Welcome to the latest edition of Food52 founder Amanda Hesser’s weekly newsletter. Hi, I’m Amanda.packed with tips on food, travel and shopping, Food52 activities and other topics that catch your attention. Get inspired: sign up here to receive their emails.
Photograph by Amanda Hesser
Photograph by Amanda Hesser
Tad and I just returned from dropping our twin son and daughter off at college in Ohio. If anyone has any food or coffee recommendations near I-80 in Pennsylvania, please email me at (email protected)If I don’t hear from any of you, it will be a long, miserable four years. The egg sandwich pictured below was one of the “meals” we ate along the way.
Photograph by Amanda Hesser
Photograph by Amanda Hesser
Photograph by Amanda Hesser
Photograph by Amanda Hesser
Photography by Rocky Luten
Photography by Elvin Abril
Photograph by Ty Mecham
You might be wondering what Erika, our CEO, who joined the company earlier this year from Barstool Sports, has been up to. So I asked her!
Amanda: You’ve been at Food52 for a few months now. You haven’t left…yet. So, be honest with us, what’s the weirdest thing about running a food and home business?
Erika: How much people cry at work.
What have you learned about this business that really surprised you?
Food styling is a whole universe and an art.
Design, marketing and product development follow a very long timeline. It is difficult for an Internet expert to plan for “fall 2026” in the winter of 2023. The amount of foresight required in this sector is incredible.
The impact of lighting on photography (you taught me this!).
How much work goes into selecting, counting and shipping a product.
What kind of person is a Food52 person but doesn’t know it yet? And how do you reach them?
A person who loves their space (big or small), wants to bring it to life, doesn’t know exactly how to do it and may not have much time for it, is possibly a bit quirky but stylish in their tastes and wants more in their life and on their shelves than stuff from Amazon. A Food52 person is someone who values food and the table, is a student of preparation and someone who seeks to bring their own style to their home.
I think we can find this person by showing them (literally), talking about what interests them, not just what we want to sell, and making ourselves a part of their journey and their home and making them a part of ours. This will take a lot of experimentation, some mistakes, and will include a lot more content, faces, personalities, and people than Food52 has perhaps featured in the past.
What do you want to bring from Barstool to Food52?
The belief that we can do anything if we try.
Faith in the Internet and in being part of the conversation and culture.
Hustle and bustle. Speed to market.
Understanding that expensive is not the only path to good.
A commitment to finding great ideas and knowing that they come from everywhere, especially from the people who care about us, follow us or work here.
Tell us 3 things you would like to see happen at Food52 in the next 3 years.
More of our own products.
More stories.
More communities of enthusiasts built around passions and people.
More people visiting our house in Brooklyn. (Editor’s note: there were 4, not 3, a bonus!)
What are we doing well now?
Curation. Our merchants pick the best stuff and I love the stories we tell about it. I love that this brand has an aesthetic and a point of view. I think this point of view can and will evolve, but it’s wonderful to have strong feelings and be clear and distinct about things. I think the brand lost this for a while and it’s been nice to start to get it back.
What do you want to fix as soon as possible?
Pretty much everything, except for the core essence of what made Food52 so great in the first place: the belief that food and home are at the center of a life well lived, the desire to do things with purpose and care, a reference point that begins and ends with the customer.
There are a lot of things behind the scenes that need work. We don’t have a lot of the things we need to really excel in this space. What we do have are tons of ideas and a commitment to execute them. We need to be stronger, simpler, and more disciplined to be able to make this a reality.
Best Food52 recipe you’ve ever made?
Judy Hesser’s Chocolate Cake.
I also tried to make a Beef Wellington of yours and it was a total and epic disaster. (Editor’s note: I don’t have a recipe for Beef Wellington. I have a very good recipe for Skirt Steak.)
The best thing you’ve bought in our store?
It’s hard to choose! I love containers and objects that carry things. The Dansk Købenstyle Wrapped Handle Pitcher comes in the most cheerful colors and makes me not hate drinking water so much. I love Steele’s laundry baskets and use them for everything except laundry. I bought my daughter a Mosser glass bathroom beauty and it makes me smile when I see it on her shelf.
The best decision you made today?
To pay someone else to buy them a ride on the New York ferry.
And now we’re going to fix almost everything!
Amanda
