A media company covering the business of food, restaurants and hospitality in New York “and beyond” has launched with eight full-time salaried staff after a $2.5m (£1.8m) seed funding round. Caper has been set up by two of the founders of newsletter-based publisher Puck, Max Tcheyan and Dan Tsinis, along with former Vanity Fair deputy editor and Air Mail columnist Dana Brown. It plans to focus on “in-depth stories and scoops”, avoiding reviews and listicles. Investment in the title began in the autumn so it could launch with “the right founding journalists”, Tcheyan, co-founder and CEO of Caper, told Press Gazette, adding the business model offers staff revenue-linked bonuses and equity participation in the company on top of a competitive salary. This means Caper’s staff are compensated more like tech startup employees than journalists at traditional publications, which allows Caper to compete with those institutions for top talent. The Caper newsletter, sent three times a week, launched in February, followed by its website at the end of March. Monthly events will launch in April. Caper’s …