Allrecipes.com was founded in 1997 by Seattle Web entrepreneur Tim Hunt (left), now CEO, after he had trouble finding his favorite cookie recipe online. Hasn’t that happened to us all. The ad-supported recipe-sharing website began as a branch of his company Emergent Media.
After seeing the true nitch and need for Allrecipes.com, Hunt hired former Starbucks executive Bill Moore, who actually invented the Frappuccino we know today, to run the company as president.  After all their hard work and ad-running, Allrecipes boasts 1.8 million registered members who have submitted and tested over 30,000 recipes. And I thought my grandmother held the record for the most recipes.Â
An announcement from Allrecipes.com & Reader’s Digest Association made news last week when the Digest bought Allrecipes for $66 million. The Association will use the recipe site as an online portal for its own food websites and magazines like Taste of Home & Every Day with Rachel Ray. The site will also sell Reader’s Digest cookbooks and you may see Digest ads popping up next to the Weight Watchers ad.
The Allrecipe’s 45 employees will remain in Seattle where Reader’s Digest may expand their online operations in the future. According to Moore, “They were more concerned that people might not want to stay, versus the other way around. It’s refreshing, they truly want us sitting in Seattle because we’re kind of the new media and they’ve been kind of old media.”
Eric Schrier, Reader’s Digest president & chief executive said in a recent release, “Our acquisition of Allrecipes.com will provide us with a valuable digital platform to further leverage our position as the country’s leading food and cooking publisher.”
You know with everyone leveraging and acquisitioning, there’s only going to about 3 companies left that will own the world. That’s kinda sad.
Stay tuned for the upcoming ‘Allrecipes.com Best Braided Easter Egg Bread Recipe’ post.
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