(NYTimes) - Dana Cowin, who has been the editor in chief of Food & Wine magazine for 21 years, is stepping aside. But she will maintain a connection with Food & Wine.

Her new post, as of mid-January, will be chief creative officer of Chefs Club International, the parent of Chefs Club by Food & Wine, a restaurant group with locations in Manhattan and Aspen, Colo. The restaurants are showcases for prominent chefs, notably those selected as “Best New Chefs” by the magazine.

Ms. Cowin, 55, said she had not considered leaving the magazine until Stephane De Baets, the president of Chefs Club International, suggested she come on board. “I’m surprised that I could find something new that’s this exciting,” Ms. Cowin said.

In a statement to employees of Food & Wine, Norman Pearlstine and Evelyn Webster, executive vice presidents of Time Inc., said that Ms. Cowin was staying on until she closes the March issue, in January, and that she would assist in recruiting her successor. Ms. Webster said the company was pleased to be able to continue working with Ms. Cowin at Chefs Club.

Chefs Club began in Aspen in 2012. Mr. De Baets, a money manager based in Bangkok, organized it at the St. Regis hotel there, which he bought for an Asian investor. Aspen is also where Food & Wine magazine holds its annual June festival, a huge gathering of chefs and food lovers, which is where the connection among Aspen, the magazine and Chefs Club developed. The magazine, owned by Time Inc. since September 2013, receives a licensing fee from Chefs Club.