Rouxbe.com - Online Cooking Instruction

A friend of mine in my other life as a producer of videos and websites has recently launched a new website that features online video based cooking instruction. The site is www.rouxbe.com (pronounced ruby). I think the quality of the video and the instruction is quite good. They offer a free trial of 3 recipes. I have no affiliation with this website other than to know the person who produced the content. I wish I had thought of this first. I'd be curious to hear what some of the beginning to mid-range experienced cooks have to say about the site.

I'm a little surprised that no one has yet commented on Rouxbe.com. I guess this is my first RBI*

* RBI = Recommended but ignored. In honor of JeffB's western suburban recommendations, ala Katy's Dumplings, that took several months for someone from LTH to actually try and love.

stevez wrote:I'm a little surprised that no one has yet commented on Rouxbe.com. I guess this is my first RBI*

Steve,

Just took a look, the site is nicely done.

As an aside, 2-days does not an RBI make.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:As an aside, 2-days does not an RBI make.

I guess not. I was just a little surprised that no one responded. The Rouxbe people are looking for real-world feedback and I thought that LTH would be the perfect target/test audience for them. After all, no one here is shy about expressing their opinions.

I agree that the production value of the site is quite high and appealingly done. I've been thinking about the applicability of this site--it's a great tool to have on hand for visual sake at one's own prompting (unlike, say, food shows, which dictate their dishes for you).
I guess I wonder at its true appeal to the average customer though. With the saturation of food instruction on television, I'd be a little reticent to spend more money (in addition to cable costs) on such, even if I could choose about what to learn.
But, then again, I don't find text instruction obfuscating for the most part.
Their introduction (which is appealing in its geniality) states that it's for beginners as well as people who like a challenge.
I think the only true customer here might be the former (though, I suppose in a certain light the two groups are one in the same--beginner cooks are up against the challenge of their own inexperience and lack of knowledge, but I'm taking their labeling as connoting those with some semblance of experience and general knowledge of cooking practices).
During the introduction, when talking about challenges to cooks, they show a creme brulee being carmelized, as if to suggest that this is part and parcel of such challenges. I agree that most home cooks do not typically utilize a blowtorch, but I wonder whether more and greater degrees of challenging might benefit the site's appeal. I don't off the top of my head know what this is. I would think such a site would be great for ethnic food, such as Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Pakistani, etc., about which such a person as I have little to no knowledge of the proper cooking practices. Now, that's a site I would sign up for--if I could make all of Spoon's repertoire in my own kitchen.
The site as it is, however, is mucho slick (I don't know that I've ever used the word "slick" as an adjective before).
I hope I didn't offend,
Parker

I kind of have trouble seeing many people paying for a site like Rouxbe, even though the production values are great.

With free alternatives on PBS, the travel channel, the food network, etc, this type of instruction is something most people (I think) expect to be ad-supported.

I think they could probably do wonderfully if they instead went to a model with a mixture of Rouxbe and user-generated content, sort of like a youtube for cooking. People upload recipes and video/photos of them preparing their meals, other users can rate/review, make friends, etc. All the while, Rouxbe runs banner ads and uses some of the income from that to finance these instructional videos.

Certainly, I could see LTHers submitting their own content to the site, whether it be Cathy's video of Deta making burek, or Bridgestone's swedish meals, or Mike's bacon.

And, of course, those thousands of people who competed in the "Next Food Network Star" competitions are no doubt prime candidates.

Hi LTH Forum,

I just came across this discussion thread. Hope I'm not too late to inspire a two-way dialogue to address some of the points that were raised here. And yes, Steve Z., we would love some "real-world" feedback.

First of all, thanks for all the positive feedback on our production quality. We have spent the last year and a half on our video production workflow so I was pleased to read through your comments.

RE: Parker & Ed; It is true that there is a saturation of ad-supported food instruction on television and even in the online world. I expect this to increase substantially over the next year. The first thing that I'd like to re-enforce is the fact that Rouxbe focuses on the food and on learning how to prepare it - that's it - unlike many of the mentioned alternatives that focus more on the celebrity. We also show the entire cooking process unlike many of these shows that start with all or most of the prep work done off camera, then show a chef throwing everything together in a pan, then into the oven and lastly, and magically, a fully cooked dish appears out of another oven. These shows entertain, inspire and provide great ideas but do very little, in my opinion, to help that at-home cook learn. Don't get me wrong, there are some great shows out there - I record and watch many of them. But this in not the way that cooking schools have been teaching chefs for decades because it simply doesn't work – or wouldn’t everyone be great cooks/chefs?

Rouxbe gets the cameras and mics in close to show you in detail the visual and auditory cues to cooking. For example, we show you up close how to tell when a steak is done to perfection and what signs to look for? In our Crème Brule recipe - http://www.rouxbe.com/viewer/free/4 - [Re: Parker's note above], we show you how to tell when a Brule is perfectly cooked. This is the challenge we were referencing in our intro video. Brule might seem simple, but you'd be amazed at how many restaurants mess this popular dessert up. I know it might not seem like much of a tip [showing the Brule wiggle when done] but cooking is all about the small little indicators. And if you miss even one of them, or simply don't know what to look for, chances of success in the kitchen diminish rapidly.

Re: ad-supported: Rouxbe will have "OPT-IN" advertising through our drill-down player. For example, if you'd like to find out information on products featured in the video, such as a knife, pan, bottle of wine, food product, etc., users will be able to opt-in to a drill down video with product information and a shopping cart. We chose very early on to focus 100% on the content, instructional quality and a pure/clean web environment so that viewers can focus on learning. We do not believe in ad models that force viewers through pre-roll advertisement and irrelevant advertising. This will never change. So for the cost of a cooking magazine, you can now have access to an at-home cooking school with 15 to 20 new recipes each month. In the coming weeks, we will also be offering a few more free trials so that viewers can test-ride the Rouxbe experience.

Re: consumer-generated content [Ed], we are starting to work with the professional chef community and will soon be publishing recipes from chefs, journeyman and apprentice cooks with a very unique self-publishing model. What we will not be doing is opening up the floodgates to the You Tubers of the world who just want to publish. I personally believe that while this would generate a lot of content for us, it would also generate a lot of ‘not so nice content’ and this would not support our mission of “teaching people how to cook better”. Besides, there are already a dozen or so video self-publishing sites in the online food space that are doing just that, with ad-supported models. These self-publishing sites will begin to saturate the market, and in my opinion, begin to drive viewers to sites that focus on quality [my belief]. We are building a brand at Rouxbe based on a single focus of providing value through learning. We are not a company aiming to attract users for the purpose of bombarding viewers with advertising, then to 'flip' the company.

I leave with a challenge and an invitation to any of you active LTH Forum'ers. If you'd like to test-ride Rouxbe, I'd love to offer beta-accounts to those that are truly interested in seeing what we are about [limited time offer]. Rouxbe is something that simply needs to be experienced. Try out a few recipes and judge for yourself if there is value in it for you. And Parker, I'll teach you how to make Phad Thai or the best butter chicken any day. We will soon be moving into International cuisines. Where would you like us to start?

Drop me an email at jgirard@rouxbe.com if you'd like to test-ride Rouxbe.

Have a great day everyone. Thanks for reading.
Joe Girard
CEO

HI,

Since you compared your cooking instruction subscription service to the cost of a cooking magazine. There is only one who is priced at your level: Art of Eating. All others are substantially less money with most under $30 per year.

I am acquainted with people making web-based cooking instructional videos for children: www.spatullatta.com . Initially this was self-funded, though she is now getting corporate sponsorship; which allows free access. This website won a James Beard award last year. While its intended audience is children, it is a pretty good beginning for non-cooking adults.

Regards,

Hi Cathy2,

You are correct re: the magazine comparisons. I always catch myself in this trap :). I use the magazine comparable mistakingly every once in a while as it is familiar to people. However, Rouxbe has very little in common with a static text/photo-based magazines. I believe that what we offer is more closely comparable to the offerings of culinary schools (which can cost anywhere from $40 to $75 for a few hour course, to $150+ for a full day or $6,500 to $20,000 for a 4 to 12 month program respectfully).

As for spatulatta.com, I remember reading about this site six-months ago or more and checking it out at this time. Very cool. Deserving of a James Beard Award. Fun site for kids.

I should mention that we will soon be increasing our barrier-free options so that people have a better opportunity to experience the value that we bring to the table and a better reference point for comparable evaluation.

Thanks for the opportunity for dialogue and for your feedback.

Cheers,
Joe