I spent 10 years working as a photo editor in New York and San Francisco for Time, Inc, before I started shooting.. They publish some of the country’s most popular magazines, such as People and Sports Illustrated and also puts out magazines under it’s Southern Progress corporation, namely Cooking Light, Coastal Living, Southern Living, Health and Sunset. These titles do a great job at publishing approachable material that looks aesthetically inviting.

The company has recently decided to invest millions of dollars into a new test kitchen facility in Birmingham, Alabama. They are building 28 test kitchens, a dozen photography studios and a dining room. In addition, the facility will hold chef demonstrations, private dinners and events for loyal readers.

The photo studio is slated to open in early 2016. It will fill one 40,000 square feet building on a 28-acre campus that Time Inc. sold last year to Samford University.

Since their spin-off from Time Warner Cable, Time Inc. has been looking for ways to streamline their profit while continuing to offer quality reading in an ever-changing digital market. Thus, it’s interesting that they have decided to make an investment into it what they must see as a financial certainty: the proliferation of editorial outlets specializing in food content, recipes and programming.

For more reading on the test kitchen and some of the backstory of this new venture:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/business/media/time-inc-to-move-test-kitchens-to-alabama.html
http://www.adweek.com/fishbowlny/time-inc-birmingham-alabama-test-kitchens/348557
http://www.adweek.com/fishbowlny/time-inc-sells-sunsets-test-kitchen-and-gardens/236629