(Chicago)—The Food Channel (www.foodchannel.com), a leading online content creator of food trends, news and video, announces Food Channel PROTM, an extension of its current site targeting food professionals. The announcement includes new staff, new partnerships, and the debut of a ‘Special Edition’ series of leadership interviews.
Food Channel PRO is designed to give food professionals a place to come for in-depth and factual information that will help them in their everyday operations. The site was created with an understanding of how online communications are evolving from static information into virtual communities, giving broad access to people representing all aspects of the supply chain. Food Channel PRO provides a direct pipeline from manufacturer to foodservice operator to consumer and engages these audiences with a mixture of foodservice industry news, trends, executive interviews, educational opportunities, recipe development tools and more. The site also features leading partners in education, technology, menu analysis, industry associations and test kitchens and research, leading the new normal for foodservice publishing.
Proven Industry Leadership
Two foodservice industry publishing veterans will lead the new Food Channel PRO. Alan Gould, former publisher of Nation’s Restaurant News, brings more than 30 years of food marketing, publishing and public relations expertise to the table. He began his association with Lebhar-Friedman, the parent company of NRN, in 1990 as senior vice president of the marketing communications firm Madigan & McManus where he led the NRN account. He joined the publication in 1994, serving as the director of marketing before leading product development and eventually taking the helm as publisher. During his tenure, NRN received four Jesse H. Neal awards for editorial excellence from American Business Media.
PRO Editor-In-Chief will be Ellen Koteff, who served for more than 17 years in executive editorial leadership for Nation’s Restaurant News. She joined that publication in 1992 as managing editor before being promoted to executive editor and, eventually, editor-in-chief. In addition to the Neal awards for editorial excellence during her tenure at NRN, Koteff was the recipient of the McAllister Editorial Fellowship, an award administered through the Business Press Educational Foundation. She has contributed to Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Women’s Wear Daily and TIME.
‘The world of publishing is changing, almost on a daily basis,’ says Koteff. ‘With the advent of digital and social mediums, the boundaries that once separated professional from consumer audiences are collapsing. For those ready to capitalize on this new media landscape, the opportunities are limitless. Food Channel PRO™ is truly a new medium for these changing times.’
Engaging the Professional
The Food Channel PRO site offers a variety of features of interest to professional visitors. On-demand episodic video programming will educate, entertain and deliver news and information through a multiplatform media pipeline. Educational services and information for the foodservice industry and consumers will be provided through the site’s partnership with Johnson & Wales University, the world’s leading foodservice education institute. Recipe scaling will be available through a partnership with MenuMax, the industry’s premier web-based cost-control and menu-analysis software. Ongoing insights into consumer behaviors and how those impact the foodservice industry will be supplied by CultureWaves®, a global insights company, with additional data supplied by Mintel International. Culinary tips, trends, recipes and how-to videos and articles will be developed by Food Channel® chefs in the company’s proprietary test kitchens.
‘Food Channel PRO is a perfect complement to the communications options available to operators today,’ Gould says. ‘We provide a whole new dimension to the world of foodservice publishing, taking the existing model and radically modifying that to meet the needs of today’s foodservice professional. We provide unparalleled access to the consumer, not only to foodservice operators, but to manufacturers as well, something that hasn’t been done before in this industry. We look forward to continually refining this new foodservice publishing model to meet the needs of our visitors, who represent the entire food spectrum from product development and manufacturing to foodservice operators to consumers.’
One example of how Food Channel PRO will engage its professional audience in new and relevant ways is an ongoing series of episodic video programming featuring today’s most tenacious foodservice operators. The Leaders with Guts series debuts during the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago and features Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group in New York City. Meyer speaks to the adversity he has faced at different points in his life in bringing his restaurants to life. Following the Danny Meyer interviews, four additional operators will be featured in the Leaders with Guts series.
One of the most exciting trends The Food Channel® is currently witnessing, and that it expects to leverage in the future, is the intersection between food enthusiasts and food professionals. ‘The home cook and the professional cook serve as sources of inspiration to one another,’ according to Gould. ‘As we continually elevate this intersection, the information and community gained is beneficial to all of us who endeavor to reach and learn from the component parts that together equate to how the world eats.’
The Food Channel www.foodchannel.com is a vibrant online community reaching foodies, food enthusiasts, chefs, and culinary students and professionals sharing a passion for all things food. The digital hotspot creates an intersection between enthusiasts and professionals, providing food trends, news, recipes and more. For more information, visit www.foodchannel.com.
