Ricardo shuts down English magazine despite strong sales

Three jobs lost as distribution costs, falling ad revenue contribute to closure

Citing high distribution costs and the impact of digital rivals, celebrity chef Ricardo Larrivée is shuttering his self-titled English language food magazine — despite the print edition’s growing subscription base and strong newsstand sales.

Larrivée’s Saint-Lambert, Que.-based family owned company Ricardo Media Inc. said the spring issue of the Englishlanguage edition of Ricardo appearing on newsstands March 18 will be the last after a five-year publishing run, a move that will cost three editorial jobs.

He said expenses associated with distribution of the glossy English foodie magazine to newsstands in Quebec and across Canada have been eating up 70 per cent of revenue while ad spending continues to migrate to digital platforms operated by Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. It’s a structural shift that has led to the end of a host of print maga- zines in Canada and around the world.

In an interview, Larrivée said the magazine had started to lose money while the French version, “protected by the language barrier” and half as costly to distribute, remains profitable. The demise of Ricardo magazine in English is “a mirror of the whole Canadian industry,” he said, adding that news of its end has prompted an outpouring of support from readers.

Ricardo Media said in a state- ment the French print edition will continue to published in Quebec and parts of the Maritimes, while a spokesperson said the closure does not impede Ricardo’s presence in English Canada where the company will continue to develop English content using properties including its website, social media and newsletters.

It says it will focus on its digital strategy and its website ricardocuisine.com that is home to recipes, tips, videos and features and has more than 2.3 million unique visitors per month, including a growing number of Anglophones.

The company will also continue its collaboration with the Toronto Star, which allows Ricardo to engage with readers in the newspaper’s print and digital editions. It will maintain its daily recipe in the StarMetro newspapers, distributed coastto-coast, while Ricardo’s regular appearances on Cityline and Breakfast Television in Toronto and Rogers’ flagship shows in Montreal will also continue.