Olive: ‘more urban and chic’ Murrin: ‘beyond the obvious’
The BBC has identified a new generation of food lovers, the “white plate generation” – whom it plans to target with its new food glossy Olive.
The monthly, which has been in preparation for the past two years, was finally unveiled this week – two weeks after the launch of the UK edition of Australian food glossy Delicious.
Orlando Murrin, editor of BBC Good Food and editorial director on Olive, said the BBC was “disappointed” not to win the pitch for Delicious, but there was room for both titles in the market.
Olive will be aimed at 25 to 44-yearolds, a younger audience than BBC Good Food but “more urban and chic” than Delicious, he said. It will have a strong emphasis on food, restaurants and travel, covering food overseas including Australia and the Far East.
“We were disappointed when we didn’t win the pitch for Delicious, but felt there was a hole in the market for what we christened the ‘white plate generation’ – the first generation to be affluent in their 20s and hang out in wine bars like All Bar One who learnt all they know about food through eating out rather than home cooking from their mothers,” he said.
Chef Gordon Ramsay is among the contributors in the first issue, which contains more than 60 recipes from the UK, Australia and the US, a pullout city guide in the travel section and a list of the top 100 restaurants in the UK.
Christine Hayes, former editor of IPC’s Bride To Be magazine in Australia, is editor.
Unlike other BBC titles, Olive will not carry the BBC logo on the front cover. While the BBC had been “incredibly supportive”, Murrin said that research had shown readers felt the BBC was not likely to put out the sort of glamorous, inspirational magazine they were looking for. “So we thought we’d do it by stealth so the tone of voice and approach suggested a kind of elegant, upmarket, slightly funky publishing house,” he said.
Murrin said the launch was carefully orchestrated to avoid a clash with the Christmas edition of BBC Good Food, rather than Delicious.
Although the launch party for Delicious attracted chefs Jamie Oliver, Rick Stein, Ramsay, Aldo Zilli and Antonio Carluccio last week, Murrin said readers of Olive wanted to see new faces. “They felt there was a lot of talent out there they wanted to encounter beyond the obvious,” he said.
Olive will launch on 19 November with a cover price of £2, due to increase to £2.80 from issue two. The BBC is hoping for sales of 60,000 to 80,000.
By Ruth Addicott
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