Is curiosity a key to innovation? And how can it be possible to identify an outstanding one among hundreds of creative ideas? The answers to these questions (and many more) are available once a month in our snack interview, the Kitchen Stories business questionnaire.
Curiosity and enthusiasm:
The most important thing is certainly the enthusiasm for everything culinary and the curiosity about new talents and food trends. Being well connected in the cooking scene helps enormously, as does having a reputation in the cookbook scene now. In the meantime, exciting chefs are also approaching us.
Take a new visual approach:
The ambition to always break new ground in design and to find the right tone and style for every topic and every author, both in language, in photography and in layout. Cookbooks that you both enjoy looking at on the sofa for inspiration and can be used well in the kitchen because everything is described precisely — that is our goal with every single book.
Highest quality standards:
Highest quality also in terms of feel and materials. Even in manufacturing, we are always on the lookout for something new and try to create a special tactile experience with every book: high-quality paper, robust binding material that feels nice, bookmarks, embossing, foil finishing — all of this makes a book something special that you also like to give as a gift.
Given the large number of new publications on the book market, the reputation of the authors certainly helps when it comes to attracting attention. On the other hand, there are also many examples of book successes whose authors were not yet known — and finally Yotam Ottolenghi Completely unknown to us when we published his first book in German.
There are a number of examples of themed cookbooks that met with interest and became successful. We published the first vegan cookbook in 2012 — the authors were (and are) unknown to us, but the book was a great success because it was the first practical, appealing vegan cookbook. The same applies to the special bread baking book: bread bread bread.
In addition to a certain instinct, experience and a dedicated creative team, it always takes a little bit of luck to make a success an outstanding success. Without good sales and marketing work, however, the opportunities are very low.
Curiosity drives us to playfully explore limits and search for the unknown. It is the engine that drives us to learn and new experiences — for me, this is the epitome of “being alive” and inner growth. Yes, that is a very positive thing for me.
It's impossible for me to answer that with one sentence: for me, it's London, because so diverse national cuisines merge there and so many creative chefs inspire each other. My favorite country cuisine is currently Sri Lankan: soft, spicy, sweet and sour, such as mango curry in coconut milk.
Thank you so much for the interview.
Our new cookbook is now available in our online shop and available wherever books are available.
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