7 Ways to Make Money With Your Membership Site
I talk to recipe creators every week.
Some of you are pulling in millions of pageviews. Some of you are just crossing 50,000 monthly sessions and wondering if a membership “makes sense yet.” Almost all of you ask some version of the same question:
“Is a membership actually worth it… and how do I make real money from it without creating a second full-time job?”
If that’s you, this post is for you.
Because here’s what I’ve learned: the most successful recipe memberships aren’t built on hustle. They’re built on leverage.
Let me walk you through the real, practical ways food creators are making money with memberships right now, and how you can do it without burning out.
1. Start with recurring revenue from existing assets
Let’s address the obvious one first: subscriptions.
Most successful food memberships land in this range:
$3–5/month
$30–50/year (with an annual discount)
And here’s the thing: you don’t need a massive content vault to justify that.
In fact, one of my favorite examples is Sarah Bond from Live Eat Learn.
Sarah told me she had basically written off memberships. She thought it meant constant meal plans, new exclusives every week, community moderation… all the things that sound exhausting.
Then she realized something important: Her membership could be mostly passive.
Her model includes:
An ad-free site
A member resource library (repurposed tutorials and older posts)
A free ebook she already sells
No weekly live classes. No daily prompts. Just a quality upgrade for her most loyal readers.
2. Charge for an ad-free experience
This one consistently overperforms.
Readers tolerate ads. They don’t enjoy them.
When someone is mid-recipe, flour on their hands, and the screen jumps? That’s a pain point.
Offering automatic ad removal turns your membership into a convenience upgrade — not “extra work.”
With Grocers List Paid Memberships, ad removal happens automatically for members, whether you’re on Mediavine, Raptive, or Chicory.
You don’t need developers. You don’t need a redesign.
3. Repurpose old content Into a members-only library
Here’s a hidden goldmine most creators overlook.
How many tutorials or guides:
Indexed years ago
Are still incredibly helpful
That content can live again inside a gated resource library.
Cooking tutorials, ingredient guides, “How to cook lentils 5 ways” posts, PDF versions of older evergreen content, the ideas are endless.
You’re not creating from scratch. You’re re-bundling and putting your best-performing content to the forefront.
4. Monetize ingredient shopping from your recipes
Now let’s talk about a revenue stream that stacks beautifully with membership: groceries.
Your audience is literally on your page to cook.
With our Shop the Recipe feature, followers can instantly add ingredients to Instacart or Amazon Fresh, and you earn affiliate revenue on every order
The magic here?
We automatically pull ingredients from your recipe
They get a one-click add-to-cart experience
You plug in your affiliate ID and earn
Inside your membership, this becomes even stronger:
Members are more committed
They cook more frequently
They convert at higher rates
Affiliate revenue + recurring subscription = layered monetization.
5. Offer tiered access
You don’t need tiers to launch, but once you have traction, you can experiment with:
Basic
Ad-free
Resource library
Premium
Everything above
Quarterly live Q&A
Exclusive seasonal bundle
Free digital download
High-tier memberships work best when you include:
Time-bound perks (like quarterly coaching)
High perceived value downloads
Direct access
Keep it tight. Keep it intentional. And make sure to package it all on an easy to scan sales landing page, line the examples above from some of our customers.
6. Reduce churn like a pro
Making money with membership isn’t just about new signups. It’s about retention. Small actions that move the needle include:
Abandoned cart emails
Failed payment reminders
Personal “Hey, is everything okay?” messages
Annual discount nudges
An example of how Sammy Montgoms re-engages email subscribers with a simple abandoned cart email.
You’d be shocked how many cancellations are reversible!
And because Grocers List syncs member status to your email platform, bet it Kit or Flodesk, you can automate this without awkward manual tracking.
7. Use membership to strengthen your brand partnerships
This one is more advanced, but powerful. When brands know you have:
A paying audience
Higher intent cooks
Clean conversion tracking
Integrated analytics
You become far more attractive for partnerships.
Grocers List even supports Amazon deep links that open directly into the Amazon app, increasing affiliate conversion rates dramatically.
Convenience equals commerce. Membership audiences are your most engaged buyers.
Start small, keep building with Grocers List
If I could give you one piece of advice from all the creators I talk to, it’s this:
Don’t overthink or overbuild your membership.
You do not need:
Weekly live classes
50 exclusive recipes at launch
A massive community forum
You need:
A clear promise
One or two strong value pillars
Smart monetization layers
Start with:
Ad-free
A repurposed resource library
Email growth
Shop the Recipe
Then build from there.
And if you’re still wondering whether this fits your audience, let’s talk.
Trying Grocers List or chatting with one of our team can help you see what’s realistic for your traffic, your bandwidth, and your goals.
Because the goal isn’t to copy someone else’s membership. It’s to build one that works for the way you cook, publish, and grow. Let’s build your next revenue stream!
