Orleans and Birmingham?

Eric Hoffman: Yes. My wife and I and kids, we just hit eight years living in New Orleans, a city that we absolutely love. I’ll be in Birmingham next week, and then again, the following for a few days. So, I do make it back.

One of the benefits coming out of COVID is our people, we really wanted them to enjoy the flexibility of being able to do what we’re doing right here. So, we’ve embraced the meeting cadence and a lot of our communication away to where we can do video. When we do have in-person, it’s very intentional around strategic planning and kind of getting the whole team together. It’s great.

It’s not that far away.  I love getting back. But yes New Orleans is home. Been here eight years. It’s a wonderful city. There’s no other place in the world like it.

Samir Husni: It sounds that the last two years has been a walk in a rose garden. Did you have any challenges, or it was smooth sailing?

Eric Hoffman: No, we had a lot of challenges. Unfortunately, mom passed away in July of 2023.

And frankly, the business was having a bad year. Our labor was running too high, cost in general coming out of COVID. We saw enormous pressure.

One of the hardest things I had to do that fall is to do the company’s first ever reduction in force, which you hope, as an owner and as an executive, you never have to go through that. I would tell any executive that. But it forced us to focus the company. We had to do some things to get the business profitable and having the right people in the right places doing the right things.

Systematically going through that, while it was tough, it positioned the business and in going into 2024 to enjoy the benefits of that and then be able to make investments in the growth side of the business. So, yes, certainly had some challenges.

Samir Husni: And what if you can pinpoint one highlight that was like the this is the best we’ve done in the two years? What will that be?

Eric Hoffman: I would say that 83 Press, our book publishing side, we were doing some amount of book publishing on a one-off basis.

Coming out of pandemic, we started doing some custom, authored work, mainly with social media influencers. Brenda Gantt Cooking with Brenda Gantt is an amazing business partner and she took a bet on us to be her book publisher. That jumped the business full into book publishing.

We followed that, by doing the Cajun Ninja’s book, social media guy out of Louisiana, saw great success there. Then as we kept looking at how we could grow, it finally became obvious that we needed an executive to own and run that that business. And so, we added Kristy Harrison to our team. She is a 20-plus year veteran of Time Inc. She joined us as a C-level executive to run the book business.

Back to my point on focus, now that we have that focus, we’ve got business development, outside sales and the pipeline is great.

We’ve got amazing projects coming out this fall and we’ve already got our 2026 pipeline well underway. That’s been fun to watch.

Samir Husni:  I know you don’t travel as much as your twin brother Brian.  I follow Brian on Facebook and he’s a jet setter. Last week he was flying back from Japan. He was in Paris a few weeks ago. And then before that, Italy and Sweden. Is it all for Bake from Scratch or he’s promoting the entire Hoffman media?

Eric Hoffman: The entire business for sure.

Several of our other magazines we have, are doing these tours as well. What’s great about all the countries you named is he’s going into these markets, capturing content that’s feeding the upcoming issue that is themed.

It could be Irish baking issue, or it could be French baking, whatever it is. But then we’re allowing that content to lead into releasing a retreat the following year.

Samir Husni: So, there is a system to what he’s doing. A method to the madness.

Eric Hoffman: Yes, exactly. But again, back to channeling that passion. What he’s done is taking his passion for travel and his passion for baking and really build something that harnesses all that.

We’ve thought about do we get into television? He’s got the personality. He’s got the opportunity. Are there longer show formats? Are there other retreats that we can do? When you look back, you think we’ve done like San Miguel, Mexico, we’ve done Paris, we’ve done Sweden, we’ve done Italy, and we are doing Japan next. It really is amazing to think about a business like ours right from Birmingham, Alabama, that’s doing these tours on a global basis. So it’s exciting to watch.

Samir Husni: My typical last two questions are, if I come to visit you one evening unannounced, what do I catch you doing? Cooking, watching TV, having a glass of wine.

Eric Hoffman: Well, Samir, today is Monday. In the Hoffman house, we have Monday night, steak night. It’s a family tradition we started probably three years ago and do just about every Monday night. Have a couple of ribeyes we share as a family, maybe one good glass of wine.

We love to cook. So, if you caught me at home, I’d be doing something in the kitchen for sure.

Catch me on a weekend, probably go out to dinner somewhere. New Orleans has obviously no shortage of restaurants here. Amazing food.

So, but yes, that’s tonight. Tonight’s steak night.

Samir Husni: And my final question is, what keeps you up at night these days?

Eric Hoffman: What keeps me up? I keep going back to focus. Being in a in a creative business, you must decide if you’re looking at the next big, great idea or if you’re looking at a shiny object.

Being good at saying no to things can get you further down the road. We’ve tried to do is. Get more intentional about where we’re going to place our bets and where we’re going to push for growth.

We’re way ahead of where we would have been otherwise. Trying a lot of things are good, being able to do it a calculated way.

What keeps you up at night is the several places in this business that can scale, well beyond where we are today.  We are about 33 million in revenue and, my brother and I’ve set the target that we can reach to 50 million in the next five years. There’re certainly some places where we look and see that opportunity.

Scaling the advertising, the event business, the book publishing business. We’re looking at digital memberships to some of our brands. And so. It’s a good problem to have, but what keeps me up at night is how to focus the organization and do it the right way and how do you fund it? How do you do that?

We love the business. We got a long view of what we’re doing. And I think it’s great. Being family owned and being private and not having outside investors, it gives you a lot of latitude that, unfortunately, our industry, so many along the way, have been bought, sold, bankrupt, shut down, relaunched.

We’re fortunate that we, in some form or fashion, made it this long. And I think scale is important.

Buying power and having marketing teams, dedicated advertising teams, production and procurement and all the stuff that comes with it, it’s a good thing and we’ve got a lot of longevity, too, which I think is fantastic. My chief operating officer, for example, Greg Baugh, started at the company in 2004 and he has taken on a lot and helped execute in so many ways.

Then we hired Missy Polhemus, who is our first ever chief marketing officer, came back to us. She worked at Hoffman from 2008 to 2013, and then she spent the better part of 10 years in the tech space with some startups and then had a chief marketing officer job at a really big company. It was the perfect timing to join the business, not too long after my mother passed.

Also, we had never had someone fully sitting on top of our digital experiences, allocating marketing dollars beyond some of the traditional direct mail and insert cards. Now we’ve probably got half our budget going into new channels that she’s driving.

I guess it’s the focus and opportunities in front of me that keep me up at night.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Posted in Innovation in print, Inside the Great Minds of Magazine Makers, Mr. Magazine™ Minute, News and Views, The Mr. Magazine™ Interview | 1 Comment »

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Hunter Lewis, Editor-in-Chief, Food & Wine, To Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni: “To Remain Relevant, We Need To Continue To Embrace Change.” The Mr. Magazine™ Interview.

July 16, 2025

You can almost reach out and grab a bite from the pages of Food & Wine—the photography is so superb, it feels as if the food is leaping off the printed page. After feasting your eyes, you’re treated to storytelling that nourishes the mind. There aren’t many magazines that can truly offer a wholesome meal for both the eyes and the brain, but Food & Wine does exactly that.

Hunter Lewis photo by Cameron Wilder

Hunter Lewis, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine magazine, describes the experience this way: “It’s like being at a dinner party, sitting around a table with a delicious glass of wine and a beautiful meal. You drop the needle on a record and hear that warm, rich tone—that slight scratchy sound before the first song begins. Whether you can articulate that experience or not, you feel it in your mind, body, and soul. That’s what it’s like to consume a magazine in this day and age.”

My interview with Hunter felt just like sitting at the Food & Wine dinner table—an engaging conversation about the role of print in a digital age, the impact of AI on magazine publishing, surviving and thriving through two acquisitions, and the essential value of teamwork. We also discussed the Food & Wine Classic events held in Aspen and Charleston, South Carolina.

So, without further ado, please join me at the Food & Wine dinner table for a conversation with a chef, an editor, and a storyteller: Hunter Lewis. But first—the soundbites:

On the status of Food journalism: “I think food journalism in this day and age is very fractured. There are only a small handful of power players that are still healthy and thriving, and I would include Food & Wine in that mix.”

On the reason Food & Wine is thriving: “I’m very, very thankful that Food & Wine is among the top brands and continuing to thrive in this era. It shows that when you are a part of a company that is healthy, and you’re a part of a company that is investing in its brands and its people, and investing in great storytelling, investing in events, investing in digital growth, and you’re empowering brand leaders to do what they know is best for the audience, then you can grow.”

On thematic issues: “Any magazine worth its salt has done themed issues in the past.”

On Food & Wine thematic issues: “Really is a rallying cry and putting a stake in the ground and creating a tent pole for our readers to rally around and for advertisers to get excited about.”

On the role of the print edition: “The magazine is the heart and soul of the brand. It’s a physical evocation of the brand…. The magazine continues to anchor this brand.”

On whether his job is harder or easier today: “If you’re open to change and you’re open to evolving, it’s not as hard.”

On his role during the two acquisitions of Food & Wine: “My role during those two acquisitions and when I took over at Food & Wine was to make sure that I’m creating a brand that is super healthy, making sure that I’m creating a brand that is growing on all platforms.”

On whether AI is a creator, curator, or a thief of content: “All of the above. But I’m not scared of AI.  Anybody that is creating in this world today, you should at least be playing with Chat GPT and trying to better understand how AI works. I’ll be very clear; we do not use AI to create content for Food & Wine.”

On what keeps him up at night: “Thinking about my kids and this world today, and what kind of world it’s going to be for them when I’m gone.”

And now for the lightly edited conversation with Hunter Lewis, vice president and editor in chief Food & Wine:

Samir Husni: You have been at Food & Wine now for eight years, and you’ve been editor-in-chief before that at Cooking Light, and you worked almost with every food magazine. How would you describe the status of food journalism in this day and age?

Hunter Lewis:  I think food journalism in this day and age is very fractured. There are only a small handful of power players that are still healthy and thriving, and I would include Food & Wine in that mix.

I think that for many reasons, including the state of the industry, social media, the rise and cult of the personality of singular people who operate as brands has made it a very interesting playing field right now in terms of what brands are on the rise, what brands are on the wane, and I’m very, very thankful that Food & Wine is among the top brands and continuing to thrive in this era. It shows that when you are a part of a company that is healthy, and you’re a part of a company that is investing in its brands and its people, and investing in great storytelling, investing in events, investing in digital growth, and you’re empowering brand leaders to do what they know is best for the audience, then you can grow.

I’ve been a part of brands that aren’t growing, and I’ve seen what that means in terms of diverting those funds elsewhere or squeezing brands too tightly to return dividends to shareholders, so I’ve been on the other end of this, and right now is a very exciting time to be at Food & Wine because we’re a brand that is being prioritized and a brand that is growing.

Samir Husni: Is that the reason you’re going with thematic issues like the innovator issue, the travel issue, the summer recipes issue? Is that part of this dominance in the marketplace?

Hunter Lewis: I think any magazine worth its salt has done themed issues in the past.

This is not a new thing. What that does for us is it really is a rallying cry and putting a stake in the ground and creating a tent pole for our readers to rally around and for advertisers to get excited about. The purpose of the travel issue in May, which has become one of our bigger issues of the year, is really to get behind global tastemakers.

It’s something we started a few years ago.  It is our big travel tent pole, and it made sense to make the May travel issue and the timing of that digital launch in early to mid-April, and then also the print extension of it, all align. And so that was the timing for May.

For the innovators issue in July, the intention with that issue that comes out when we’re at the top of the mountain at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.

That event is full of innovators across every part of the food and beverage and hospitality industry. And so, it made sense to create a magazine issue, during that timing, that reflected and celebrated the people that were participating in the event on our behalf, and then also a celebration of innovation in the culinary world. What is cool now is that we are using our events to bring our stories from the pages of the magazine to life on stage, or to create special dinners around the feature stories we’re telling.

A good example of that, this year at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, we had the July innovators issue cover blown up huge in the Grand Tasting tent, and we popped up a new activation for the brand called The Wine Bar by F&W and Friends. And we brought the family behind Red Boat Fish Sauce, and the owner of Red Boat is also making a new Cabernet in Napa. We brought Kuang Pham and his family to Aspen.

They served the cover recipe at The Wine Bar. They poured his Cab at The Wine Bar. And we made micheladas with his fish sauce, too.

So that was our way of bringing the brand to life and literally bringing the cover to life so our consumers could taste it at our marquee event. That’s one example. Another example is, last year was the 30th anniversary of Gramercy Tavern in New York City.

The idea for this restaurant was born in Aspen at our event many years ago with Tom Colicchio and Danny Meyer, two well-known New York City restaurateurs. We wanted to celebrate that legacy and that DNA within Food & Wine with a big feature story honoring Gramercy Tavern last year. And then we hosted a beautiful dinner in Aspen to bring it to life, too.

We’re really beginning to figure out how to use our events as a new extension of journalism and a new extension of telling stories and to bring these stories to life in real life where you can taste the food and meet the people behind the stories.

Samir Husni: And how do you define the role of the print, the magazine itself in this event age? I mean, what role does the ink on paper play?

Hunter Lewis: The magazine is the heart and soul of the brand. It’s a physical evocation of the brand.

A point of strength. It’s a beautiful product that people use every day in their lives. The magazine and the people that make the magazine and that work on our website and social and video and events are the beating heart of the brand.

The magazine continues to anchor this brand.

Samir Husni: Is your life today as editor-in-chief easier or harder than it was before COVID?

Hunter Lewis:  I don’t think it’s about easier or harder. I think the pace of change is so much faster now than it’s ever been in my lifetime.

As long as you’re okay with change and managing and leading change, then it’s not hard. It’s always hard. Every job in the country is hard in one way or another, but we’re not scared of the hard.

What we’re asking our team to do and everybody that works for this brand to do is to understand that to remain relevant, we’re going to need to continue to embrace change. And so, if you don’t embrace change, it gets hard. If you’re open to change and you’re open to evolving, it’s not as hard.

Samir Husni: As you are open to change and evolving, what has been the biggest challenge you faced since you became editor-in-chief of Food & Wine?

Hunter Lewis: I think the biggest challenge is keeping Food & Wine healthy through multiple acquisitions. When I started at Food & Wine, I was running both Cooking Light and Food & Wine, and that was during the Time Inc. days. And then Meredith acquired Food & Wine as a part of that Time Inc. acquisition.

The priorities changed within the company. The executive team at the top of the masthead changed, and we had to navigate that change while we’re also navigating how to run a brand through COVID. And then we were acquired by Dotdash and the company became Dotdash Meredith, and we navigated that change too.

So my role during those two acquisitions and when I took over at Food & Wine was to make sure that I’m creating a brand that is super healthy, making sure that I’m creating a brand that is growing on all platforms, making sure that I’m growing a brand that has more value and is earning more revenue and has a larger audience now than when I started, and that I’m stewarding a brand that will be stronger when I leave it than when I found it.  

Samir Husni: Did you accomplish all these goals?

Hunter Lewis: I’m very, very excited. I’m very happy about the work we’ve done.

I’m very excited about us growing in the way that we have, but our work’s not done. I’m riding a wave on this glorious surfboard, and I want to keep riding it. So, my goals are not complete.

This brand still has a long way to go and more growth ahead.  I want to keep riding this wave with my colleagues and see how far it’s going to take us.

Samir Husni: What’s the secret sauce for this wave that keeps Food & Wine healthy, like 130 pages in print and, you know, with all the events and all?

Hunter Lewis: There’s no secret sauce. It’s the executive team at Dotdash Meredith investing in Food & Wine, believing in us, understanding that what we are creating is hyper-relevant in today’s times, empowering us, and then for us to go and do the job every day and show up and bring great energy.

The energy that we’re putting out at Food & Wine across all platforms, in the magazine, online, on social, on video, and at our events, is absolutely about the team and the energy they’re putting forward individually and collectively in our team culture. There’s not one answer to that in terms of the secret sauce, but it’s all about the energy that we’re putting in, the focus that we have, and it’s a blessing that we have all these different platforms and different revenue streams because it’s not one, we’re not a one-sided brand. We’re not just earning revenue and growing audience on the website.

We’re doing that in multiple ways, and that’s why Food & Wine is thriving.

Samir Husni: You have an event coming up in Charleston, South Carolina, The Food & Wine Classic. Tell me about that event.

Hunter Lewis: The Food & Wine Classic in Charleston is a collaboration with Travel & Leisure and Southern Living, two of our sister brands. I’m very close with Jacqui (Gifford) and with Sid (Evans), and it’s our way to bring the DNA and the legacy and the beauty of gathering at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, which we’ve now done for 42 years, and taking that magic and bringing it to the low country region of Charleston. We have deep, deep relationships in Charleston. It’s an incredible culinary scene.

There’s no other city in the country like it that has such rich history and architecture and culture and food ways, and so our job in hosting the Classic in Charleston for the second year is to bring all that local talent to the stage and spotlight the culture that is there, and then bring some of our partners and chefs and drink professionals and hospitality pros from the national stage to the city and blend that talent together to create a special event that these three brands host in Charleston.

Samir Husni: And if somebody approached you at that event and said, Mr. Lewis, I have an idea for a new food magazine, what do you tell them?

Hunter Lewis:  A new food magazine? I think that there’s always a place for print in this environment. I just went to Casa Magazines the other night to grab a couple journals and other magazines for research, and I’m either the most naive guy on the planet, or the strongest, deepest gut reaction I’ve ever felt in my career is what I feel right now, that in the age of artificial intelligence, the brands and the magazines that are coming from a point of strength, the brands and the magazines that are differentiating themselves from the competition by putting out a beautiful product with great imagery and crackerjack writing are going to continue to differentiate themselves from the competition, and they’re going to differentiate themselves from what is not real, and they’re going to differentiate themselves from AI slop.

I strongly believe that artificial intelligence is going to make food and wine more valuable in some ways. Now it’s going to threaten pieces of our business, and we’re not going to be immune to some of those challenges like Google Zero, and the issues with Google not sending sessions back to brands like Food & Wine like they’ve done for the past 20 plus years. We’re not immune to that like any other brand in the digital space, but I fully believe that whether consumers can articulate it or not, they want real experiences.

They want to gather at our events. They want to read and engage with a magazine, whether they’re leaning back in their armchair, or they’re leaning forward and they’re cooking from Food & Wine at the stove. They’re going to continue to want this physical object in their hands that is beautiful and usable.

And I equate it a lot to being at a dinner party when you’re sitting around a table with a delicious glass of wine and a beautiful meal, and you put a needle on a record, and you play that record, and you hear that warm, rich tone and that slight scratchy noise that happens before the first song plays. Whether you can articulate that experience or not, you feel it in your mind, body, and soul. And that’s what it’s like to consume a magazine in this day and age.

I think that is going to become an even more valuable experience as the world becomes less real and more artificially manufactured.

Samir Husni: So, do you think AI will be more of a curator, creator, or a thief when it comes to content?

Hunter Lewis: All of the above. But I’m not scared of AI.  Anybody that is creating in this world today, you should at least be playing with Chat GPT and trying to better understand how AI works. I’ll be very clear; we do not use AI to create content for Food & Wine.

We are investing in video, we’re investing in photography, we’re investing in award-winning writing. You know, we just won our first National Magazine Award this year for a story called The City That Rice Built, also won a James Beard award. So, we’re not using AI for shortcuts.

But as creators, we’re using AI to better understand how it works and what we’re up against. I think it’s already transforming creative spaces. It’s already transforming how people are searching online in the ways that they used to type in a search question in a Google browser.

It’s absolutely happening overnight, and it’s happening rapidly. I mean, this feels like the fastest change to me since the iPhone was created, if not faster. And I think the implications are much greater.

Samir Husni: If I come, unannounced, to visit you one evening, what do I catch Hunter doing? Reading a book, watching TV, cooking? Hunter Lewis: I’ll welcome you upstairs and into the kitchen, and there’ll be some jazz playing on the speaker, and I’ll be cooking dinner for my family, which is what I do in Birmingham, six nights a week, and welcome you to our table, and pour you a glass of wine.

That’s my happy place.

Samir Husni: And what keeps you up at night these days?

Hunter Lewis: Thinking about my kids and this world today, and what kind of world it’s going to be for them when I’m gone. It’s a crazy world right now, and I think it’s becoming a more selfish world, and a more selfish country, that’s what keeps me up at night.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Posted in Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views, The Mr. Magazine™ Interview | 1 Comment »