What to Charge for Recipe Development and Testing — Kristin Donnelly (2024)

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.”

  • “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”

What to Charge for Recipe Development and Testing  — Kristin Donnelly (2024)

FAQs

What to Charge for Recipe Development and Testing — Kristin Donnelly? ›

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.

How do I become a recipe tester developer? ›

To become a recipe tester, you need to have several qualifications, including previous experience in the food industry, an excellent eye for detail, and a wide range of analytical and culinary skills. Some recipe testers begin their careers by working in a commercial kitchen, a restaurant, or a food cart.

Do restaurants pay for recipes? ›

Selling a recipe to a restaurant can come at a broad range of prices, depending on the intricacy of the dish, your ability to negotiate, and the business's financial constraints. While some chefs or culinary experts work out royalties depending on sales, others may charge a one-time fee.

How much should I charge for recipe development? ›

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.

What does a recipe tester and developer do? ›

As a recipe tester, your duties are to test recipes before food goes into production or before the release of a cookbook or recipe article. You may also help other food scientists, chefs, and writers develop and create new recipes for commercial purposes.

What are the pros and cons of being a recipe tester? ›

Pros and Cons of a recipe tester

The pros of this job is that you get to make a lot of food and you get to eat the food and you get payed to do all that! The cons are that you the food might taste bad or even when you taste it you could get food poisoning.

What is a paid product tester? ›

Product testers ensure a product functions as intended or choose the right variation of a product to take to market. Learn more about product tester jobs here.

Do recipe websites make money? ›

Food bloggers' income varies depending on audience size, partnerships, and how many revenue streams they use. The average annual income for food bloggers ranges broadly, from $35,000 to $125,500 per year, according to the latest data. But that's just an average.

How much can you sell a recipe to a restaurant? ›

There is no standard price. It's up to the two parties to negotiate a deal. The price for the exclusive rights to a recipe would be higher than for non-exclusive rights. The price could also be a flat one-time payment or a percentage of sales for a defined period of time.

Can I cook meals to sell from home? ›

For the most part, yes. However, some jurisdictions have strict rules on the type of food you can make and sell from your home or limit how much you can earn from an at-home kitchen. Check with your local small business association before you dive in, to fully understand the requirements.

Can you make money selling recipes? ›

Yes, anyone can sell recipes online. With more people looking for interesting recipes and wanting to save time in the kitchen, selling recipes has become a great way to make extra money. Whether you are a professional chef or an amateur home cook, you can monetize your recipes by selling them online.

Do product testers make good money? ›

A Product Tester in your area makes on average $38 per hour, or $1.10 (30.142%) more than the national average hourly salary of $36.59.

How much does Bon Appétit test kitchen pay? ›

How much do bon appetit magazine test kitchen jobs pay per hour? $16.83 is the 25th percentile. Wages below this are outliers. $25.00 is the 75th percentile.

How much do people on America's Test Kitchen make? ›

The estimated total pay range for a Test Cook at America's Test Kitchen is $65K–$109K per year, which includes base salary and additional pay. The average Test Cook base salary at America's Test Kitchen is $84K per year.

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