Hot Food Trends 2013

The 2013 Winter Fancy Foods show in San Francisco has announced that one of the
"6 Hottest Trends" in food for this year is "Heritage Foods". (Check out all the trends here at USA Today's website.)

If you have a regional cookbook or have published a cookbook highlighting regional foods, you should be aware of this trend for sales and marketing purposes.

If you are developing a cookbook at the moment you might want to include some recipes that take advantage of the trend.

What ideas does this trend generate for you to include in a book you are writing or use to promote your current cookbook?

Who is Your Audience?

In my last post, I spent some time discussing the value of content in planning a cookbook.  Something else that must be considered when developing content is your audience. I say this for two very important reasons - content must appeal to those whom you want to purchase your book and you must have a way to reach this audience.

Let me give you some examples to illustrate.

If you decided to publish a cookbook for individuals afflicted with Celiac Disease you would obviously be narrowing the number of interested buyers to the Celiac population. At the same time you could be developing a database of Celiac sufferers within a certain region or area for social media efforts. Perhaps you would approach the medical community to assist in your marketing efforts--patient brochures, copies of books in allergist offices, finding medical blogs that deal with Celiac Disease to promote your title and so forth.

If, however you are generating a community cookbook targeted to raise funds within your town you would take a totally different approach in both content and marketing. You would start your book by involving your membership for recipes and orders, then work your way out for marketing purposes into the local media and distribution networks. Your might seek appearances on local cooking shows, promote to the Convention and Visitors bureau, hold book signings and tastings in local retail book or gift stores, for example.

You would also base your book order based on the universe your title would appeal to. I've never heard of an exact formula but you certainly wouldn't assume that everyone within your target audience would purchase, but rather you would agree on a reasonable percentage likely to buy over a 12-24 month period. The Melting Pot Restaurants based their first printing of Dip Into Something Different (15,000 copies) on a percentage of their preferred customer database and then ordered additional books as inventory was depleted. Their total print run now totals well over 50,000 copies.

This bit of legwork and planning up front might slow you down but will pay off in success if you develop the plan, identify the audience and then work the plan.

How Good is Your Content?

Are you considering developing a regional or specialty cookbook? Let me encourage you to invest some time in planning your content. There was a time in the not-so-distant past when an organization could reach out to its members and collect popular recipes of the day, rate and test the recipes and then use the ones selected for the book. Times have changed.

A successful regional cookbook today must carry a strong theme and this is where a bit of creativity comes in.  One of our most popular books over the last three years carries a fondue theme. Other popular themes I have noticed are seasonal, event driven, single food category, quick and easy, unique number (usually 4-5) number of ingredients, city or community driven. I'm certain that with a brainstorming session many of you can come up with even more creative or unique themes.

When it comes to selecting the recipes I think we can all agree that including recipes that are not in every other cookbook known to man is the right way to go. You will probably never find recipes that are not available elsewhere, however, you can come up with unique twists to the "tried and true". Another element that I personally recommend is to include a story about each recipe. Where did it come from? How has it been altered? What do guests say about it? Is there one ingredient that gives it a special oomph? Does it go with a particular dish? Do you have plating advice? and so on.

If you are going to develop a new cookbook and ask folks to pay for it or companies to sponsor it, you want to give them a great value. The way you accomplish this is to sell a lot of them (for the sponsors' benefit) and develop a book that is as fun and interesting to read as it is to cook from.

The Development of a Community Cookbook

We have been discussing the merits of community cookbooks and how they create partnerships within the community as well as how they benefit the community as a whole. These books are being developed and sold across our great nation. I thought it might be interesting to discuss how one of these masterpieces comes together.

One thing I know for sure is that the process of developing a classic community cookbook involves a great deal more than just collecting a few good recipes. Although having quality recipes is important a great deal of additional content is needed and is important if one is to have a truly remarkable cookbook. Who better than one who has recently been heavily involved in the process to share her experience. I asked my good friend, Lori Sullivan, to share her thoughts on the experience that she had with Rochelle Darmon, fellow co-chair for JL of Greater Ft Lauderdale. 

In their professional lives these ladies are both involved in other non-profit organizations; Lori with Girl Scouts of the USA, and Rochelle with March of Dimes. Here is what they have to say.

 Paradise isn't truly a destination. You can't find it on a map or use credit card miles to get there.  After two years of concept, development, design and marketing - I can say with absolute certainty that paradise is a cookbook you adore and a group of women you love.

It began in February of 2007. In truth, I was in the throes of a postpartum realignment and ready to step back from the Junior League but a little voice in my head (and a much louder voice from my dear friend, Rochelle) said “Come on, let’s go!”

So, away we went! Rochelle and I spent five months of that year getting ready and getting to FRP’s “Cookbook U” in Nashville. Then in July, we met them; the 16 wonderful women of unparalleled talent and dedication who would take it all on with us and have a cookbook to show for it in just 18 short months. They all showed up at Rochelle’s house for brunch…and mimosas.

Having never met before, miraculously (magically!) we selected a title that first day, Paradise Served.  The title was designed to give a nod to the beautiful place we call home and the recipes to be eventually served from our book.  The title was also intended to be a celebration of our League’s rich history of service, advocacy and community activism.

We spent just four months on assembling an eclectic group of just over 500 recipes, as well as a volunteer team of 90 Leaguers to “alpha” test and photograph each of them.  Just after the holidays, in January 2008, 500 recipes were quickly tested a second and a third time (that phase exclusively completed by our committee) and after a process of elimination, we selected the top 244 recipes found in our book today.  At the same time, our spectacular South Florida winter set the backdrop for the cover photo shoot.

The 18 of us meet weekly (sometimes nightly, over take-out food) to make the March 15 deadline for our manuscript to travel to our friends at FRP.  Amazingly after all of that, a caravan of mini-vans and perfectly hysterical women drove to the main FedEx office to watch “our baby” leave us.

We cried that day in March. We cried the day our first mock-up arrived in May. We cried about chapter openers and Pantone colors. It was a long (soggy) summer; but we kept the traditions of monthly brunch committee meetings and kept each other sane. We drove pre-sales and gathered together in the driveway in November when the palettes were delivered to a top-secret location. We got dressed up and produced a first class launch for our cookbook in true Fort Lauderdale fashion. The night of November 14, Paradise Served premiered to a packed house and rave reviews.

Now each of us can serve as an official tour guide for the popular local attraction called “how to make a cookbook.” We all look back with great admiration and amazement. Better yet, we can thumb through the pages of our totally unique offering to the culinary world; born of collaboration and a lot of love. Our tour is an honest narrative. Sometimes the road to paradise can be dark and scary; and bumpy because the path is uncharted.  For our committee though, we found our path to paradise, and I don’t think we would have had it any other way.

Thanks Lori and Rochelle for sharing your story and truly expressing how gratifying this work is. Remember these ladies have created an asset for their organization and community that can benefit both for many years to come.