On October 5th, 2009, publishing company Condé Nast made an astonishing announcement: Gourmet Magazine, America’s oldest current food magazine and a leader in the food-loving world since its founding in 1940, would be shutting down.

Gourmet will cease monthly publication in November 2009, leaving 950 000 disappointed subscribers with competitor magazine Bon Appétit, also owned by Condé Nast, for the remainder of their subscription. The announcement was a surprise to the public, including Gourmet Magazine editor, Ruth Reichl, who heard about the decision that morning. Reichl, former restaurant critic of the New York Times, had been with the magazine for the past 10 years and is a respected figure in the food-loving world.

Conde Nast to Focus on Bon Appetit

Condé Nast will be focusing on Gourmet’s competitor, Bon Appétit, and concentrating more on the epicurean category of Bon Appétit. Bon Appétit is a more economical, recipe-driven magazine, with fewer of the in-depth, well-read articles for which Gourmet had become popular.

The economic downturn has hit the publishing industry hard, with many magazines like Gourmet struggling for advertising dollars. The move to shut down Gourmet by Condé Nast executives is an economic one, especially as they own Gourmet’s main competitor, the more widely-read Bon Appétit. Gourmet had received some criticism for catering to a narrow food elite, and becoming less and less relevant to the times.