Quote/Unquote
Dan Suratt is the CEO of America’s Test Kitchen and, as of last week, the CEO of the newly created Culinary Media Group, which houses both ATK and Food52, after the former purchased the latter for around $10 million in a bankruptcy auction last month.
This interview has been edited.
Mark Stenberg: Why did America’s Test Kitchen buy Food52?
Dan Suratt: We had liked the asset for years and had a strong conviction that we wanted to buy it. There was a sales process before Food52 went into bankruptcy, and during that process we had bid north of the number that we ended up offering during the auction. If you go back a few years, when ATK was acquired in 2023 by our current owners, Marquee Brands, it was seen as a foundational asset, something we would build around. We are currently looking for other acquisition opportunities—Food52 is the first of many, not the final.
Mark: What does the ATK business look like?
Dan: Our biggest line of business is digital subscriptions to the ATK website and app, which number in the hundreds of thousands. We also have the cookbooks business, where we own about 5% of that market, as well as our CTV offering, media assets like Cook’s Illustrated, and our YouTube channel, which has 2.5 million subscribers. We also just inked a podcast deal with Netflix to produce three original series for the streamer, the last of which will debut this month.
Mark: How does Food52 slot into that?
Dan: What we bought includes the website, socials, commerce business, YouTube channel, and brand. With Food52, we want to apply the same strategy we applied to ATK, which is to reach consumers across every form of media. The biggest audience touchpoints for Food52 are their website and Instagram account, but we want to do more on YouTube and get Food52 back into books. We’re going to be on every medium that you can imagine.
Mark: Could there ever be a Food52 subscription product?
Dan: I’m not ruling that out, but you won’t subscribe to ATK and see Food52 content. What we love most about the Food52 opportunity is that it is such a distinct brand from ATK—there is very little overlap. Food52 is female-oriented and younger, whereas ATK is more 50-50 in its gender makeup and oriented toward consumers aged 40 to 60. So this is an opportunity for us to reach a different audience.
Mark: What are the relationships like with previous leadership? Are you in touch with either of the cofounders, and is the former CEO Erika Ayers sticking around?
Dan: Amanda [Hesser] and I have had a conversation, and we will be talking in the future. I’ve found her to be amazing, and the community that she built around the brand is what gave it its value. Erika is working with the estate and doing some consulting for us, but then leaving.
Mark: A lot of digital media is in retreat, whereas some food media brands are actively investing in their assets. What do you think the future of the space is?
Dan: Everybody has to eat, so you’re always going to be relevant in food. We are seeing traffic declines, like everyone else, which is why we are building across all these different channels so that we can meet people wherever they are. When it comes to AI, we talk about this a lot internally: AI doesn’t have tastebuds. It can tell you how to boil an egg, but you don’t want to rely on it when you’re hosting a dinner party; you want proven recipes from a trusted source. That comes down to brand.
