Big Lou Holdings

What Big Lou Holdings does

Big Lou Holdings is a St. Louis, Missouri-based private for-profit media holding company founded in 2020. It owns and operates the Riverfront Times, an alternative weekly newspaper serving the St. Louis metropolitan area, and expanded its portfolio in October 2023 with the acquisition of Sauce Magazine, a local food publication serving St. Louis food enthusiasts. The company operates exclusively within a single metropolitan market in the U.S. Midwest, with no disclosed geographic expansion plans.

The company's product surface is built around legacy print magazine distribution and ancillary digital publishing, with no disclosed proprietary technology, platform, or distribution architecture. There is no information in the input data describing the underlying publishing technology, content management systems, data assets, or digital product roadmap. The business model appears to be a traditional advertising- and circulation-supported local media model, though no pricing mechanics, subscription tiers, advertiser counts, or revenue figures are disclosed.

Recent corporate events include a $168,000 court judgment entered in February 2026 in favor of Sauce Magazine founder Allyson Mace, indicating unresolved post-acquisition disputes. No management team, headcount, funding history, or financial metrics are disclosed in the available data, materially limiting insight into operational scale, capital structure, or unit economics.

Name

Big Lou Holdings

Legal name

Big Lou Holdings

Website

https://sites.google.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Media Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (51312), Newspaper Publishers (513110)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

Food, Cooking & Beverage Magazines (MPAJAEAF)

Keywords

• Local media publishing
• Alternative weekly newspapers
• Food journalism
• Regional news publications
• Print magazine publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

Dubai

HQ country

United Arab Emirates

HQ region

Middle East

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Distribution channels1 record

Core offering

Big Lou Holdings is a St. Louis-based independent media company that owns and operates regional publications, including the Riverfront Times alternative weekly newspaper and the Sauce Magazine food publication. Its core business is producing and publishing hyper-local editorial content — alternative news, restaurant reviews, and culinary event coverage — for readers and advertisers in the St. Louis metropolitan market, with efforts to revitalize Sauce Magazine's print edition following the October 2023 acquisition.

Product overview

Big Lou Holdings is a St. Louis-based media company operating a portfolio of regional publications. The company owns the Riverfront Times (an alternative news publication) and acquired Sauce Magazine (a food-focused publication) with the aim of revitalizing its print edition. The portfolio consists of two distinct publications serving different content niches within the St. Louis market.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Riverfront Times St. Louis-based alternative weekly newspaper owned by Big Lou Holdings, covering local alternative news and community journalism for the St. Louis metropolitan audience.
• Sauce Magazine St. Louis-focused food publication covering the city's restaurants, culinary events, and food culture; acquired by Big Lou Holdings with plans to revitalize its print edition.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Sauce Magazine (acquired from Allyson Mace)minorOthers · 26 October 2023Big Lou Holdings acquired Sauce Magazine from its founder Allyson Mace on October 26, 2023. The acquisition aimed to revitalize the print edition and continue the magazine's focus on St. Louis' food scene. Allyson Mace later won a $168,000 judgment against Big Lou Holdings in 2026.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• LEO Weekly: Louisville-based alternative weekly newspaper. Same alt-weekly format and local urban news/arts/culture coverage as Riverfront Times, with a comparable small-print-run regional media model.
• ALIVE Magazine: St. Louis lifestyle and entertainment magazine. Competes directly in the same St. Louis market for lifestyle advertising dollars and overlapping readership with Sauce Magazine's dining/event coverage.
• The Pitch: Kansas City–based alternative weekly newspaper operated by Euclid Media Group. Directly comparable in format, audience (urban local-news readers), and print-distribution model to Big Lou's Riverfront Times.
• Euclid Media Group: Operator of multiple alternative weekly newspapers including LEO Weekly and formerly the Riverfront Times. Euclid is the most direct comparable — it sold the Riverfront Times into Big Lou's orbit and runs the same alt-weekly print model across other U.S. cities.
• Saveur: Food and culinary culture magazine. Comparable product category to Sauce Magazine, though at larger scale and broader (national/international) editorial scope.
• Times Media Group: Operator of multiple alternative weekly and community newspapers across U.S. markets. Directly comparable in business model — multi-title local print/alternative weekly operator — to Big Lou's two-publication portfolio strategy.
• St. Louis Magazine: St. Louis city/regional magazine covering local culture, dining, and lifestyle. Competes for the same St. Louis reader and food/lifestyle advertiser as Sauce Magazine and the lifestyle coverage in Riverfront Times.
• Feast Magazine: St. Louis–based food publication focused on local restaurant reviews, chef profiles, and culinary culture. A direct in-market competitor to Big Lou's Sauce Magazine with the same vertical and geographic focus.

Broad incumbents

• Food & Wine: Established food and beverage media brand operated by Dotdash Meredith. Operates in the same culinary vertical as Sauce Magazine, with mature digital, print, and event businesses that compete for the same category advertising.
• Bon Appétit: Major national food magazine operated by Condé Nast. Operates in the same food-media vertical as Sauce Magazine but at vastly greater scale, with a national digital platform, video content, and event business that set the competitive ceiling for local food publications.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Big Lou Holdings