New York Times goes for literal snackable content with meal delivery
After years of providing food for thought, finally some thought for food.
The New York Times has partnered with a meal delivery startup to launch a meal kit service through its NYT Cooking section.
Yes, even The New York Times has been seduced by the Uber-for-food industry.
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The Times announced the new service on Thursday, which will include a multi-year deal with Chef'd, a meal kit delivery startup that is similar to Blue Apron.
Chef'd goes a bit beyond by featuring recipes from famous chefs.
The new service with the Times will offer meal kits drawn from NYT Cooking recipes, which can be ordered individually or as part of a subscription service. The offerings will be overseen by Sam Sifton, food editor of NYT Cooking.
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Chef'd meals for two will tend to cost between $19 and $39, although the prices for the Times service have not yet been announced. The service launches this summer, according to Bloomberg, which first reported on the service.
The food service is the most recent in a series of experiments from the Times on how to use its brand to explore other ways to make money. The Times has tried an online store, a subscription app just for its opinion content and the expansion of its events business.
The launch comes just two days after the Times announced a $14 million loss in its first quarter of 2016. The paper has continued to add digital subscribers -- it now boasts a total of 1.2 million -- but still saw overall revenue decline slightly as advertising sales continued to fall.
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The Times knows that its future is in digital media, having set a goal in 2015 of doubling online revenue to $800 million by 2020.
Mark Thompson, CEO of the New York Times Company, said on Tuesday's earnings call that the company's diverse approach to meeting that goal is on track.
"We remain bullish about our strategy, however, and believe that our timely pivot from traditional digital advertising towards branded content and marketing services, video and more seamlessly integrated ad formats on both mobile and desktop will deliver growth in the second half of 2016," Thompson said.
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Jason Abbruzzese is a Business Reporter at Mashable. He covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the Internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, Jason served as Markets Reporter and Web Producer at the Financial Times. Jason holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an M.A. in International Affairs from Australian National University.
