Six Are Laid Off at Saveur Magazine, Including Its Editor

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Bonnier Corporation, the publisher of magazines including Field & Stream and Popular Science, laid off 70 staff members on Wednesday at offices in Irvine, Calif.; Winter Park, Fla.; and New York City. Several worked for Saveur magazine, founded in 1994 and known for its global, literary approach to food and travel stories.

Perri Dorset, a spokeswoman for Bonnier, said in a phone interview that six people on Saveur’s team had been laid off, including Adam Sachs, who has served as the publication’s editor in chief since 2014; the photo editor, Michelle Heimerman; and the creative director, Richard Baker. The layoffs were first reported by Recode on Wednesday.

Not including the employees who work for multiple titles at Bonnier, in its photo department and on its copy desk, this means that the team of full-time editorial employees at Saveur is down to six people.

In the wake of the layoffs, Stacy Adimando, who joined the magazine as its test-kitchen director in 2016, has been promoted to executive editor. Ms. Adimando is the author of several cookbooks, including “Nopalito: A Mexican Kitchen,” which she wrote with the chef Gonzalo Guzmán; she was previously the food editor at Every Day with Rachael Ray.

Ms. Dorset said that Anthony Licata, Bonnier’s editorial director, will continue to be the general editorial director of Saveur, and that the magazine would publish just four print issues each year. Five of Bonnier’s other titles — Wakeboarding, Waterski, Sport Rider, Baggers and Dirt Rider — will cease printing altogether, and be published online only.

Dan Q. Dao was one of the six laid-off Saveur staff members. He said that when he joined the magazine in 2016 as its deputy digital editor, the staff totaled about 20. But it had been quietly shrinking in the months leading up to Wednesday’s announcement. The deputy editor, Andrew Richdale, left the company before the end of last year, as did Max Falkowitz, the company’s executive digital editor. Neither position was filled.

On Wednesday evening, as the staff cleared out, Mr. Dao was still in the office, updating freelance writers as efficiently as he could before the end of the workday, and handing off stories in progress to the magazine’s associate digital editor, Katherine Whittaker, who remained on staff.

Saveur’s cuts come at a tumultuous time for food magazines. Last year, Lucky Peach shuttered, and Food & Wine magazine announced that it would move its offices to Birmingham, Ala.

“Saveur is special,” Mr. Sachs said. “I know there’s an audience for the kind of in-depth, smart reporting the magazine has always been known for. The challenge for anyone in this business now is, how do you package and sell the good stuff in a way that’s sustainable?”