Food and Wine Launches New Website Targeting Millennials

Food and Wine is launching its new website, FWx, targeting the millennial market. The website seeks to provide a young, fresh perspective on food for the growing foodie culture among young people. FWx will provide content focused on food, drinks and lifestyle, all optimized for mobile access. The attempt to tap into the culinary sensibilities of a generation means short videos (under one minute), list humor (as made famous by BuzzFeed) and recipes that are quick and easy to complete.

Millennial foodies
Members of the millennial generation – those born between 1982 and 2001 – are displaying markedly different food habits than their baby boomer parents. The dominant trends among millennials are a focus on small-scale, sustainable production processes and a decentralization of food purchasing. The millennial is more willing to shop at a variety of smaller, specialty food stores rather than buying all of their food from one grocery store. This has resulted in a significant shift away from the brand-centric buying habits of their parents. Millennials don’t exhibit the same kind of brand loyalty as their parents and are willing to shell out a little more cash for craft and artisanal foods and beverages.

New brand
The new FWx brand reflects these new food sensibilities. The emphasis is on quick, easy-to-digest content that can be consumed on-the-go. By tapping into different artists and creatives to retool their logo on a rotating basis, FWx seeks to maintain a young, vibrant perspective on food news. Articles with titles like, “OMG, Bacon Pie!” and “Will It Sear? Gummy Bear Armageddon” attempt to capture the current culinary zeitgeist in an accessible way. FWx isn’t the only brand looking to appeal to the millennial generation: Vice and Fremantle media have partnered to create an online space for food-centric content and Yahoo has plans to release an online food magazine.