7 Cookbook Business Success Stories [2024]

Updated: November 1st, 2023
A Cookbook Business

Here are some real life success stories of starting a cookbook business:

1. Nourishing Brands ($7.2M/year)

Jeremy Hendon, co-founder of Nourishing Brands, came up with the idea for the business after experiencing the benefits of a low carb Paleo diet. He noticed the rising popularity of the keto diet and decided to create the Keto Summit, a digital event featuring top experts. The success of the summit led to the company's shift towards cookbooks, courses, and meal plans, and they have since sold over 300,000 cookbooks in 2020 alone.

How much they make: $7.2M/year
How much did it cost to start: $500
Current team size: 10

article

How We Started A $600K/Month Business Selling Keto Cookbooks And Mealplans

Nourishing Brands is a direct-to-consumer media company that generates more than $600k per month and sold over 300,000 cookbooks in 2020 through their popular health websites like KetoSummit.com by transitioning from digital events to cookbooks, evergreen courses, and paid media.

Revenue
Jeremy grew the business to $600K/month
Costs
It cost Jeremy $500 to start the business
Read by 8,649 founders

2. Heritage Cookbook ($744K/year)

and a way to make a positive impact in the world. I spent months searching for the right tech team, reaching out to different development agencies and interviewing potential candidates. Finally, I found a team that understood my vision and had the expertise to help me relaunch and grow the business. I also took a leap of faith and borrowed $40,000 from my retirement savings to buy my sister's shares. It was a big risk, but I believed in the potential of the business and knew that I needed full control to turn it around. With the new tech team in place, we worked tirelessly to rebrand the business, improve the user experience, and implement SEO strategies to regain our rankings in Google. We also started investing in marketing initiatives, running targeted Facebook and Instagram ads, and collaborating with food bloggers and influencers to spread the word about Heritage Cookbook. The turnaround was slow at first, but gradually we started seeing an increase in traffic and sales. Our efforts paid off, and within a year, we were back on track, surpassing our previous sales records and reaching new customers worldwide. It hasn't been an easy journey, but I'm incredibly proud of what we've accomplished. Heritage Cookbook is now a thriving business, generating $744,000 in annual revenue and counting. I'm excited to continue growing the company, expanding our reach, and helping more people share their food stories through our custom cookbooks.

How much they make: $744K/year
How much did it cost to start: $10K
Current team size: 1

article

I Reinvented Our Family Legacy & Built A $744K/Year Cookbook Business

Heritage Cookbook, an online website for custom cookbooks started by a mother roughly 20 years ago, now makes $744k a year and is about to undergo a relaunch after drastic improvements in design, templates, products and technology, with an aim to become the top site for recipe preservation.

About
Virginie started Heritage Cookbook over 20 years ago
Revenue
Virginie grew the business to $62K/month
Costs
It cost Virginie $10000 to start the business
Read by 3,763 founders

Learn more about starting a cookbook business:

Where to start?

-> How much does it cost to start a cookbook business?
-> Pros and cons of a cookbook business

Need inspiration?

-> Examples of established cookbook business
-> Marketing ideas for a cookbook business

Other resources

4. Office 365

Collaborate for free with online versions of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote. Save documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online, in OneDrive. Share them with others and work together at the same time.

Where they're located: Riverside, California, USA
Website traffic: 1.52B/month

article

5. O'Reilly Media

Gain technology and business knowledge and hone your skills with learning resources created and curated by O'Reilly's experts: live online training, video, books, our platform has content from 200+ of the world’s best publishers.

Where they're located: Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
Website traffic: 5.79M/month

article

6. Betty Crocker

From our kitchens to yours, all the tips, advice and recipes you need to make life more delicious, from everyday dinners and desserts to special occasion feasts.

Website traffic: 7.27M/month

article