Target debuts first-ever Good & Gather cookbook, betting on its owned brand's kitchen appeal

MINNEAPOLIS — Target is turning its flagship food brand into a cookbook. The retailer said Monday it is launching "Good & Gather: Discover Delicious Every Day," a 100-recipe collection developed by its in-house test kitchen team, hitting stores and Target.com on August 4.

Every recipe features Good & Gather products, and every ingredient called for is available at Target — a move the company frames as part of a broader push to position itself as a food discovery destination rather than just a grocery aisle.

"Families want great taste, trusted ingredients and incredible value, which is why Good & Gather has become a go-to for guests," said John Conlin, Target's senior vice president of merchandising for food and beverage, in a statement. "This cookbook is a natural next step for the brand, and it showcases what makes Target different in food and beverage: we're making food discovery and inspiration feel easy and approachable for busy families, with delicious, affordable recipes for any occasion."

Good & Gather launched in 2019 and has grown into Target's largest owned food and beverage brand, spanning roughly 2,500 products across fresh, pantry, snacks and beverages. The company says the brand is on track to hit $4 billion in sales, built in part on a promise to avoid more than 100 ingredients such as artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners, synthetic colors and high-fructose corn syrup, though Target notes that standard applies to specific Good & Gather items rather than the brand as a whole, and not to non-Good & Gather ingredients that appear in the recipes.

The recipes were developed by a team Target describes as food scientists, culinary experts and trend researchers, aimed at working within the constraints of typical home kitchens. "Our team has decades of experience developing recipes and products, so every dish in this cookbook was created with approachable ingredients and tested with everyday kitchens in mind — using familiar appliances and tools to make sure the recipes are easy and delicious," said Diane Douglas, Target's director of trend for food and beverage.

Among the dishes the test kitchen is highlighting: steak-and-potato kabobs with a blue cheese yogurt sauce, five-minute mango-and-coconut overnight oats, a four-ingredient chicken-and-vegetable soup built around frozen potstickers, potato chip butterscotch cookies, and a pomegranate-dragon fruit shrub mixed with apple cider vinegar.

The cookbook launch is the latest sign of Target leaning on its owned-brand portfolio to differentiate its grocery business, pairing private-label staples with national brands and emerging food finds as it competes for share of household food spending.