If you’ve started thinking about building out a paid newsletter for your food & lifestyle content, especially recipes, you’ve undoubtedly thought about Substack. Launched in 2017, Substack was built as platform to release the shackles from journalists and writers working for large publications, and to take their writing independent. Why be paid a salary, have creative controls and only capture a portion of the value you are creating. The future was your own independent paid newsletter and blog. 7 years later, Substack has grown into a great monetisation tool for writers, with thousands of publications.
However, that is exactly what Substack is built for. Writing, and reading. It’s the latest incarnation of a blogging feed, with monetisation wrapped in. When it comes to food however, Substack just isn’t built for it’s nuances. Lets think about just a few things that might come in handy when it comes to cooking:
None of this is really possible on Substack. It's also unlikely to ever be, because it’s simply not their focus. Their focus is writing <> reading, and building social network.
That last bit is also key - Substack’s business model is built around scaling up into a centralised 'social' media platform. There's very limited design customisation and branding, and the experience is heavily Substack, not your own.
Don't get me wrong - I like Substack, I subscribe to a number of business, marketing and political newsletters on there. When it comes to sitting down for a read, on the latest goings on, it's good for that.
But we know recipes, cooking, food and lifestyle content deserves much more. At Clubb, we believe in providing value and tools specific to your content, beyond just the content itself. That means building a real business and a product beyond you're proud of that you can call your own.
Like we’ve mentioned, Substack is pretty focused on straight up writing. But there’s more to it than that. Why else might you be looking for something different? Here’s just a few reasons you might be thinking about it:
Now bare with us, but this is exactly why we think you should be considering Clubb.
Let’s get straight to the point. Clubb is built specifically for food content, including recipes, meal plans, newsletters, video tutorials. It also provides your audience with great tools to make the most of your content. Shopping lists, build your own meal plans, simple search, favourites, step by step modes and more.
Beyond that, what makes Clubb stand out as an option?
Below are a few screenshots of some of the recipe and cooking oriented experiences on Clubb, like recipes and step by step videos:
along with newsletters and food focused content like meal plans:
With Clubb, you get a comprehensive platform that means you're offering your audience a quality experience that makes cooking along easy, alongside the content.
If you’re still considering your other options, what else might you consider? Lets take a look at a few:
Patreon is a well known membership platform for creators. Similar to Substack, it is very much a centralised platform, heavily branded as a Patreon experience. There is very little custom branding beyond basic cover images. You also don’t have real ownership over your customers, whose payment details are completely tied into Patreon. You cannot move them elsewhere.
When it comes to food content like recipes, newsletters and meal plans, it’s extremely limited. Food creators on the platform tend to have to create their own PDFs and upload them. Super time consuming, and hardly a modern digital experience.
Beehiiv is A newsletter platform in a similar vein to Substack, but with more customisation and monetisation options. You can customise you newsletter to look however you like, and can also monetise through newsletter ads instead of subscriptions. However the experience is again very much focused on newsletters. They aren’t building experiences focused on food.
Member Kitchens is more specifically focused on food, which is great. However the platform lacks many of the growth features and modern digital experiences you would expect from a subscription platform.
When it comes to starting to build out a recipe subscription platform for your audience, making the right choice is important. If all goes well you will hopefully be working with that platform for many years to build your business, and hopefully generate some serious revenue. So when it comes to making a choice, make sure you choose a platform that’s right for now, and for the future.
With Clubb being the only modern, customisable experience specifically built for food creators to become publishing powerhouses, we hope you choose to do that with us!
