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Subscription in the kitchen

Abagail Sullivan Dec 5 2019

Today, there’s nothing better than BBQ. We're also seeing subscription in the kitchen. Plus, learning how to amp up your product release posts. Because face it, they’re kind of lame. 

 

 

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Down home cooking

What’s better than good old fashioned barbeque?

(Well, if you’re a vegetarian, probably a lot of things.) But for the meat lovers out there, we have news. 

Texas BBQ restaurant Salt Lick just dropped its own subscription service. For just over $89 monthly, subscribers will receive a selection of Salt Lick branded meats, sauces, and merch. 

Which is definitely giving me Arby’s subscription vibes, which was launched about the same time a year ago, and sold out in an hour.

And there’s a catch: The Salt Lick subscription is only available to the first 100 subscribers, likely because the 52-year-old restaurant plans to handle subscription enrollments and fulfillment in-house. Subscriptions are available in six-month increments, priced at 15% off normal retail prices. 

The 100 subscriber limit could also be an exclusivity play on Salt Lick’s part, which would be a smart move on their part. 

Power moves only. 

 

Cooking with subscription

Our neighbors over at America’s Test Kitchen run the space with CEO David Nussbaum, who’s not a chef or culinary expert—he's a media man. Along with a TV show, magazines, cookbooks, podcasts—and more—he’s also built a subscription business

Unlike most other food and recipe websites that offer their content for free, ATK has subscription-only sections of its website with roughly 420k subscribers—those who pay a yearly fee between $39.95 and $74.95 for access to premium recipe and video content.

Here’s where the exclusivity comes in: Each paywalled recipe and dish has been tested 40 to 60 times, with an average of $10,000 spent on each. 

Here’s insight from Nussbaum himself, courtesy of the Corner Office podcast.

"When you use our recipe, and if you follow it carefully, the food will be perfect and the presentation will be magnificent. And no one else can make that claim."

He’s right, no one else does this. Although you’d have to be a real dedicated home cook to want to pay for these recipes, it’s a wise way to monetize their offerings. Because apparently, they’ve got fans… and they’re devoted, which is a key measure the ATK crew uses when determining how well they’re doing.

"I can tell you that it is almost cult-like, the passion that people have for America's Test Kitchen and Cooks Country and Cooks Illustrated. It's just, really, nothing I've ever seen before."

 

Release it like you mean it

Appcues knows product release posts can be, quite frankly, lame. So they dropped the three types of new feature blog posts you should try.

And we’re breaking them down. 

#1 The standalone new feature announcement blog post, most useful for when you have a story to tell. 

This one involves:

  • The dilemma that the team sought to solve
  • The new feature announcement
  • What the feature looks like and what it does
  • How customers can use it in their workflows
  • A strong call-to-action

#2 Product release notes, ideally written in accessible language and treated like first-tier content (i.e., well-formatted, on-brand, and using a release notes template to ensure consistency).

#3 The deep dive, which gives insight into the process, the ability to peer behind the curtain to help your user understand how your company utilizes the feedback they give to improve their user experience in the long-term.

The full post has solid examples from companies like Help Scout, Dropbox, and Asana—so be sure to check them out visually as well. 

And happy product posting to all. 

 

Recurring Rhetoric


Today we bring you: power pricing.

  • This is when a seller strategically uses pricing as a key tool to achieve their business and financial aims.
  • Think Apple. It sells iPhones for upwards of $1,000—simply because the company recognizes not necessarily the value, but rather the desire for its products (a huge power move).
  • We believe all companies can make power moves with a little smart thinking and customer insight.

That's power pricing. Now go make your own power moves.

For more SaaS, pricing, and subscription terminology like this, head to priceintelligently.com/dictionary.


And that’s a wrap for your December 5 subscription news. Recruit your teammates into the subscription know: profitwell.com/recur/recurnow to sign up for episodes on the daily.

If you have news to share, hit me up at abby@recurnow.com and I'll help spread the word. It's why we're here.

By Abagail Sullivan

Subscription market insights you won't find anywhere else.