Co-Founder, Editor Catherine Neville Leaves Sauce Magazine [Updated 2x with Comment from Neville, Allyson Mace]

The St. Louis Business Journal scores today's big food-media scoop: Sauce Magazine co-founder and editor-in-chief Catherine Neville is leaving the magazine. She sold her share to her fellow co-founder, Sauce publisher Allyson Mace.

According to the Business Journal, Mace will edit the publication until a replacement is hired, while Neville will work on an as-yet unannounced "new venture."

As an avid reader of Sauce -- not simply because it's the competition, but because it's a high-quality publication -- I'm intrigued what direction the magazine will take under a new editor. Neville was essentially the "voice" of Sauce, thanks not only to her work in the print edition but also to her regular TV and radio appearances.

Neville is the third editor to depart the Sauce masthead in recent months, following Sara White and April Seager.

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Update #1: (Monday, 3.1, 12:15 p.m.) I just spoke with Catherine Neville.

Update #2: (Monday, 3.1, 3 p.m.) I've spoken with Allyson Mace as well.


Update #1: "It's really exciting," Neville told me. "I have things in the works that I can't talk about yet. They are incredible projects."

As for Sauce: "What has happened, [publisher] Allyson [Mace] and I have different ideas of how to move the magazine forward. It's been an incredible experience building Sauce to this point. We decided it's time to move on to the next chapter of my professional life.

"I wish everyone at Sauce all the best."

Neville says that she is staying in St. Louis and that her as-yet undeclared new project will have a St. Louis component. Her last issue as editor in chief of Sauce is the March edition, on newsstands now.

Update #2: "I'm excited that I'm finally able to take over the magazine and take it to the next level," says Sauce publisher Allyson Mace.

"We're in the process of acquiring people to bring the magazine up a notch," Mace adds. As part of that process, Katie O'Connor has been elevated from managing editor to editor.

In addition, Mace drops the big news that the future of Sauce might see the magazine growing beyond St. Louis: "We're also looking to go to a national level with the magazine, and we're in talks to do that.

"We think that the magazine is poised to do what it does [in St. Louis] in other cities."