CookManFood filling a niche with cooking education for “men” and specialty foods promotion

With the explosive popularity of the Food Network, watching and learning from cooks and chefs of all shapes, sizes, ages, backgrounds and passions now appears to be built into the culture. So, instead of asking why CookManFood, entrepreneurs Todd Youngblood and Dan Mantineo say, why not?

CookManFood filling a niche with cooking education for “men” and specialty foods promotion

 

DURANGO, Colo. – With the explosive popularity of the Food Network, watching and learning from cooks and chefs of all shapes, sizes, ages, backgrounds and passions now appears to be built into the culture. Thus, instead of asking why CookManFood, one might attest, why not?

 

CookManFood (www.cookmanfood.com) is the brainchild of Durangoan IT specialists Todd Youngblood and Dan Mantineo. At its core, it is building a community of on-line viewers interested in preparing tasty, and quality, meals for the male of the species. But it’s also a developing marketing resource for specialty foods and a promoter of Durango in general.

 

“We have several layers of this,” said Youngblood, who most recently has been known as the founder and owner of CompuThority, an independent technology company. “We’ve always seen ourselves as a niche internet company. In the big worldwide web, we’re well aware we’re not going to compete with the other big cooking or recipe sites… We’re going back to the basics of word of mouth advertising and building communities of people who are interested in products we have.”

 

CookManFood had its genesis in family kitchens during holidays and special events. Though the traditional model would be finding women in the kitchen preparing the meal while the men watched, for example, football in the other room, in the Youngblood and Mantineo households, the guys were doing the cooking.

 

Both Youngblood and Mantineo are quick to acknowledge they’re not classically trained chefs, though they learned much at the elbows of their mothers and grandmothers. Youngblood garnered further training while in the military, cooking gourmet meals for the officers. Mantineo, who worked in a bakery from a young age, had aspired to culinary school, but ended up in IT. As they aged and built their own families, being in the kitchen and creating meals together meant quality time.

 

“My daughter’s a great example of this,” said Youngblood. “She’s 7 years old and she loves helping me make pancakes or double sided burritos, or all these meals she really enjoys. It’s better than microwaving a dinner and sitting in front of the TV. We’re all searching for time to build relationships with the people we care about, and food is a great medium for that.”

 

CookManFood offers postings and straightforward recipes (for meals traditionally enjoyed by men), with a focus on new ideas and taking the “fear” out of cooking. Youngblood assures that many men enjoy cooking, but limit themselves to the one or two meals they know how to prepare well.

 

“We figure if we can educate them a little bit more, let them know about good ingredients, what spices do to meals, teach them some simple techniques in cooking, then they could expand their repertoire and cook a lot more great meals,” said Youngblood, explaining that in coming months a number of instructional videos will be added to the site.

 

He added that CookManFood is also a resource for women who may appreciate some insight into the male personality, when it comes to foods and meals they enjoy.

 

“And inevitably women love the food too,” he said.

 

With the majority of the recipes, CookManFood emphasizes use of fresh and, when possible, locally grown ingredients. The site encourages exploration of local farmers markets for natural or organic meats, cheeses and vegetables.

 

“When you start with freshness, you’re going to finish with a great product,” said Youngblood, “and you don’t have to be a good cook to come up with good things.”

 

Stressing balance and exercise, Mantineo and Youngblood even took CookManFood on the road, or more aptly to the trail, to encourage campers to cook “great” meals. The pair transported their turkey fryer to a basecamp at 10,000 ft., and deep fried chickens for many new-found mountain-climbing friends.

 

Plans are for additional video segments on camp cooking, in partnership with local gear companies as well as rafting organizations.

 

“We hope to do a show with Mountain Waters Rafting,” said Youngblood. “We’ll be the camp cooks for the Upper Animas trip. A lot of our focus with CookManFood is how we can promote Durango through cooking. The Upper Animas is world class rafting and a great river trip. Let’s get the word out.”

 

Beyond cooking instruction, CookManFood also includes product reviews and promotions, with an emphasis on regional offerings. While these raise awareness for site visitors, the reviews (and potentially future advertisements) provide small specialty food companies with a unique direct marketing avenue. Not every product offered is accepted on CookManFood, but those that are, receive exposure in a highly targeted market.

 

“It’s very effective in marketing products like hot sauces, barbecue sauces, fresh meats and produce to people in the community,” said Youngblood, noting the products are regularly used in recipes or featured in the on-line videos. “When you give us a dollar to market to our (for example) 5,000 people in our community, there are 5,000 people who are interested in your product and give it serious consideration. The future is here. People are finding out more and more about products they use on line.”

 

While emphasis now is to further expand the CookManFood community, early reports indicate the site receives an average of 50 unique visitors per day, or approximately 1,500 per month. The site is also part of a social network including MySpace, FaceBook and YouTube.

 

“Realistically, if I put out an article, we’re looking at 2,500 people a month who are actually seeing the article and reading the information. It’s beginning to become significant,” said Youngblood.

 

 

As CookManFood matures, watch for event sponsorships and partnerships with Durango’s restaurants, including the Fiery Foods show in Albuquerque, and Durango’s own Smokin’ Fourth of July Barbecue in Buckley Park. ManFoodMondays at Carver Brewing Co. is in the works, with customized recipes that fit the CookManFood philosophy and feature Carver’s beers.

 

Eventually Youngblood and Mantineo hope to incorporate e-commerce into the sight to actually sell the products they promote. They are, however, already taking individual orders for custom-made smokers built in Durango.

 

And then, there’s the matter of “bacon.” Even in its short life, CookManFood has garnered a reputation for promoting the cured meat that does indeed inspire “passion” in people. Bacon recipes are plentiful on the site.

 

“The world does not revolve around bacon in the CookManFood world, but it’s a fun thing to talk about and to cook with as it brings interesting characteristics to meals,” said Youngblood, noting that bacon awareness is lacking in the United States. “You go to European countries and they have dozens of different types of bacon. It’s tasty. This BLT sandwich, while it might not be the healthiest meal you’ll have today, it’s good, it’s bacon, and it was made fresh.”

Share This Post On