MIAMI, June 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hispanicize Media Group, LLC, the holding company of the annual Hispanicize event and DiMe Media, today announced it has acquired a majority, controlling stake in leading U.S. Latino digital food media company, Hispanic Kitchen (www.HispanicKitchen.com). As part of the transaction, both Miami-based online advertising network Salvo Group and Hispanic Kitchen founder, Jorge Bravo will own minority interests in the company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
This transaction is the first in a series of acquisitions strategically planned by Hispanicize Media Group to enhance its expansion into digital media. The acquisition provides a significant change on how Hispanicize Media Group serves brands that want to engage with consumers on and offline. “Hispanic Kitchen is a remarkable digital and social media platform for brands that want to engage audiences that are inspired by Latino culture and its passion for food, recipes and cooking in general,” said Manny Ruiz, CEO and founder of Hispanicize Media Group. “This acquisition marks the evolution of Hispanicize Media Group into the digital content marketplace. Combining the synergies of Hispanic Kitchen with our DiMe Media influencer network means we can now serve brands an incomparable 360-degree online solution that incorporates premium advertising, programmatic advertising, video integrations, social media engagement and influencer network marketing.”
Founded in 2009 by the veteran journalist Bravo, HispanicKitchen.com and its social media channels reach a combined 1.6 million monthly users. The newly re-launched web site, which is fully optimized to work with brands, currently features a robust database of thousands of Latino recipes with 85% of its traffic coming from mobile devices and 90% from the US. Hispanic Kitchen is active across all major social platforms, but most notably on Facebook, which by itself includes more than 1.1 million highly engaged fans.
Management Team
Hispanic Kitchen will be led by Hispanicize Media Group’s Chief Operations Officer Piera Jolly who will assume the day-to-day role of Managing Partner. Bravo will continue as Editorial Director, overseeing the company’s team of writers and video producers. “I’m delighted to work with a highly talented group of partners, producers and digital strategists. Together, we will maximize Hispanic Kitchen’s value by building brand equity, increasing multiple revenue streams and achieving scalability across digital, mobile, and social media platforms,” said Jolly, herself a foodie and cooking aficionado. “We are honored to have Jorge join the Hispanicize Media Group family. He’s the passionate entrepreneur who built Hispanic Kitchen and a visionary that created this unique online community that is passionate about Hispanic food culture.”
Features of the New Hispanic Kitchen Web Site
The newly re-launched Hispanic Kitchen has an updated look that reflects the evolution of the brand from a simple recipe blog into a global community of home-cooking enthusiasts. Along with a new logo and cleaner design, Hispanic Kitchen has also made major improvements to how the website functions with a greater focus on an optimized user-experience.
Among the website’s new features are:
-- Video: One of the major focuses of the new Hispanic Kitchen will be on producing high-quality, shareable food videos featuring Latino recipes, kitchen hacks, and more.
-- Recipes: The newly designed site provides an optimized user experience through categorized recipes, which now include Chef’s Notes, a rating system, and a difficulty indicator.
-- Recipe Finder: The new homepage puts emphasis on search helping users quickly find the recipes they want, as well as creating a clear recipe directory.
-- Expanded Content: The new Hispanic Kitchen expands the conversation of food beyond recipes to also include chef spotlights, kitchen and cooking advice, entertaining ideas, and much more.
-- Mobile-Friendly: The new website is mobile-friendly, which is essential to home cooks as smartphones and tablets allow users the flexibility to seamlessly move through all stages of the cooking process.
Advertising Opportunities
HispanicKitchen.com offers brands an extremely powerful way to connect with U.S. Hispanic consumers through social integrations, native advertising, and premium, custom ads that allow brands to authentically and culturally integrate their messages and products into recipes, videos, and more.
About Hispanic Kitchen
Miami-based Hispanic Kitchen (www.HispanicKitchen.com), a joint venture of Hispanicize Media Group, LLC, Salvo Group, LLC and Chattervox Media, LLC is the leading U.S. Latino online food media company in the nation.
Founded in 2009 by veteran journalist Jorge Bravo, Hispanic Kitchen offers brands a 360-degree online marketing solution that includes premium advertising, programmatic advertising, video integration, social media engagement and influencer network marketing.
Hispanic Kitchen reaches a combined average monthly audience of 1.6 million users through its web site and social media channels, which on Facebook alone numbers 1.1 million highly engaged fans.
About Salvo Group
Salvo Group owns and operates smart digital platforms fueled by rich content that connects more than 100 million readers, influencers and celebrity partners on a daily basis.
Salvo Group is comprised of Exit 7, a digital consultancy for high-profile individuals (http://xt7.co/); Salvo Media, its publishing division representing properties in high-impact categories including motherhood, entertainment, food, and pets; and Versett (www.versett.com), an award-winning digital product design agency.
These pillars work seamlessly to bring together a vast community of consumers, influencers, and brands across a broad spectrum of interests and industries – www.salvogroup.co.
About Hispanicize Media Group
Hispanicize Media Group, LLC (HMG) works with leading brands and advertisers to navigate the rapidly evolving, trillion dollar U.S. Hispanic market by offering branded media opportunities, brand integrations, digital marketing campaigns and social influencer management through its on and offline platforms that include the annual Hispanicize event, DiMe Media and Hispanic Kitchen.
HMG's award-winning management team is credited with pioneering the U.S. Hispanic social media industry and creating culturally resonating and engaging content for today’s Latino consumers. HMG is headquartered in Miami with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta.