Time has parked its “digital food desk” in the Birmingham complex. The desk aims to steer collaboration and promotion for all the company’s food-related content. It is led by Stacey Rivera, who came to Time Inc. from Bon Appétit, Condé Nast’s flagship food magazine and the umbrella for its recipe website, Epicurious. (Ms. Rivera also got a promotion; her title is now digital director, food, for Time Inc.)

“The kitchens are an amazing vehicle for creating not just recipes but also creating stories,” Mr. Lewis said, pointing to Well Done, an Epicurious-like site that Time introduced three months ago with a focus on how-to cooking videos. Mr. Lewis said the videos on Well Done had already attracted 265 million views.

He said the move to Alabama was partly to save money — Time Inc. has struggled since it was spun off from Time Warner three years ago — but also to give Food & Wine a more national flavor. “This was less about cutting costs and more about maximizing the facilities we have in Birmingham,” he said. “Also thinking about the consumer first — there are sophisticated food eaters and wine drinkers everywhere now, in cities big and small.”

The relocation is a gamble, though. Unlike Time’s other food titles, which cater more to home cooks and those beginning to cook, Food & Wine has developed a following among chefs, wine connoisseurs and restaurateurs. Its New York offices have for almost 40 years been a sort of crossroads for visiting chefs and high-end advertisers like Rolex.

“They’re putting it together with publications aimed at beginner cooks and supermarket chefs,” said one restaurateur who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he did not want to offend Mr. Lewis. “To me, this seems like a plan to gain as many eyeballs as possible — scale, not quality.”

Like all media businesses, Time has struggled to replace declining revenue from print advertising. Its goal is to cut $100 million in costs this year, and Food & Wine’s move is clearly part of that. The company said that it was still working out details of the move and that some employees in New York would most likely be offered the chance to move to Birmingham.