Gooseberry Patch is an American company that publishes

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

s. It was founded in 1984 by Vickie Hutchins and Jo Ann Martin, who were neighbors in

Delaware, Ohio Delaware is a city in and the county seat of Delaware County, Ohio, United States. Delaware was founded in 1808 and was incorporated in 1816. It is located near the center of Ohio, is about north of Columbus, and is part of the Columbus, Ohio m ...

, as a

mail-order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing ...

recipe catalog "selling old-fashioned, country-style products." Before starting their catalog business, Martin was a first-grade teacher and Hutchins was a

flight attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

. Gooseberry Patch encourages customers to submit recipes, some of which are selected for inclusion in Gooseberry Patch recipe books. Since 1992, over 200 cookbooks have been published with nearly 9.0 million sold.

Crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...

peer production Peer production (also known as mass collaboration) is a way of producing goods and services that relies on self-organizing communities of individuals. In such communities, the labor of many people is coordinated towards a shared outcome. Overview ...

, both relatively new terms, have been an integral part of the cookbook production since 1992. Gooseberry Patch's five all-time bestselling titles—Five Ingredients or Less; Super-Fast, Slow Cooking; Meals in Minutes; Best-Ever Casseroles; and Christmas Kitchen—have each sold over 175,000 copies. To satisfy the growing customer demand, Gooseberry Patch has expanded the availability of their cookbooks through multiple channel partners. A few of these include the

National Book Network Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

, Notions Marketing Corporation, and Send the Light Distribution. In order to focus on cookbook publishing and reduce any potential channel conflict with retail partners, the Gooseberry Patch mail order catalog was discontinued at the end of 2009. Gooseberry Patch launched their first eBook titles in the fall of 2010. Gooseberry Patch was acquired by

Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

in 2015; it now operates as an imprint of

Globe Pequot Press Globe Pequot is a book publisher and distributor of outdoor recreation and leisure titles that publishes 500 new titles. Globe Pequot was acquired by Morris Communications Morris Communications, headquartered in Augusta, Georgia, is a privat ...

References

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External links

Official site
Retail companies of the United States Retail companies established in 1984 Companies based in Ohio