18th Anniversary: Edible Communities

Edible Communities
369 Montezuma Ave, Suite 577
Santa Fe, NM 87501
ediblecommunities.com

Edible Communities

In the spring of 2002, Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian, launched Edible Ojai—the first-ever “edible” magazine— after a decade of running a successful graphic design and marketing firm in their hometown of Ojai, California.

They saw a need to support and celebrate the agriculturally rich part of their home state. The first edition was a one-color, 16-page newsletter designed to better connect local farmers with consumers, sharing knowledge about farmers markets, community-supported agriculture farms and farm-to-table restaurants. Local readership loved the publication from the start.

In January of 2004, after nearly two years of publishing Edible Ojai, Saveur magazine, included the small, regional food title in their “Top 100” list, touting the publication as a concept they wished “would crop up everywhere.” Immediately following, Ryder and Topalian fielded calls and emails from more than 400 individuals who wanted to start their own Edible magazine in communities from Vermont to Hawaii and all points in between. Forced into action, they launched their website as an information sharing site until they could finalize a business plan.

In 2005 and 2006, the company licensed the first twelve magazines under the Edible Communities brand, starting with Edible Cape Cod and then expanding south and west to quickly include Charleston, the Twin Cities, Sacramento, Phoenix and others. As of today, Edible Communities boasts nearly 80 titles across the United States and Canada—titles that exceed 1.5 million copies printed annually. Each publication is completely independent and as such can vary in many ways other than each writes about their local food economy.

According to Ryder, “What we have always loved most about the Edible Communities licensing model is that it allows each of our magazines to be locally owned and operated in the communities where they are published, and of course, we absolutely admire each of the publishers who work so hard to bring these local food stories to life.”