Maria Rodale, the chairwoman of Rodale Inc., has sold back the “Eat This, Not That” franchise to David Zinczenko’s Galvanized LLC. He had launched the Eat This brand with Matt Goulding when editor-in-chief of Rodale’s Men’s Health.
When Zinczenko was forced out of Rodale in late 2012, the brand built around the best selling series stayed with the company and has sold more than 6 million copies.
But ownership of the brand has quietly changed of late. Boilerplate at the bottom of the Eatthis.com Web site changed the address from Rodale’s Emmaus, Pa., headquarters to Galvanized’s HQ at 2 Park Ave in Manhattan.
Zinczenko confirmed he had acquired control of the brand from his former employer, but would not disclose terms. He’s been working on a variety of projects in recent years, including serving as acting editorial director of American Media and working on books that are distributed by Random House.
“Matt and I built this brand from scratch seven years ago, and I’m excited to be back at the controls,” said Zinczenko.
“Galvanized now owns a brand that has changed the way Americans eat and the way restaurants do business,” said Zinczenko, who is also working on opening a new restaurant, White Street, in Tribeca, next week.
Rodale also confirmed late Tuesday that a new arrangement had been reached and seemed to tacitly acknowledge that it will sell more with Zinczenko in control than it did under Rodale over the past year.
“Rodale experienced great success with the “Eat This, Not That!” brand since its debut in 2007, but it’s a book series that is closely aligned with co-author and former Men’s Health editor-in-chief David Zinczenko, who helped drive its popularity—we’ve agreed to transfer ownership of “Eat This, Not That!” rights to Mr. Zinczenko, as he is well positioned to reenergize the franchise, and we will continue to publish award-winning food content and invest in new food properties.”