Eater
Eater is a digital media brand and restaurant discovery platform serving food enthusiasts through a national website, iOS app with AI-powered recommendations, nearly two dozen city-specific sites, documentary video content, podcasts, and branded products including cookbooks and a wine club.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2005
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Eater does
Eater is a digital media brand focused on food, restaurants, and dining culture, founded in 2005 and acquired by Vox Media in 2013. It operates a multi-platform portfolio including the national eater.com website, an iOS restaurant discovery app with 10,000+ curated maps across 100+ cities, nearly two dozen city-specific editorial sites (covering US, Canadian, and UK metros), a documentary-style YouTube channel, and email newsletters (Eater Today, Pre Shift, travel editions). The brand has produced television content distributed via PBS (No Passport Required), Hulu (Eater's Guide to the World), and Netflix, and operates the James Beard Award-winning Gastropod podcast. Core products include the Eater iOS app (with AI-powered conversational search, smart recommendations, personalized home screen, SevenRooms-powered reservations, and forthcoming Grubhub ordering), the editorial website network, branded merchandise, cookbooks published with Abrams Books (including Eaterland), a Heritage Steel cookware collection, a Zwiesel Fortessa tableware line, and the Eater Wine Club subscription.
Eater generates revenue through advertising (sold by Vox Media's centralized advertising team across its digital properties as the primary stream), supplemented by wine club subscriptions, cookbook and merchandise retail sales, affiliate commissions, and commercial partnerships with brands including Capital One Dining, SevenRooms, Heritage Steel, and Zwiesel. The company is headquartered in New York under editor-in-chief Stephanie Wu, publisher Jill Dehnert, and general manager Talia Baiocchi (who also oversees the Punch, Thrillist, and PS brands within Vox Media). The company has accumulated 13 James Beard Awards, 6 ASME Awards including a 2022 National Magazine Award, 5 New York Emmys, and a 2024 Webby, and has earned millions of social media followers across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, Threads, and Facebook.
The underlying technology is a digital media platform with web, iOS mobile app, video production, and newsletter distribution systems. Recent product evolution positions Eater to evolve from a pure editorial publisher toward a transactional restaurant commerce platform, evidenced by the Grubhub ordering integration, AI-enhanced app features, and the Dining Notes social functionality added in 2026.
Eater firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Eater
- Legal name
- Vox Media, LLC
- Website
- https://eater.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2005
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Short description
- Eater is a digital media brand and restaurant discovery platform serving food enthusiasts through a national website, iOS app with AI-powered recommendations, nearly two dozen city-specific sites, documentary video content, podcasts, and branded products including cookbooks and a wine club.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Eater industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Digital Food and Dining Media
- NAICS
- Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251), Food Services and Drinking Places (722)
- SIC
- Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Dining Reservations & Restaurant Booking (HSACALAF)
Keywords
Where Eater is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Eater business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Advertising: Eater has advertisers on its site as its primary source of revenue. The Vox Media advertising team sells advertising space on Eater properties.
- Cookbooks and Travel Guides: Eater has an ongoing deal with book publisher Abrams to publish cookbooks and travel guides. First cookbook 'Eater: 100 Essential Restaurant Recipes' and multiple city guides (Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Mexico City) are sold through retailers.
- Wine Club Subscription: Subscription wine club offering curated wine selections to members.
- Merchandise: Eater sells branded merchandise including clothing, accessories, and other food-related items through its shop.
- Affiliate Links: Some Eater content contains marketing links where Vox Media receives a commission for purchases made via those links.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free content access |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels10 records
Eater product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Eater is a digital media brand that publishes food and dining journalism across multiple platforms, including a national website, an iOS restaurant discovery app, nearly two dozen city-specific sites, a YouTube channel with documentary-style video content, and email newsletters. The brand additionally monetizes through a subscription wine club, cookbooks and travel guides published in partnership with Abrams, and branded merchandise, while advertising sold via Vox Media's ad team remains its primary revenue stream.
Product overview
Eater is a digital media brand offering a multi-platform portfolio centered on food and dining content. The core products include the Eater iOS app (restaurant discovery with smart recommendations and reservations), the national Eater website with nearly two dozen city-specific sites, the Eater YouTube channel featuring documentary-style video series, and newsletters. The brand extends through the Gastropod podcast, Eater Wine Club subscription, Eater Cookbooks (published with Abrams Books), and merchandise through the Eater shop. Television extensions include PBS's No Passport Required and Hulu's Eater's Guide to the World. Major product launches include the 2024 restaurant discovery app relaunch, the 2026 Eaterland cookbook, and Netflix video expansion.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Eater iOS App Mobile application for iOS providing thousands of restaurant recommendations from 10,000+ Eater maps in over 100 cities worldwide, featuring personalized home screen, smart recommendations, conversational search, reservations, and Grubhub-powered ordering.
- Eater National Website National website covering food and dining culture with editorial content, restaurant reviews, maps, and city-specific coverage.
- Eater YouTube Channel Documentary-style video content about the inner workings of restaurants, including series like Most-Ordered, Mise En Place, Vendors, and Handmade.
- Gastropod Podcast Podcast dedicated to food and drinking culture, part of the Vox Media Podcast Network; winner of James Beard Media Award for Podcast.
- Eater Wine Club Subscription wine club offering curated wine selections to members on a recurring basis.
- Eater Cookbooks Cookbooks published in partnership with Abrams Books, including Eater: 100 Essential Restaurant Recipes and Eaterland cookbook celebrating iconic regional dishes.
- Eater Merch Store Branded merchandise including clothing, accessories, and gift items available through Eater's online shop.
- Eater Cookware Collection Stainless steel cookware collection launched in partnership with Heritage Steel; includes pots and pans for home cooking.
- Eater x Zwiesel Fortessa Tableware Collection Curated dinnerware collection including martini glasses, stoneware plates, and other tableware items.
- In the Booth with Babish Biweekly podcast hosted by YouTuber Andrew Rea, produced in partnership with Eater and Vox Media.
Quantifiable outcome
- 13 James Beard Awards, 6 ASME Awards, 5 New York Emmys
Companies that use Eater
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Eater technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
AI capability3 records
Eater partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators5 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Eater competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Bon Appétit: Condé Nast's flagship food media brand covering restaurants, recipes, and dining culture across digital, video, and print. Most directly comparable to Eater as a national food-lifestyle publisher with editorial authority and video production.
- Food & Wine: Dotdash Meredith's food and travel publication covering restaurants, wine, and culinary culture. Competes with Eater for the same affluent dining-enthusiast audience and advertising dollars across digital and social channels.
- The Infatuation: Restaurant-discovery platform with city guides, reviews, and a reservation app. Closest direct competitor to Eater's app-and-maps model, targeting the same foodie consumer with mobile-first discovery and booking.
- Time Out: Global city-guide media brand covering restaurants, bars, events, and culture with local editorial teams in major cities. Competes directly with Eater's 22+ city sites for audience attention and local advertising.
- MUNCHIES: VICE's food vertical focusing on youth-oriented food culture, restaurant coverage, and video. Competes with Eater for younger digital-native food enthusiasts, particularly via short-form video on social platforms.
- Saveur: Food and travel publication with deep editorial coverage of global cuisine and culinary traditions. Overlaps with Eater's cookbook and travel-guide content as well as long-form restaurant features.
- Serious Eats: Food publication combining restaurant coverage with technique-driven recipes and equipment reviews. Comparable to Eater's recipe and at-home content, particularly Eater at Home.
Others
- Punch: Sister brand under Vox Media covering drinks and cocktail culture. Adjacent rather than competitive; shares the same parent and overlapping distribution, occasionally blurring standalone Eater identity.
- Thrillist: Sister travel-and-food brand under Vox Media. Operates adjacent to Eater within the same parent portfolio, now under shared General Manager Talia Baiocchi.
Broad incumbents
- Yelp: Mass-market restaurant reviews and discovery platform with broad SMB advertising reach. Not a direct content competitor, but a comparable destination for restaurant discovery and a major channel for restaurant industry ad budgets.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks4 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Eater social profiles
Digital presenceEater financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Eater leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
Eater subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
Eater funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Eater M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Eater
What does Eater do?
Eater is a digital media brand that publishes food and dining journalism across multiple platforms, including a national website, an iOS restaurant discovery app, nearly two dozen city-specific sites, a YouTube channel with documentary-style video content, and email newsletters. The brand additionally monetizes through a subscription wine club, cookbooks and travel guides published in partnership with Abrams, and branded merchandise, while advertising sold via Vox Media's ad team remains its primary revenue stream.
Is Eater a public or private company?
Eater is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Eater founded?
Eater was founded in 2005. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is Eater based?
Eater is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Eater make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Advertising is the primary driver. The others are cookbooks and Travel Guides, wine Club Subscription, merchandise and affiliate Links.
Who are Eater's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, The Infatuation, Time Out, MUNCHIES, Saveur and Serious Eats. Others are Punch and Thrillist. Yelp is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Eater have an API?
No public API is recorded for Eater.
What industry is Eater in?
Eater's product category is Digital Food and Dining Media. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HSACALAF, Dining Reservations & Restaurant Booking. Its NAICS code is 72251 and its SIC code is 5810.