'Parade' Serves New Food Mag 'Dash'

Dash

Parade and Conde Nast are launching a new newspaper-distributed monthly food magazine Dash, drawing on content from Bon Appetit, Gourmet and Conde Nast's online food destination, Epicurious, as well as content from Parade.

Dash is the latest in a series of food pub launches over the last few years, including several newspaper-distributed titles.

The Dash Web site -- dashrecipes.com -- will go live in September, and the print edition will debut shortly afterward with a holiday issue in November. The monthly publication schedule will begin in February 2011, with a planned circulation of 8 million covering roughly 100 top newspapers, skewed to large suburban markets.

In terms of editorial content, Jack Haire, the president and CEO of Parade, stated that Dash will "provide readers with simple, budget-conscious recipes that help them put quick and delicious meals on the table every day."

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Bon Appetit will contribute a "Fast Easy Fresh" main dish, Epicurious.com will add content from its "Healthy Dinner Tonight," as well as its online library of recipes and how-to videos, and Gourmet will serve "Gourmet Recommends," covering products including cookbooks, appliances and ingredients.

Dash will also incorporate food coverage from Parade's already substantial portfolio, which includes contributions by celebrity chefs Bobby Flay and Dorie Greenspan. Digital content from the Dash Web site will be made available to the Web sites of newspaper distribution partners.

Despite the difficult advertising environment for consumer magazines in general, and the recent demise of Gourmet's print edition, the last few years have seen a number of new food magazine launches, reflecting the relative strength of the food ad category.

Back in 2005, the Reader's Digest Association launched Everyday With Rachael Ray, and 2006 brought the launch of PGA's newspaper-distributed Relish, with an initial circulation of roughly 6 million. (It has more than doubled to 15.5 million, covering roughly 850 newspapers.) In October 2008, Hearst and the Food Network joined forces to launch the Food Network Magazine, which debuted with a circulation of 300,000.

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