• The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, October 7, 2009 12:03 AM

The news that Gourmet magazine will be shut down by its owner Conde Nast is hitting the restaurant industry hard. Gourmet has long been viewed by chefs, restaurateurs and the rest of the food world as one of the most prestigious food magazines, covering high-end restaurants and luxury vacations. Its demise signals how severe the financial crisis is for food and restaurant companies.

Editor Ruth Reichl dedicated many articles to issues of food politics, organic farming and artisanal food producers, giving the publication a reputation for intellectual rigor. A positive review for a restaurant in Gourmet was the most powerful attention you could get in the food industry.

The magazine's circulation has remained at or near its peak for the past decade, at 978,000 as of the end of June, though newsstand sales plunged 25% from the year-earlier month, according to the ABC. A key problem is that Gourmet has had to compete with food-related Web sites, which are often free and contain up-to-the-minute content.

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