At Large with Scott Norton #11: Amanda Hesser - Building a Digital Hearth
Cool, calm, and collected, you’d never peg Food52 founder Amanda Hesser as having an insatiable appetite for risk. Self-described as “impulsive” and described by others as “frighteningly ambitious,” Amanda comes off as conscientious and considered as she does intelligent and industrious. So what makes her tick?
After following her sense of adventure and love of food to a chateau in Burgundy where she wrote about seasonal cooking, she went on to unexpectedly land a job writing for the food section of the New York Times, where she ultimately rose to food editor of the Times Magazine, and authored The Essential New York Times cookbook. Then in 2009, when internet media and food media were becoming intertwined, she co-founded Food52 as a website and marketplace for people who put food at the center of their life.
In this conversation, Amanda talks about the interconnected ecosystem of Food52’s business model, including its strong community, advertising model, marketplace, and recent acquisitions for vertical integration with heritage brands. She’ll share stories of partnering with private equity investors, the importance of delighting customers in inefficient yet effective ways, and operating in “founder mode.” Prepare to be very hungry (and itching to make chocolate cake) by the end of this episode.
Thanks to Primary Venture Partners, who generously provided their office studio for this interview in NYC.
“In so many ‘consumer’ business, the consumer gets forgotten and treated like some sort of widget”
Website Show notes:
- Food52 http://food52.com
- The Essential New York Times Cookbook https://store.nytimes.com/products/the-essential-new-york-times-cookbook?variant=39431971176518
- Paul Graham - Founder Mode https://paulgraham.com/foundermode.html
- Paul Graham - Do Things that Don't Scale https://paulgraham.com/ds.html
- Food52’s Instagram https://www.instagram.com/food52/?hl=en
- Amanda Hesser’s Instagram https://www.instagram.com/amandahesser/?hl=en
- TCG - The Chernin Group https://tcg.co/
- Dansk Købenstyle https://www.dansk.com/collections/kobenstyle
- Uunifetapasta https://www.tiktok.com/@liemessa/video/6923943550111550726?lang=en
- A2 Milk https://www.bonappetit.com/story/what-is-a2-milk
- https://puck.news/
- Amanda’s Chocolate Dump It Cake recipe https://food52.com/recipes/5102-chocolate-dump-it-cake
📸@swhnorton
🐦@swhnorton
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