Blue Apron
Delivery Restaurant · Richmond ·
Meal kits with prepped, pre-portioned ingredients for home cooking
Meal kits with prepped, pre-portioned ingredients for home cooking
"A meal-kit company that saw a sudden surge in demand during the pandemic and has been promoted as a way to avoid grocery runs while learning to cook; new customers reported enjoying the meals and some converted sporadic past users into regulars, with kits now making up a meaningful share of weekly meals for some. The company responded to increased interest with expanded social engagement — instructional videos, a Q&A with head chef John Adler, virtual pizza-party primers and digital wine tastings — and communicated transparently about occasional small substitutions while ramping hiring to meet demand. Pricing starts at about $9.99 per portion with a minimum order, premium meals add roughly $10 per portion for higher-end options such as chicken wrapped in prosciutto with sage. Despite enthusiasm and a dramatic short-term stock bump, cost remains a barrier for some customers and long-term retention after the crisis is uncertain." - Nick Mancall-Bitel
"Known for delivering meal kits with prepped, pre-portioned ingredients, the company is introducing meal-prep delivery kits designed to provide a week’s worth of meals: eight servings across two to four different dishes that can be made in 90 minutes to two hours. Aimed at the meal-prep trend—people who want to control their diets, save money, or save time—the offering uses proteins, recipes, and cuisines selected to hold up well when prepared ahead and enjoyed later. Building on existing streamlined packaging and prep that already removes obstacles to cooking, these kits emphasize bulk preparation for Sunday routines and the neat, Instagram-ready rows of uniform weekday meals." - Jenny G. Zhang
"A meal-kit delivery service that ships pre-portioned ingredients to customers so they can cook meals at home, occupying a middle ground between shopping for groceries and ordering prepared food." - Ellie Krupnick
"An online meal-kit purveyor that, after a sharp decline in subscribers and a roughly 75% plunge in its stock since an underwhelming IPO, is moving away from a subscription-only model to place both multi-meal kits and a la carte cooking kits on retail shelves by the end of the year. Subscriptions previously ran about $60 a week for three meals for two (roughly $10 per serving); the company has not disclosed pricing or which retailers will carry the individual kits, but hopes to capture impulse buyers who wouldn’t sign up for deliveries." - Whitney Filloon
"I've watched the meal-kit pioneer move from rapid growth to serious trouble: after a sales slump and the loss of more than 250,000 subscribers since last year, Blue Apron's stock has plunged roughly 75%. Facing that downturn and pressure from competitors, the company is rethinking its subscription-only model and — according to the Wall Street Journal — plans to put both full multi-meal kits and a la carte cooking kits on store shelves by the end of the year. Blue Apron's public-market story has been rocky: its IPO debuted far below expectations (initial pricing cut into the $10–$11 range, closing its first day at about $10.0018), and it has been hit with multiple investor lawsuits alleging the company failed to disclose cuts to its advertising budget, delivery and missing-ingredient problems, and factory issues that delayed orders. Financially, the company reported large net losses from 2014–2016 even as revenues grew roughly tenfold over that period and it spent heavily on marketing; it has also acquired a supplier (BN Ranch) and signaled product changes to give subscribers more flexibility in recipes per order." - Eater Staff