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Condé Nast Publications Closes Gourmet Magazine After 68 Years

by Yuliya Talmazan | October 5, 2009 at 10:14 am

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Condé Nast Publications, one of the largest publishing houses in the world, is closing down four of its magazines, including the headliner -- Gourmet magazine. Gourmet has been published for 68 years and as the name might suggest is all about food, travel, healthy living, and culture.

The last issue of the magazine will be November 2009. It is not clear if the online version of the magazine will be terminated as well. But the magazine publishers did say they would still leverage the brand and use it on television and in other publications. Conde Nast's other food magazine Bon Appetit will still be published. The closure of the Gourmet is supposed to help the company weather the effects of the economic downturn.

Other magazines that Conde Nast plans to close down are the Cookie Magazine, Modern Bride, and Elegant Bride. In total, 180 people will be laid off.

The official memo said:

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.

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.

These changes, combined with cost and workforce reductions now underway throughout the company, will speed the recovery of our current businesses and enable us to pursue new ventures.

From what I am seeing and reading online about this, editors all over the place are putting out their impromptu op-eds on this topic. It must sting deep when such an established and polished edition as Gourmet gets folded. It is an unpleasant sign of time and industry professionals are speaking out.

Richard Rushfield of Gawker says:

Hearing that Gourmet Magazine has died is like learning about the end of Webster's Dictionary, the Washington Monument or Growing Pains re-runs; one less venerable pillar of civilization—even one ignored for years—leaves our world a little less solid.

Margaret Lyons of Entertainment Weekly comments:

I obviously work in media, and am thus no stranger to the hits my industry has taken over the last few years and the rough and mysterious road ahead. That just makes it all the scarier that a publication as iconic as Gourmet is as good as gone.

YumSugar editor writes:

The speculation didn't prepare me for the shellshock of Gourmet's demise. After all, the magazine, which has been published since December 1940, is an institution. I would have thought they could cut issues to six a year, or even quarterly, before shutting down such a venerable publication. It's wishful thinking, but a part of me hopes this is just some sort of sick publicity stunt. Are you as stunned as I am?

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Rory Cripps

at 16:23 on October 5th, 2009

This is a shame! I've been reading Gourmet magazine since the early eighties. The recipes, photos, interviews, etc. are a delight for anyone that takes their cuisine seriously . . . .

Patricia Turo

at 04:51 on October 6th, 2009

Sorry to hear this because I've been reading Goutmet for many years. But I think one of the big problems with these journels is that they start filling up with advertising and before you know it there are more ads then articles and recipes about food. Again sorry to hear this because I learned to cook with this magazine.