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Blue Apron Files for IPO

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Re: Blue Apron Files for IPO

#131

Post by nilkn »

eropple wrote: post #120
nilkn wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't remember receiving any dry ice or styrofoam. The ice pack is recyclable. You just have to let it melt and empty out the water. There's a foil liner which is also recyclable. If there's no recycling option near you, you can even send the recyclable materials back to Blue Apron and they'll recycle it.

Do you think that people who are so theoretically time-strapped as to be using Blue Apron are likely to invest the time to recycle?

I can only speak for myself, but I did recycle whatever I could from the leftover materials when I was subscribed. My apartment complex made it very easy to do so.

Either way, needing to recycle is not unique to Blue Apron at all. You can easily go to the grocery store and come back with dozens of bags and packages and wrappings. Plenty of folks don't recycle in those circumstances either.

Re: Blue Apron Files for IPO

#132

Post by kspaans »

nullspace wrote: post #102
headcanon wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hello Fresh has a once-a-month option. Cancelled because I'm buying a house and can shop myself for cheaper, but I didn't have any problems with them.

Hi headcanon! Do you have a link for this? I so desperately want this but none of the services have a once-a-month option.

Green Chef has a once-a-month plan. Disclaimer: I work for Green Chef.

Re: Blue Apron Files for IPO

#133

Post by ceejayoz »

r00fus wrote: post #78
sbov wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you live in a food desert you probably can't afford Blue Apron. They tend to be very low income neighborhoods.

Untrue, if you're thinking about recently gentrified areas like Bayview/Hunter's Point in SF or East Palo Alto in the peninsula. According to the internets, the walk score and bike score for my house is really high but most of the restaurants and grocery stores around don't have a lot of variety or organic products. If we didn't already have a good cooking culture and procurement habits, I might be tempted to use Blu…

I suspect there are a lot more Detroit-style food deserts than Palo Alto-style ones in the US.

Re: Blue Apron Files for IPO

#134

Post by jacobr1 »

makmanalp wrote: post #106
stickfigure wrote: post #101

Many of my friends have tried Blue Apron, and not many still use them. As a strictly amateur chef myself, find the business model pretty strange. At some point the customers are going to realize they can get all of these ingredients from the supermarket. And not long after that, they're going to realize that they already have most of these ingredients sitting in their fridge . My wife and I cook. We look up a random…

> they already have most of these ingredients sitting in their fridge That's exactly the issue - I don't have ingredients sitting in my fridge. I don't conveniently live near a large supermarket. I don't own a car. I cook mostly for myself, and very occasionally a few friends. When I come home from work late, the last thing I want to think about is spending almost an hour going to the store, browsing and buying stuff…

> I guess if there was an app that decided on a meal schedule and pre-filled an instacart order

relayfoods.com is basically that. We like them

Re: Blue Apron Files for IPO

#135

Post by cle »

tyrust wrote: post #117
cle wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost everything is recyclable. And there's a different kind of waste that is reduced by BA. Every week my wife and I would have to throw out unused produce that didn't divide evenly into our meals, and it is pretty significant unless you're an expert at meal planning. There is zero food waste with BA...

>it is pretty significant unless you're an expert at meal planning If you're wasting food that often then perhaps adjustments are necessary. >There is zero food waste with BA Is there a citation for that very strong claim? Zero waste would require perfectly timed and sized resource allocation through their entire pipeline.

I'm talking about household food waste.

Re: Blue Apron Files for IPO

#136

Post by marrone12 »

tetrep wrote: post #76
temp246810 wrote: post #48

For the lazy: >>> In 2014, 2015, and 2016, we generated $77.8 million, $340.8 million, and $795.4 million in net revenue, respectively, representing growth of 338% from 2014 to 2015 and growth of 133% from 2015 to 2016. In the three months ended March 31, 2016 and March 31, 2017, we generated $172.1 million and $244.8 million in net revenue, respectively, representing growth of 42%. In the years ended December 31, 20…

You're missing some important net losses, notably, they've lost almost as much 1/4 of this year than all of last year (continuing from where you stopped): $(47.0) million, and $(54.9) million, respectively, and in the three months ended March 31, 2016 and March 31, 2017, we generated net income of $3.0 million and incurred net losses of $(52.2) million,

It'll be interesting to find out how much of the losses are one time expenditures in warehouses and robots vs just operating loss.

Re: Blue Apron Files for IPO

#137

Post by radiorental »

stickfigure wrote: post #101

Many of my friends have tried Blue Apron, and not many still use them. As a strictly amateur chef myself, find the business model pretty strange. At some point the customers are going to realize they can get all of these ingredients from the supermarket. And not long after that, they're going to realize that they already have most of these ingredients sitting in their fridge . My wife and I cook. We look up a random…

Do you have kids?

The time and effort services like Blue Apron save in terms of not traveling to the super market, not having to think about what to cook, etc is the product.

My father was an accomplished chef, my wife is a fantastic cook, our kids from 0-6 years sucked up so much time and energy however. Blue Apron was a godsend.

Blue Apron is not cooking by numbers, it's convenience without the guilt/cost of eating out. The whole cooking your own meal part is a little faux feel good marketing.

Re: Blue Apron Files for IPO

#138

Post by dllthomas »

dominotw wrote: post #51
dragonwriter wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one who uses blue apron, since an onion for blue apron comes in exactly one layer of packaging (the outer box), usually. Which is one less layer (though possibly a heavier layer) than is typical with grocery shopping.

> since an onion for blue apron comes in exactly one layer of packaging (the outer box) you have never used blue apron.

It's possible this varies geographically, but my experience matches that of dragonwriter.

Re: Blue Apron Files for IPO

#139

Post by acchow »

avree wrote: post #59
scottbez1 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the recipes I tried listed "Add salt and pepper to taste" after basically every intermediate step, so I could certainly understand why someone might end up with too much salt if they're not paying too much attention or don't know how much salt is typical.

That's basically how cooking works though... you adjust the spice level, particularly salt, after each step... to taste.

no, you basically "add salt to taste" at the end.

You might add a little salt in intermediary steps because the sodium will play a role in the cooking process. But those aren't "to taste" and usually you'd only need very little.

Re: Blue Apron Files for IPO

#140

Post by Retric »

stevewillows wrote: post #130

I think services like this are fantastic for teaching people how to cook and meal plan, ideally for young adults living on their own for the first time. Outside of the foundational argument, I don't really understand the benefit. To go a little off topic, what bothers me about groups like this, whole foods, and others, is the amount of needless packaging. For me, I buy all of my animal proteins at one of three butche…

Chicken can be $1 or 5+$ per pound depending on area and sales. So, your savings really depends.
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