Journalist Ernest Owens with Keir Bradford-Grey, a candidate for Pennsylvania attorney general, during a WURD-AM radio interview at South Restaurant in April 2024.Ernest Owens said he has accepted a buyout from the national food site Eater, for which he has edited the Philadelphia edition since mid-2023. This will be his last week in the role, he said.
The move comes as parent company Vox Media announced a round of layoffs that will lead to a restructuring of Eater as well as PS and Thrillist.Industry sources say that the future of Eater’s coverage of Philadelphia and nearly two dozen other U.S. cities is unclear as the company awaits employees’ decisions on buyout offers.
Besides Eater, current online outlets offering dedicated coverage of food news and restaurant themes in Philadelphia include The Inquirer, Philadelphia Magazine, Philadelphia Weekly, Billy Penn, Edible Philly, PhillyBite, and Phillygrub. Other sites, including the Philadelphia Business Journal and PhillyVoice, carry restaurant articles. Previously, the city’s ecosystem included Grubstreet CityPaper , and Thrillist .