The Food Network announced on Friday that the Food Network Kitchen app will no longer be available to download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, effective immediately.
Users who already have the app downloaded on their tablet or mobile device will be able to use the app until May 1st, 2024.
An FAQ posted on Food Network's help page offers this advice:
However, you can still find delicious recipes, watch thousands of on-demand cooking classes from your favorite Food Network chefs, and more all for free on FoodNetwork.com! Plus, all your saved recipes from Food Network Kitchen will still be accessible on FoodNetwork.com by logging into your account. Just click the smiley face icon in the top right-hand corner of FoodNetwork.com, then click “Log In” to get started.
While almost everything you love about Food Network Kitchen can be found on FoodNetwork.com, there are a couple of differences to be aware of. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you explore FoodNetwork.com:
- Classes can be found in the drop-down menu located in the top left-hand corner of FoodNetwork.com. Just click on the Classes tab to browse categories, find the class you want, and start cooking.
- Instead of filtering recipes, you can use the Search feature on FoodNetwork.com to search for any recipes that fit your specific diet, cuisine, or ingredient needs. For example, search “Quick and Easy” to find quick and easy recipes, search “Chicken” to find recipes that include chicken as an ingredient, search “Vegan” to find vegan-friendly recipes, search “Gluten Free” for gluten-free recipes, or search “Cajun” to find recipes that are from Cajun cuisine. After you search, you can refine your results by Chef, Show, Ingredient, Course, or Dish. You can also browse trending recipes and more recipe collections on the Recipes homepage. Please note that you will no longer be able to set any diets or allergies in your profile.
- To find How-To videos, simply search for “how to” in the Search feature and the videos will show up in your search results.
- Cook Mode is not available on FoodNetwork.com. However, you can follow along with the clearly labeled recipe steps to stay on track.
- The Meal Plan feature is not available FoodNetwork.com. You can still plan your meals by saving the recipes you love and adding items to your Shopping List with your account.
Food Network Kitchen originally launched in 2020 as a partnership with Amazon. There was a 60-day free trial for Amazon Prime subscribers, and then the app would cost $5 a month or $40 for the year. But Amazon offered Prime customers a free year of the service, which in theory should have given it a head start towards building a substantial subscriber base.
And there was a lot to like about Food Network Kitchen. The recipe database was easy to use, with a very accurate search function and the ability to save recipes insider the app.
One of the most popular features were what was billed as "classes" taught by some of The Food Network's biggest stars. In reality, some of the classes were taped ahead of time (although still shot live), but many were just more casual and extended versions of the old school cooking shows that used to be on the Food Network.
So subscribers had the chance to watch Bobby Flay or Rachael Ray cook live while answering questions from the audience.
Food Network Kitchen never seemed to build any buzz and while it had a fairly devoted subscriber base, it's not clear how big it was when the network decided to pull the plug.
My impression is that once the Amazon deal ended, there was no one at the Food Network who cared enough about the app to try and make it a success.
Which is too bad, because the Food Network Kitchen app worked flawlessly and it was an easy way to expand the brand digitally. I can't help thinking that simply limiting the app's usage to current Max subscribers - who would get it for free - would be an on-brand, cheap way to retain subscribers and provide more value to Max customers.
