Marquee Brands LLC, a leading global brand owner, marketer and media company, and America’s Test Kitchen Limited Partnership announced today that Marquee Brands has become a majority owner in ATK, which owns America’s Test Kitchen and its associated brands, including Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country. The acquisition further builds upon the Home and Culinary portfolio within Marquee Brands which includes the Martha Stewart, Emeril Lagasse and Sur La Table brands.
Founded in 1992, ATK is a leading food and culinary media business with a mission to empower and inspire confidence, community and creativity in the kitchen. Leveraging its industry-leading testing process for recipes and kitchen equipment, ATK has produced more than 15,000 top class recipes and more than 7,500 unbiased product reviews. ATK and its diverse portfolio of brands reaches millions of consumers with award-winning content across TV, over-the-top streaming, magazines, books, podcasts and social media platforms. ATK’s subscribers pay for digital access to its trusted content, and the company’s expansive library of evergreen content includes more than 800 long-form TV episodes, more than 3,000 short-form videos, more than 300 podcast episodes, more than 100 cookbooks, and more than 275 issues of its flagship magazines, with new content created daily in its Boston test kitchen studios.
Marquee Brands was founded in 2014 and has become renowned for responsible brand stewardship and monetization, digital innovation and a customer centric approach to commerce. ATK is highly complementary to Marquee’s existing portfolio of brands and its addition will create a powerful new combination with unparalleled brand reach in the home and culinary world, touching customers across all forms of media and commerce, both online and offline.
Additionally, Marquee Brands is pleased to announce that, effective immediately, Dan Suratt will join ATK as Chief Executive Officer. Suratt is a seasoned media executive who most recently served at streaming media giant Roku, Inc. and prior to that was CEO of This Old House Ventures, which was acquired by Roku in March 2021.
“For more than 30 years, America’s Test Kitchen has helped people become better cooks with the most tested and trusted recipes and reviews in the industry. ATK has undergone numerous evolutions, but one thing has always remained consistent: its relentless dedication to providing customers with joyful cooking experiences,” said Suratt. “As a loyal subscriber for many years, I am extremely excited to join the talented ATK team to help grow this storied company. Likewise, it’s a pleasure to become part of the Marquee Brands family and I look forward to continuing to build long-term brand value together.”
Marquee Brands now owns a controlling stake in the business while the existing owners will continue to remain investors in the go-forward company.
“The founding shareholders of ATK are delighted to welcome Marquee Brands to herald a new chapter in the amazing history of America’s Test Kitchen,” said Kent Savagian, head of RBC Capital Markets’ L.A.-based investment banking operation and lead banker representing the shareholders of ATK in the acquisition. “In Marquee Brands, we have found the right partner to carry on ATK’s iconic brand and its production of award-winning content, while bringing resources, capabilities, and an existing portfolio of incredible complementary culinary brands. We could not be more thrilled for what is to come for ATK, as investors and fans of its wonderful TV shows, cookbooks, magazines, podcasts, and recipes and reviews.”
ATK’s financial advisor for the acquisition is RBC Capital Markets LLC, with Ropes & Gray LLP acting as its legal advisor. Greenberg Traurig, LLP acted as Marquee Brands’ legal advisor in the acquisition.
America’s Test Kitchen, based in a state-of-the-art 15,000 sq.ft. test kitchen in Boston’s Seaport District, is dedicated to finding the very best recipes for home cooks. Sixty full-time (admittedly obsessive) test cooks, editors, and product testers spend their days testing recipes 30, 40, up to 100 times, tweaking every variable until they understand how and why recipes work. They also test cookware and supermarket ingredients so viewers can bypass marketing hype and buy the best quality products. As the home of Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country magazines, and publisher of more than one dozen cookbooks each year, America’s Test Kitchen has earned the respect of the publishing industry, the culinary world, and millions of home cooks. America’s Test Kitchen the television show launched in 2001, and the company added a second television program, Cook’s Country, in 2008.
Marquee Brands is a leading global brand owner, marketer and media company. Owned by investor funds managed by Neuberger Berman, one of the world’s leading employee-owned investment managers, Marquee Brands targets high quality brands with strong consumer awareness and long-term growth potential. Marquee Brands seeks to identify brands in various consumer product segments with the goal of expanding their reach across retail channel, geography and product category while preserving the brand heritage and enhancing the ultimate consumer experience. Through its global team of professionals and partners, Marquee Brands monitors trends and markets in order to grow and manage brands in partnership with retailers, licensees and manufacturers through engaging, impactful strategic planning, marketing, and ecommerce. www.marqueebrands.com
