Merrill Stubbs

Coming Up

Since 2009, Merrill Stubbs has been the co-founder of Food52, helping shape the company from its earliest days into a lasting culinary destination. The line from then to now suggests not only continuity, but the kind of patient editorial instinct that can turn a fresh idea into something durable. Over time, Food52 became more than a starting point; it became a place where her voice and vision could settle into a rhythm, one that prizes usefulness without sacrificing pleasure, and approachability without flattening character. There is something telling in the way her work and her words align. The quote about the soufflé carries the same easy refusal of fuss: a reminder that excellence does not have to announce itself with length, complication, or excess. That outlook feels especially apt for a company built around the pleasures of cooking and the everyday intelligence of the kitchen, where time is precious and inspiration often needs to be practical before it can be poetic.

Where They Are Now

She is co-founder of Food52, still firmly linked to the company she helped launch and shape. In that role, Merrill Stubbs remains part of the through line between the original idea and the ongoing life of the brand, a presence that suggests both authorship and stewardship. The title is compact, but the significance behind it is not: it signals a place not just in the company’s history, but in its continuing identity.

In Their Words “The 30-minute soufflé won't necessarily be inferior to the 60-minute one.” The sentence lands with a kind of quiet sparkle. It captures an editor’s eye for what is essential, a cook’s respect for reality, and a founder’s instinct for making room for excellence in forms that are nimble rather than ornate. In a single line, it suggests a whole philosophy: that value can be found in efficiency, that ambition and restraint can coexist, and that a well-made thing earns its place whether it took a little time or a lot.