Sorted Food
Sorted Food is a UK-based food media business serving a global community of home cooking enthusiasts. It operates The Food Show on YouTube, the Sidekick cooking app with audio kitchen guides and recipe packs, live events, branded merchandise including Small Beer, and digital cookbooks.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersHertford, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Sorted Food does
Sorted Food operates a multi-platform food media and consumer products business built around a global community of home cooking enthusiasts. Founded in 2010 by four London-based friends — Barry Taylor, Ben Ebbrell, Jamie Spafford, and Mike Huttlestone — the company began as a YouTube cooking channel ("The Food Show") and has since expanded into a portfolio of digital products, live experiences, and branded merchandise under the parent entity Sorted Ventures Ltd, registered in England and Wales (company number 06346718, headquartered in Hertford).
The core technology is the Sidekick mobile cooking app, which delivers weekly Smarter Recipe Packs organized by monthly themes, step-by-step audio kitchen guides for hands-free cooking, and a smart shopping list tool that splits ingredients between storecupboard staples and fresh weekly items. The app is distributed on iOS and Android alongside the Sorted Cookbooks app, and is supported by a content engine producing weekly YouTube episodes since 2010 plus active presences on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X, and LinkedIn. A 100+ recipe pack content library and a registered SORTED FOOD trademark anchor the brand.
The business model blends five recurring and transactional revenue streams: consumer subscription for the Sidekick app (monthly/annual plans processed via Paddle with a 30-day free trial), ticketed live events including Sorted Live cookalongs and Culinary Castle experiences sold via Eventbrite, branded merchandise and the Small Beer consumer product line sold through store.sortedfood.com, digital cookbook app sales on Google Play and the App Store, and advertising/sponsorship revenue on content channels. Customer segments span individual home cooks and food enthusiasts (primary), corporate teams via Sidekick for Teams (workplace wellness and team building), and families cooking with children. The company has remained bootstrapped and founder-owned, with no disclosed external funding rounds, and counts 11-50 employees.
Sorted Food firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Sorted Food
- Legal name
- Sorted Ventures Ltd
- Website
- https://sortedfood.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Sorted Food is a UK-based food media business serving a global community of home cooking enthusiasts. It operates The Food Show on YouTube, the Sidekick cooking app with audio kitchen guides and recipe packs, live events, branded merchandise including Small Beer, and digital cookbooks.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Sorted Food industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Food Media & Cooking Apps
- NAICS
- All Other Specialty Food Retailers (445298)
- SIC
- Retail-Food Stores (5400)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Online Meal Kits & Cook-at-Home Boxes (CRAHAIAI)
Keywords
Where Sorted Food is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Hertford
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
Sorted Food business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Subscription (Sidekick App): Monthly/annual subscription for access to the Sidekick cooking app, providing Smarter Recipe Packs, digital cookbooks, and audio kitchen guides. Auto-renewing subscriptions processed via Paddle.
- Live Events & Tickets: Ticket sales for live cooking events including Sorted Live cookalong experiences, food festivals, and culinary castle events via Eventbrite
- Merchandise & E-commerce: Online store selling branded merchandise, Small Beer products, and other food-related goods through store.sortedfood.com
- Advertising Revenue: The service displays advertisements and promotions, with some content supported by advertising revenue. The manner, mode and extent of advertising may change without notice.
- Digital Cookbooks: Access to digital cookbooks via the Sorted Cookbooks App, available through Google Play and App Store
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | 30-day free trial for Sidekick subscription |
| Subscription | Annual | Subscription Plans via Sorted Sidekick App |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels8 records
Marketing channels8 records
Sorted Food product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Sorted Food is a UK-based food media community that produces digital cooking content (notably The Food Show on YouTube since 2010) and sells a subscription cooking app called Sidekick that delivers weekly Smarter Recipe Packs, audio kitchen guides, and smart shopping list tools. The business is monetized through app subscriptions, advertising, ticket sales for live cooking events, branded merchandise (including Small Beer), and digital cookbook apps.
Product overview
Sorted Food operates a multi-platform food media business centered around a community of millions of food enthusiasts. The core offering includes The Food Show on YouTube, the Sidekick cooking app with Smarter Recipe Packs and audio kitchen guides, and the Sorted Cookbooks app. These are complemented by live events, branded Small Beer merchandise, the Sorted Foundation community program, and an e-commerce store. The platform enables users to access food and cooking-related digital entertainment, recipes, experiences, and merchandise across web, mobile apps, and in-person events.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Sidekick A subscription cooking app for home cooks that provides weekly Smarter Recipe Packs, step-by-step cooking guidance, full audio kitchen guides for hands-free cooking, and a smart shopping list tool that helps manage storecupboard staples and fresh ingredients to minimize waste.
- The Food Show A weekly YouTube-based food entertainment show featuring ingredient and gadget reviews, cooking challenges, and food battles, produced continuously since 2010 for a global foodie community.
- Sorted Live Events Ticketed in-person cooking experiences for the Sorted Food community, including Sorted Live cookalongs, food festivals, and culinary castle events.
- Small Beer A branded beer product line produced and sold under the Sorted Food brand through the Sorted Store for the foodie community.
- Sorted Cookbooks App A mobile application providing access to digital cookbooks containing curated recipes from the Sorted Food team, distributed via Google Play and the App Store.
Quantifiable outcome
- Millions of community members worldwide engage with Sorted Food content weekly
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Sorted Food
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Sorted Food technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
Feature3 records
Sorted Food partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Fox Creator StudioscoreFox Creator Studios signed deals with seven new creators including Sorted Food as part of their creator-focused division expansion. The new additions bring a combined social footprint of 65 million followers. Fox finances productions and takes a stake in the intellectual property. Head of division Billy Parks noted openness to AI-generated content.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Sorted Food competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- HelloFresh: HelloFresh is the global leader in meal kit delivery subscriptions, sending weekly recipe cards with pre-portioned ingredients. Sorted Food's Sidekick app is positioned as a digital alternative to meal kit subscriptions, and HelloFresh represents the largest incumbent that Sorted Food's value proposition takes share from.
- BBC Good Food: BBC Good Food is the UK's largest recipe and food media brand, offering a deep recipe library, editorial content, and subscription features. It competes broadly with Sorted Food for UK home cook attention and recipe discovery, with substantially larger editorial scale and brand reach.
- Bon Appétit: Bon Appétit is a major US food media brand producing recipes, video content, and a digital subscription product. It overlaps with Sorted Food in the chef-led recipe video category and competes for premium food content audience share, though with a much larger editorial operation.
- Allrecipes: Allrecipes is one of the largest recipe platforms globally, combining user-generated recipes with editorial content and a strong community. It competes with Sorted Food for recipe discovery traffic and cooking community engagement, particularly in the US market.
- Jamie Oliver Brand: Jamie Oliver operates a global chef-led food brand spanning cookbooks, YouTube content, recipe apps, and restaurant products. It shares Sorted Food's chef-anchored, community-oriented positioning and competes for UK and global home cook audiences seeking credible culinary guidance.
Regional players
- Gousto: Gousto is a UK meal kit subscription company delivering weekly recipes and pre-portioned ingredients. As a UK-focused competitor to HelloFresh, it represents the primary domestic meal kit incumbent that Sorted Food's Sidekick app is positioned to disrupt in the British market.
Direct peers
- Tasty (BuzzFeed): Tasty is one of the world's largest food video media brands on Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, producing short-form cooking videos and recipes. It competes with Sorted Food for food video audience attention and shares the same community-led, social-first DNA.
- NYT Cooking: NYT Cooking is a subscription-based digital recipe and cooking platform offering curated recipes, step-by-step guides, and meal planning tools. It directly competes with Sorted Food's Sidekick app for paid digital cooking subscribers, with similar use cases of structured weekly recipe packs and grocery list generation.
- Mob Kitchen: Mob Kitchen is a UK-based food media community producing recipe videos, cookbooks, and cooking content targeted at younger home cooks. It is the closest UK market peer to Sorted Food, sharing a similar foodie-community positioning, video-first content model, and cookbook extension strategy.
Others
- Epicurious: Epicurious is a Condé Nast-owned digital recipe platform producing video content and curated recipes. It is a thematic peer in the food content media space, sharing the video-recipe-adjacent format and competing for premium food content audiences, though with a different ownership structure.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Sorted Food social profiles
Digital presenceSorted Food financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Sorted Food leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Sorted Food funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Sorted Food 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 Sorted Food
What does Sorted Food do?
Sorted Food is a UK-based food media community that produces digital cooking content (notably The Food Show on YouTube since 2010) and sells a subscription cooking app called Sidekick that delivers weekly Smarter Recipe Packs, audio kitchen guides, and smart shopping list tools. The business is monetized through app subscriptions, advertising, ticket sales for live cooking events, branded merchandise (including Small Beer), and digital cookbook apps.
Is Sorted Food a public or private company?
Sorted Food is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Sorted Food founded?
Sorted Food was founded in 2010. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Sorted Food based?
Sorted Food is headquartered in Hertford, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Sorted Food make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Subscription (Sidekick App) is the primary driver. The others are live Events & Tickets, merchandise & E-commerce, advertising Revenue and digital Cookbooks.
Who are Sorted Food's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are HelloFresh, BBC Good Food, Bon Appétit, Allrecipes and Jamie Oliver Brand. Gousto is listed as a regional player. Direct peers are Tasty (BuzzFeed), NYT Cooking and Mob Kitchen. Epicurious is listed as an others.
Does Sorted Food have an API?
No public API is recorded for Sorted Food.
What industry is Sorted Food in?
Sorted Food's product category is Food Media & Cooking Apps. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRAHAIAI, Online Meal Kits & Cook-at-Home Boxes. Its NAICS code is 445298 and its SIC code is 5400.