Modernist Cuisine

Culinary Book Publishingmodernistcuisine.com

Company typePrivate
Founded2011
HeadquartersBellevue, United States
Headcount11–50
GTM typeB2C
OfferingDigital Commerce or Content

Modernist Cuisine firmographics

Firmographics

Name: Modernist Cuisine
Legal name: Modernist Cuisine
Website: https://modernistcuisine.com
Company type: Private
Founded year: 2011
Operating status: Operating
Headcount range: 11–50 employees
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Modernist Cuisine industry classification

Industry

Product category: Culinary Book Publishing
NAICS: Book Retailers and News Dealers (4592)
SIC: Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)
akta.pro primary industry: Cookbooks, Food & Drink Publishing (MPAJAAAG)
akta.pro secondary industries: Culinary Arts & Cooking (Baking, Pastry, Global Cuisines) (EDAAAGAG), Culinary Skills Workshops (Baking, Regional Cooking, Food Prep Skills) (THAJAKAE)

Keywords

Science-based cookbooks
Culinary photography books
Modernist cooking guides
Bread baking encyclopedia
Food photography gallery

Where Modernist Cuisine is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Bellevue
HQ country: United States
HQ region: North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

Modernist Cuisine business model

Business model

GTM type: B2C
Offering type: Digital Commerce or Content
Cost components: Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

Cookbook Sales: Sale of multi-volume cookbook sets through direct e-commerce, online retailers, and physical bookstores. Books are priced at premium price points reflecting their comprehensive content and production quality.
Art Gallery Sales: Sale of large-scale, limited-edition food photography artwork through Modernist Cuisine Gallery locations in Las Vegas, La Jolla, and Seattle
Specialty Products: Sale of branded kitchen products including Special Edition Baking Steel and calendar products through Amazon and direct channels

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Modernist Cuisine product offering

Product offering

Core offering

Modernist Cuisine publishes a series of award-winning, science-based multi-volume cookbooks and photography art books through its publishing subsidiary The Cooking Lab, selling them via direct e-commerce, Amazon, and physical bookstores worldwide. The company also operates the Modernist Cuisine Gallery, a brick-and-mortar gallery showcasing limited-edition large-scale food photography prints by founder Nathan Myhrvold, and offers branded specialty products such as the Special Edition Baking Steel.

Product overview

Modernist Cuisine is a cookbook publishing company operated by The Cooking Lab that produces a series of award-winning, science-based culinary books. The core product line consists of comprehensive multi-volume cookbooks including Modernist Cuisine (foundational cooking encyclopedia), Modernist Cuisine at Home (home adaptation), Modernist Bread (bread encyclopedia), Modernist Bread at Home (home bread cookbook), Modernist Pizza (pizza definitive guide), Food & Drink: Modernist Cuisine Photography (photography collection), The Photography of Modernist Cuisine (photography techniques), and Natural Wonders (landscape photography). Beyond books, the company operates Modernist Cuisine Gallery (food photography gallery with locations in Las Vegas, La Jolla, and New Orleans), Modernist Bread School (online education platform), and the Modernist Pizza Podcast. The company also sells branded merchandise including the Special Edition Baking Steel and photography notecards. All products are united by Nathan Myhrvold's innovative approach combining scientific research, culinary expertise, and cutting-edge photography.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

Modernist Cuisine Gallery by Nathan Myhrvold: Gallery featuring large-scale limited-edition food photography artwork by Nathan Myhrvold
Modernist Bread School
Modernist Home Cooking School

Products and services

Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking Six-volume foundational cookbook of 2,438 pages combining science, technology, and photography with 1,500+ recipes and techniques for professional chefs and serious cooks.
Modernist Cuisine at Home 456-page cookbook adapting Modernist Cuisine techniques for home cooks with 400+ recipes, scientific insights, and step-by-step illustrated guides.
Modernist Bread Five-volume bread encyclopedia spanning 2,600+ pages with 1,500+ recipes and comprehensive bread-making research for professionals and enthusiasts.
Modernist Bread at Home 420-page cookbook tailored for home bakers with 160+ recipes, time-saving techniques, and scientific insights from Modernist Bread research.
Modernist Pizza Three-volume, 1,708-page definitive guide to pizza with 1,016 recipes covering science, history, culture, and global pizza styles.
Food & Drink: Modernist Cuisine Photography 216-page coffee-table photography book featuring 231 food and drink images by Nathan Myhrvold and the Modernist Cuisine team.
The Photography of Modernist Cuisine 312-page art book presenting 405 photographs and the techniques/equipment behind the Modernist Cuisine food imagery.
Natural Wonders 336-page landscape photography book with 184+ oversized photos by Nathan Myhrvold capturing natural phenomena from Iceland to the American Southwest.
Modernist Cuisine Gallery by Nathan Myhrvold First gallery in the world dedicated to food photography by a single artist, offering large-scale limited-edition artwork prints at locations in Las Vegas, La Jolla, and Seattle.
Modernist Bread School Online educational platform teaching modernist bread-making techniques, launched in March 2024 in partnership with The New York Times.
Modernist Pizza Podcast Weekly podcast exploring the science, history, and culture of pizza with interviews of the book's coauthors and pizza industry figures.
Special Edition Baking Steel Professional-grade baking steel that replicates wood-fired oven effects, enabling Neapolitan-style pizza with blistered crust at home.
Modernist Pizza Notecard Set Set of twelve 5x7 notecards featuring iconic images from Modernist Pizza, packaged with black-lined envelopes and stickers.

Quantifiable outcome

Over 1,500 recipes across all book volumes
+2 more outcomes

Companies that use Modernist Cuisine

Customer profile

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Modernist Cuisine technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Modernist Cuisine partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Modernist Cuisine competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Direct peers

Phaidon Press: Independent publisher of high-end culinary reference and coffee-table titles (The Silver Spoon, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, Modernist Cooking Made Easy). Closely comparable to Modernist Cuisine in its premium, large-format, photography-driven cookbook program and trade positioning to professional chefs and serious home cooks.
Rizzoli International Publications: Publisher of premium illustrated books spanning art, fashion, design, and culinary. Comparable to Modernist Cuisine in its luxury positioning, photography-forward production quality, and high-end retail/wholesale distribution including museum stores and specialty bookstores.
Artisan Books: Imprint of Workman Publishing (Hachette) publishing high-end illustrated cookbooks and lifestyle titles. Comparable as a premium cookbook publisher focused on production quality, distinctive design, and chef/specialty cookbook formats — competing in the same bookstore shelf space as Modernist Cuisine titles.
Chronicle Books: Independent publisher of visually-driven books across food, design, and gift categories (including its Chronicle Chroma food line). Comparable for its emphasis on art-directed, photography-heavy cookbook production and its specialty/gift-store distribution model.
Ten Speed Press: Cookbook imprint within Crown Publishing Group (Penguin Random House). Comparable as a high-velocity cookbook publisher operating across professional, home-cook, and science-forward titles including Joe Beef, Tartine Bread, and modernist-adjacent authors.
Clarkson Potter: Penguin Random House cookbook imprint publishing flagship celebrity and chef titles (e.g., Ina Garten, Martha Stewart). Comparable as a publishing partner for premium culinary IP at scale; Modernist Cuisine's titles are distributed through similar trade channels.
Stewart, Tabori & Chang: Imprint of Abrams focused on illustrated lifestyle, food, and design books. Comparable to Modernist Cuisine for premium positioning, large-format production values, and gift/cookbook hybrid retail placements.
Weldon Owen: Illustrated book publisher now part of Simon & Schuster, producing branded and licensed cookbooks, gifting titles, and lifestyle photography books. Comparable in the gift/specialty retail channel and high-production-value food/cooking photography catalog.
America's Test Kitchen: Multi-channel food media brand combining rigorous recipe testing, cookbooks (ATK book line), TV (America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Country), and online cooking school. Comparable as a science-driven culinary IP publisher with adjacent education platform — directly overlapping with Modernist Cuisine's Modernist Bread School and Modernist Home Cooking School.
Dorling Kindersley (DK): Illustrated reference publisher with strong photo-driven cookbook program (Step-by-Step Cooking, visual cooking reference titles). Comparable in production-heavy, photography-led culinary publishing and educational positioning.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Modernist Cuisine financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Modernist Cuisine leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Modernist Cuisine subsidiaries and ownership

Company hierarchy

Subsidiaries2 records

Modernist Cuisine funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

Modernist Cuisine M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Modernist Cuisine

What does Modernist Cuisine do?

Is Modernist Cuisine a public or private company?

Modernist Cuisine is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.

When was Modernist Cuisine founded?

Modernist Cuisine was founded in 2011. It employs 11 to 50 people.

Where is Modernist Cuisine based?

Modernist Cuisine is headquartered in Bellevue, United States, in the North America region.

How does Modernist Cuisine make money?

Three revenue lines are on record. Cookbook Sales are the primary driver. The others are art Gallery Sales and specialty Products.

Who are Modernist Cuisine's main competitors?

Direct peers on record are Phaidon Press, Rizzoli International Publications, Artisan Books, Chronicle Books, Ten Speed Press, Clarkson Potter, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, Weldon Owen, America's Test Kitchen and Dorling Kindersley (DK).

Does Modernist Cuisine have an API?

No public API is recorded for Modernist Cuisine.

What industry is Modernist Cuisine in?

Modernist Cuisine's product category is Culinary Book Publishing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJAAAG, Cookbooks, Food & Drink Publishing, with a secondary code of EDAAAGAG, Culinary Arts & Cooking (Baking, Pastry, Global Cuisines). Its NAICS code is 4592 and its SIC code is 2731.