Tracey Ryder and her partner, Carole Topalian, were locavores before the word had been invented. With backgrounds in marketing, graphic design and photography, they launched a newsletter in 2002 about locally-produced food in the vicinity of Ojai, California.
Skip ahead to late 2009 and the pair field 60 quarterly magazines under the corporate banner of Edible Communities, now relocated to Sante Fe, N.M. Total distribution is 1.25 million copies, mostly free, with $5 million in local advertising and $1 million in national advertising annually.
Which goes to demonstrate, I suppose, that even in bleak times for the economy and traditional media, an on-target idea, well-executed, can still find its path.
Even if you are not a farmers' market regular, you must have noticed that eating locally has caught on in a big way. It's a topic that lends itself to feature stories about farmers, cooks and restaurants, all easily illustrated with quality photography.
Successful magazines don't merely dispense information but tend to celebrate belonging to a community of interest in an emotional and personal way -- another nice fit for the concept. But the beauty in the Edible Communities model of licensing to local operators is that the content needs to be distinctive to its home base.
I asked Ryder in a phone interview how many American communities can potentially support such a magazine. "Well, way more than 60," she said. "Look at our map and we're not even in most red states yet. Maybe 300, maybe 500."
The company also has a foothold in Canada, and 2010's to-do list includes setting up the legal structure to license abroad as well, where Ryder said she has had expressions of interest from Paris and Australia.
The venture caught a big break in 2004 when the original newsletter was featured in Saveur magazine's Top 100 list with a suggestion others might want to emulate what Ryder and Topalian had done.
Hundreds of inquiries poured in, and they organized as a business, licensing the name and concept to applicants who appear qualified and committed. Few of the start-ups are run by people with publishing experience, Ryder said, though she looks for some experience in marketing, ad sales, journalism or graphic design.
Edible Communities provides some editorial support and a bit of brand quality check, but there is no "must-run" national content. Some proprietors are retired or have other business interests and are content to break even, Ryder said, but a few are netting over $100,000 annually.
Naturally, there is plenty of variation in the publications, though all feature sharp color photography and an environmentally friendly uncoated stock. Edible Austinchecks in at a husky 76 pages; Edible Vancouver a svelte 36. Edible Manhattan's November/December issue includes a feature on how New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik cooks for his family; Edible Finger Lakes chronicles the difficulty Central New York state livestock farmers face in finding a reliable close-to-home slaughterhouse.
Local markets, brands and restaurants provide the core advertising base. Ryder said the home office has landed some predictable national advertising (Whole Foods markets) and some less expected (Eileen Fisher fashions and the Austrian Tourism Board).
The Edible Communities business model is borrowed from VISA's system of licensing the credit card to banks. Ryder says that the model is working -- a few of the local publications are on their second owner but none have closed.
The coming year will be one of aggressive expansion, she said, including an "online build-out," television tie-ins and a first book to be published in March 2010.
But Ryder also peppers her business conversation with phrases like "mission-driven" and "run lean so as to be sustainable." At the end of the day the venture is not so much about making big bucks as spreading the word for the local food movement. Ryder said, for instance, that she and Topalian are not interested in cashing out by selling to an upstream publisher.
Maybe that is a second takeaway on the magazine company's extraordinary growth: pure profit-maximizing doesn't go as far as it used to; stir in a few tablespoons of idealism and volunteer effort for best results.
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