
How Cook's Illustrated thrives while others are dying - brm
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1518-how-cooks-illustrated-thrives-while-others-are-dying
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tptacek
First, Cooks Illustrated is an incredible resource. I've been a subscriber for
years, both in print and for the (indispensable) website that collects all
their recipes. No CI recipe has ever failed me; most document in meticulous
detail why each choice was made.

Second, Cooks Illustrated may have the same editorial policy as Consumer
Reports, but it's really _not_ the Consumer Reports of food. 80% of their
content is original research on recipes and techniques. At the end of each
issue, they have 2 "Consumer Reports"-like sections, one on a piece of
equipment and one on an ingredient. But that's a feature, not the engine.

Third, in fairness, CI has other revenue streams: a lucrative line of
cookbooks (several new ones are issued every year, and their flagship cookbook
also goes through many editions) and 2 popular PBS television shows, which PBS
stations pay them to run. Most magazines don't operate like this.

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callmeed
Interesting, I think I may subscribe.

How is the photography in the online recipes?

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jonknee
They are real big on illustrations (see article for example). There is a good
amount of video on the site too, which is useful. You can sign up for a free
trial period, though I do believe you gotta give up payment info first (and
will be charged if you don't cancel before the trial is up).

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tptacek
You know what would be neat? A service like Paypal where you could sign up for
30-day trials for things, and it would automatically cancel the trial on day
29.

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gommm
I would love that, but I doubt websites would support it :-)

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tptacek
Why would they need to? It could work like a pass-through payment card, like
the expense tracking services use.

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gommm
Oh, I didn't know there was such a thing... yeah in this case it could be a
useful service....

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stcredzero
Too much choice sucks. Too much choice with too little information sucks even
more. Consumer Reports and CI directly address this problem, and they do it
fairly well.

ConsumerLab is another one. They just test vitamins and dietary supplements
and post their results on their website.

<http://www.consumerlab.com/>

The problem they address is not choice, but difficulty attaining of safety
information. It's easy, for example, for metal impurities to get into
supplements like DHEA. The FDA is not going to step in, so a free market
alternative arises.

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wallflower
I am a long-time subscriber. Cook's Illustrated almost makes cooking into a
low-risk venture (especially when cooking for friends). My personal pot-luck
guarantee/favorite: Teriyaki Stir-Fried Beef with Green Beans and Shiitakes.
Subscribe to their email list just to read the Editor-in-Chief's emails - show
how you can live on a farm and off the land if you provide value to people who
don't live on a farm..

My one criticism is the recipes are not typically health friendly (you can
adjust) and the fact that they keep on sending me 'subscribe' email spam for
'Cook's Country'.

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augustus
I am a recent cook-for-relaxation person. Going through their web site, the
main differentiation factor is the tried-and-true recipe factor. Apparently
they try each recipe 30-40 times to perfect it.

That is worth paying for. And the convenience of the Internet and the videos.

I could easily go to the library and pick up a book but it is a time consuming
process.

So, yeah. If they want to take the time to perfect each recipe. Heck, I will
pay for it.

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jonknee
I'm a subscriber to the website, it's a great product. I really enjoy the
reviews. Recipe wise I usually look at what they and others do and then go my
own.

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swilliams
Lesson learned: People will pay for premium content, even on the Internet.

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adityakothadiya
The question is - will they pay even in this struggling economy? My friend
once told me, if economy starts getting worsened, she would cut down her
premium expenses first. That includes branded products, luxurious lifestyle,
premium subscriptions, etc.

Yes, people pay for premium content but in this economy, businesses which are
dependent on premium features will be the first ones who get setbacks.

My $0.02s of course.

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jonknee
Cooks Illustrated will probably just get bigger--cooking at home is cheaper
than not and is one of those things people start doing when they want to save
money.

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adityakothadiya
you can cook at home by using free recipe sites as well. my point is, should
we come up with business models for "premium" customers?

I'm not saying it's not a good approach. Rather I'm researching such an idea
which targets premium customers who prefer personalization/customization. And
that's when my friend responded that she wouldn't pay for my premium service
since there are free or cheaper options available, which also "get things
done".

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revorad
Yeah but the point here is that CI is charging for a quality service for which
evidently there isn't an equally good free or cheaper option.

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nihaar
Funny, I was referred to this magazine by a friend today as well. I agree, at
a time when I do want to cook at home more, I am willing to pay the small
premium to actually read quality recipes and techniques rather than free sites
that provide a hack-job of recipes like allrecipes.com or cooks.com

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nihilocrat
People will pay for quality. Why dumpster-dive for a free bag of not-actually-
bad-but-they-had-to-throw-them-out potato chips when you can just walk in the
store and buy them for a few bucks without getting your clothes dirty?

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gommm
After reading this, I tried to become member to their website and they force
me to chose a state even if I least my country as france and ask me for a
phone number to be formatted according to the way americans format their phone
numbers. I guess they don't get that many foreigners using their website....

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wildwood
I wonder if the 'timelessness' of Cook's Illustrated will become more of an
issue, as time goes on. Can they really keep coming up with a new Thanksgiving
turkey recipe every single year? Or will they eventually end up competing with
their own past content?

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jonknee
That's silly. Will musicians run out of melodies? Or screen writers run out of
stories? People have been cooking for thousands of years and somehow keep
learning more. Food tastes are always changing, if you go back and watch old
black and white Julia Child cooking shows she talks about a exotic herb called
basil that you should definitely check out if you can find locally. Dried
basil, the stuff that's hardly worth buying these days because fresh is so
much better. Who knows what foods will seem commonplace in 50 years?

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likpok
Your comparison is an apt one. Both recipes and music are things we think of
as infinite, but are not (Proof: you can encode all music/recipes/whatever as
a finite series of 0's and 1's. Hence, there is a finite (and easily
calculated) upper bound on the number of recipes shorter than a certain
length.)

Now, these representations are fairly long (and furthermore, music can't be
made much shorter), so there are a fair number of variations.

In conclusion: Yes, they will run out someday. However, this may be after the
heat-death of the universe. A bigger risk to their business model is humanity
changing to not need food.

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mdakin
"Cooks Illustrated" is great but I prefer the recipes from their other
site/magazine "Cooks Country." You might want to check out CC before
subscribing to CI in case your palate is similar to my own.

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jderick
It's just that good, that's how.

