Alicia Kennedy wrote recently that “recipe developer” has joined the pantheon of careers seen as cool. It’s not a new career by any means, but perhaps one that’s now worthy of a leading rom-com character.
Dear Hollywood,
Here’s an idea: Thanksgiving, the movie. In it, a YouTube recipe developer and a restaurant chef argue over whether “dry brining” is actually a thing before falling head over heels in love.
Anyway, I’ve been lucky over the years to have incredible mentors to help me write better recipes.
I’d love to share some of the wisdom I’ve gained over the years as a magazine editor, cookbook author, and freelance recipe developer, so I’ve decided to teach a workshop about it.
How the survey came to be
As part of the class, I want to offer people an idea of the rates they can charge for development and testing.
A fellow developer and I recently lamented that the typical development rate for magazines — about $250 per recipe — hasn’t changed or has even gone down over the past decade.
At the same time, there are more recipe development and testing opportunities than ever, with rates that vary widely.
It got me curious: What are other recipe developers and testers charging and earning for their work? And can transparency around these rates help give us all the confidence to charge more?
So I created an unscientific and anonymous survey and put it out on social media. Fifty people responded, and I’ve been blown away with the generosity of the answers.
Below, you can find the results, including a summary as well as the raw data. I hope this is helpful for you!
first, the highlights
I saw no correspondence between the years of experience someone has and the rates they charge as recipe developers and testers. In fact, sometimes, people with the most experience were charging lower rates.
This survey did not make a distinction between whether developers and testers were reimbursed for ingredients nor did it ask how much text a person had to write before the recipe. If I ever do this survey again, I will update it to make this distinction.
If I do the survey again, I’ll also add in more N/A options to have less cluttered results.
For recipe development without a photo, half the people charge at least $250 per recipe and a great majority charge at least $200. The maximum most developers have made per recipe is between $300 and $400 but a significant number have made over $700 per recipe.
For most developers, a photo adds at least $100 premium to each recipe but often $200 to $250 more.
Of the developers who offer to shoot video with their recipes, most are charging at least $200 more and often up to $500 more.
For recipe testers, most charge at least $100 to $150 per test. But plenty of people have accepted less than $100 per test or charge much more than $150.
When will recipe developers and testers consider accepting less than their ideal rate
“A long-term contract, a stipend for supplies/ingredients, working for a reputable company that I can add to my portfolio”
“Only if it's for a very prestigious publication”
“Exposure or wanting to get more work from a specific client”
“Ease of prep, ease of ingredient acquisition, long lead time”
“Time”
“If the exposure was really really good. Like if they mention you on social media and that client has a strong following. I might consider that when taking a lower rate. But even then, I would fear it would create a bad pattern.”
“If I have an existing relationship with the chef/baker and know their habits.”
“If it’s a long term client with easier recipes and they offer 5-10+ at a time I tend to charge less.”
“If there's a brand or publication I really love and I'm excited to work with I'll consider adjusting my rate.”
“Full ingredients stipend/reimbursem*nt, equipment and props stipend/reimbursem*nt”
“Like the client. Will learn something new”
“I’ll accept a little less if a friend is working on a cookbook with a small budget.”
See AlsoA Dozer update.“If it was for a large amount of recipes at once, and they were relatively uncomplicated.”
“Helping friends”
“Potential for ongoing work and marketing”
“Regular, ongoing quality work, work with a company/brand that I'm very excited about (though this really has to be worth it), batch development (e.g., I'll give a small discount if I'm hired to develop more than 8 recipes for a single job. This has worked well for me.)”
“Depends on how many recipes, future work.”
“Many book publishers have standard rates for testing; also an entire cookbook will be a flat rate which often works out lower per recipe than single recipe projects; also, consider that a single recipe developed often needs text or a blog post so factor into rates.”
“I’ve been underused so much in the past that there are no factors any longer that would induce me to be paid less than my work is worth!”
“Ongoing work, volume.”
“For a friend, career advancement, love/curiosity about the dish or ingredient, need the work, it’s something my whole family would eat and enjoy - depends”
“If I have current work or in a dry spell.”
“If it was for a friend, or if it was a new area I was trying to break into. But I'm still very much not trying to do that for the latter option-- ie, although I'm trying to break into a new area sometimes I don't want the client to know that because I feel they'll low-ball me! Ugh, such a tricky balance.”
“What type of company or organization it is. I’ve worked mostly with small, new businesses and entrepreneurs and I know they don’t have the budget to pay me a lot! Or cookbooks that don’t have a big advance… that kind of thing.”
“A project I’m excited about.”
“If it’s a new company with a good mission, or a larger project that would be more of a flat fee”
“I've charged less for friends working on books that need some help.”
“If I’ve worked with the client in the past, and understand that the assignment will take little time, or that there will be minimal back and forth on a recipe, then I consider a lower rate. If concepts are fleshed out by the client/editor and I am not required to pitch ideas, then I would also consider a lower rate.”
“Large quantity of recipes.”
“A prestigious publication; links to my website or social media from a prominent site; if it would be a good learning experience.”
“Really wanting the project, volume discounts, helping out a friend”
“If they come to me, know exactly what they want, are offering a large batch of work or continuing assignments.”
“If it’s a company or brand I really like and I want to work with again, or if they’re asking for a large volume of recipes I will give a discount that means each recipe ends up being less than my ideal rate bc the total price is fine for the project.”
Other words of wisdom
“Don’t forget about ingredient reimbursem*nt!”
“Rates vary so much. Editorial pay is such garbage but I feel like I need to keep doing it to keep my name relevant. It's all about balancing what I'm passionate about with making money. I find that doing branded work is so much less exciting but it really pays the bills.”
“I’m a food blogger and photographer so my rates usually reflect the photos/videos more than they do the recipes. A lot of brands don’t care if I’m using or tweaking my existing recipes for them.”
“Developing/testing recipes for a brand should pay out higher than for a media outlet.”
“Starting to feel like people pay more attention to social media followers than actual culinary knowledge. I end up correcting and fixing a lot of work from these type of scenarios since the final product often does not work out. It just looks pretty.”
“I think distinguishing rate WITH reimbursem*nt of groceries included and WITHOUT reimbursem*nt is important. You’d be surprised how often groceries are not reimbursed. Also difficulty of the project/recipe and difficulty sourcing information can be taken into consideration as well.”
“Here are some recent rates i’ve been paid in the last couple years, flat out:
Food52 (2020): $275 Developed Recipe, No Photo (Reference photo only). No grocery reimbursem*nt
The Spruce Eats (2020-2021): $150 Database Testing Styled Photo Detailed Tester notes Headnote No grocery reimbursem*nt
The Kitchn (2021-2022): $300 Development. No Photo (Reference Only) Headnote. Groceries Reimbursed $400 WITH styled photo TheKitchn (2021-2022): $150 Testing Reference Photo Only Groceries Reimbursed Cookbook,
“Cravings 3” (2020): $135 Testing Reference Photo Only Groceries Reimbursed
Cookbook, “National Geographic: American Soul” (2022): $250 Development Reference Photo Only Groceries Reimbursed
Cookbook, “Bare Minimum Dinners” (2020): $75 Recipe Testing Reference Photo Only Grocery Reimbursem*nt”
