America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) has shut down its kids team and laid off 23 employees as part of a company reorganization, Kidscreen has confirmed. 

The entire ATK Kids team has been laid off, as well as some members of the company’s general books and marketing teams, in the wake of its acquisition by US holding company Marquee Brands. 

From 2018 until recently ATK Kids has been producing digital-first content for three- to 18-year-olds, including series Wicked Good and Test Kitchen Kids Takeover, both of which were distributed on its website and YouTube channel. The division also distributed its series on the ATK Kids channel, which it launched via media platform GoNoodle in 2022. 

ATK Kids also produced books, a website, subscription box, and the podcast Mystery Recipe. The website and YouTube channel are still available, but its series and products are all finished.

ATK is laying off the employees about a month after holding company Marquee Brands acquired America’s Test Kitchen. Marquee owns several lifestyle and culinary IPs, such as the Martha Stewart and Sur La Table brands. 

Shuttering ATK Kids, is part of a restructure to improve the company’s bottom line, according to a spokesperson. 

“While we firmly believe that our decisions will re-position the company for greater success in this ever-changing media environment, it is a difficult time given that we let go of members of the company who contributed to ATK each in their own way,” the spokesperson said.

ATK Kids’ writer and producer Chad Chenail (Mystery Recipe) and the division’s deputy food editor, Afton Cyrus, were among those laid off. 

ATK started in 1993 and has released cooking content for TV, publishing and podcasts. The mediaco’s general channel has 1.8 million YouTube subscribers while its kids channel, launched in 2021, has around 4,000 subs.  

Photo courtesy of ATK Kids YouTube channel.