Rapid Response How Barstool Sports’ ex-CEO cooks up attention, with Food52’s Erika Ayers Badan
Jul 30, 2024
Erika Ayers-Badon, media exec who scaled Barstool and now leads Food52, explains her pivot and why she wanted a different pace. She talks community-driven growth, translating viral, personality-led energy to a food brand, finding new charismatic voices, and using humor and disciplined "no" decisions to protect focus and shape culture.
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How Barstool Scaled Fast With Culture
- Barstool scaled from a scrappy blog to a $300M+ business by embracing a wild, us-against-the-world creative culture.
- Erika Ayers-Badon joined in 2016 and oversaw rapid growth where revenue jumped from ~$5M to ~$300M.
Why Erika Left Barstool For Food52
- Erika moved to Food52 because she wanted to learn a new industry and avoid another rollercoaster of extreme exits.
- After Barstool's two 2023 sales — one ~ $550M and a buyback for $1 — she chose a very different lifestyle brand challenge.
Personality Is The New Media Currency
- Community and personality are the common thread between Barstool and Food52, despite different audiences.
- Food52 needs new charismatic voices around home, design, and food to build emotional connection like Barstool did for sports.