Blue Apron becomes a penny stock, trading under $1 for the first time • Hacker News Board

Re: Blue Apron becomes a penny stock, trading under $1 for the first time

#21

Post by Pfhreak » Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 5:52 PM UTC

spyspy wrote: post #13

chad_strategic wrote: post #6

After 10 years of marriage, my wife thought it would be helpful for me to start cooking, as she was getting stressed out with our 2 years old. We used Blue Apron as the starting point. I can't tell you how much time we save in planning meals and trips to the store. My wife doesn't have nag me about what I what I want for the week's dinner. The quality of the food and the time saved is well worth the price. I know the…

The problem is the extremely small niche it fills. The market is people who have enough time and patience to cook their own meals, but not enough to grocery shop and look up a recipe. If you're new to cooking that's one thing, but I'd imagine many users eventually "outgrow" the service as they become more skilled and/or realize how much the convenience is costing.

We use a similar service that's closer to a CSA + recipe cards. We get a basic recipe and a bunch of raw veggies/locally produced products.

Meal planning is work. Grocery shopping is work. Cooking is work. We've decided that cooking is the work we enjoy, and the other parts are work we'd rather pay someone to do for us. We are more than capable of putting together a meal plan, we just value our time more than money and have found the right service to pay to help us in that regard.

Re: Blue Apron becomes a penny stock, trading under $1 for the first time

#22

Post by fetus8 » Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 5:52 PM UTC

beart wrote: post #11

chad_strategic wrote: post #6

After 10 years of marriage, my wife thought it would be helpful for me to start cooking, as she was getting stressed out with our 2 years old. We used Blue Apron as the starting point. I can't tell you how much time we save in planning meals and trips to the store. My wife doesn't have nag me about what I what I want for the week's dinner. The quality of the food and the time saved is well worth the price. I know the…

I've never used Blue Apron and I'm curious - how much actual cooking do you do with a typical Blue Apron meal? Are you preparing, mixing, cutting, etc. or are you primarily mixing together already prepared ingredients and timing them as they cook? Could someone who has never cooked use Blue Apron as a starting point to learn basic cooking skills?

You are preparing, mixing, cutting and cooking everything yourself. You're given the raw ingredients just like you'd buy yourself at the grocery store and given an easy to follow recipe to do everything yourself. If you've never cooked before, you are definitely in their target demographic. The recipes are generally simple enough and explained well enough that it would teach you the basic cooking skills you lack.

Re: Blue Apron becomes a penny stock, trading under $1 for the first time

#23

Post by _zachs » Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 5:52 PM UTC

Pfhreak wrote: post #18

chad_strategic wrote: post #6

After 10 years of marriage, my wife thought it would be helpful for me to start cooking, as she was getting stressed out with our 2 years old. We used Blue Apron as the starting point. I can't tell you how much time we save in planning meals and trips to the store. My wife doesn't have nag me about what I what I want for the week's dinner. The quality of the food and the time saved is well worth the price. I know the…

> my wife thought it would be helpful for me to start cooking, as she was getting stressed out with our 2 years old. This seems like a good opportunity to see if there is more labor (emotional or physical) that your wife is doing that she could use a hand with. > My wife doesn't have nag me about what I what I want for the week's dinner Meal planning is work. She is doing a job for the family. She is trying to includ…

damn dude you really are a Pfhreak.

Re: Blue Apron becomes a penny stock, trading under $1 for the first time

#24

Post by wgerard » Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 5:53 PM UTC

gammateam wrote: post #4

Just reverse split: less shares, same market cap = higher price. wow no more penny stock status

Investors aren't stupid and realize a company doing a reverse split just to maintain the minimum share price is doomed.

Re: Blue Apron becomes a penny stock, trading under $1 for the first time

#25

Post by brianwawok » Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 5:53 PM UTC

beart wrote: post #11

chad_strategic wrote: post #6

After 10 years of marriage, my wife thought it would be helpful for me to start cooking, as she was getting stressed out with our 2 years old. We used Blue Apron as the starting point. I can't tell you how much time we save in planning meals and trips to the store. My wife doesn't have nag me about what I what I want for the week's dinner. The quality of the food and the time saved is well worth the price. I know the…

I've never used Blue Apron and I'm curious - how much actual cooking do you do with a typical Blue Apron meal? Are you preparing, mixing, cutting, etc. or are you primarily mixing together already prepared ingredients and timing them as they cook? Could someone who has never cooked use Blue Apron as a starting point to learn basic cooking skills?

Its basically a trip to the grocery store + a print out of a recipe with nice pictures.

Not a bunch of half cooked stuff you slap together.

I think learning to cook is an excellent use for the service (but not maybe one they love long term)

Re: Blue Apron becomes a penny stock, trading under $1 for the first time

#26

Post by DoofusOfDeath » Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 5:53 PM UTC

Pfhreak wrote: post #18

chad_strategic wrote: post #6

After 10 years of marriage, my wife thought it would be helpful for me to start cooking, as she was getting stressed out with our 2 years old. We used Blue Apron as the starting point. I can't tell you how much time we save in planning meals and trips to the store. My wife doesn't have nag me about what I what I want for the week's dinner. The quality of the food and the time saved is well worth the price. I know the…

> my wife thought it would be helpful for me to start cooking, as she was getting stressed out with our 2 years old. This seems like a good opportunity to see if there is more labor (emotional or physical) that your wife is doing that she could use a hand with. > My wife doesn't have nag me about what I what I want for the week's dinner Meal planning is work. She is doing a job for the family. She is trying to includ…

Tangent:

Tip from a long-time husband: If you often have the perception of your wife "nagging" you, there's probably a relationship-antipattern in effect that you'll want to deal with as soon as you have the emotional energy. IMO, perceived nagging can be the narrow end of a big wedge between a couple.

Re: Blue Apron becomes a penny stock, trading under $1 for the first time

#27

Post by Pfhreak » Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 5:53 PM UTC

_zachs wrote: post #23

Pfhreak wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my wife thought it would be helpful for me to start cooking, as she was getting stressed out with our 2 years old. This seems like a good opportunity to see if there is more labor (emotional or physical) that your wife is doing that she could use a hand with. > My wife doesn't have nag me about what I what I want for the week's dinner Meal planning is work. She is doing a job for the family. She is trying to includ…

damn dude you really are a Pfhreak.

I know, right? What with all the 'treating other humans with dignity' and 'respecting the work they do'.

Wild.

Re: Blue Apron becomes a penny stock, trading under $1 for the first time

#28

Post by ghaff » Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 5:53 PM UTC

jonathanjaeger wrote: post #10

robertAngst wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dang, I had the opposite experience with Blue Apron. Never saved time. Expensive and the recipes took 2-3x longer than it says on the box. Delicious food, but there was no leftovers. We finished the food and were still hungry. Cannot fathom using them as a meal provider. The only thing I learned is that roasted beats and carrots are delicious. Don't need Blue Apron anymore.

They recently added meals that take 20-30min rather than 30-55min and it has made a world of difference, not to mention they expanded the menu. I also find some of the meals tastier because they're simpler rather than using too many ingredients. I still get the occasional bland one, but they have improved. As a company I wouldn't invest in them. The amount they spend on advertising (e.g. really pricey podcast adverti…

I only used them once and one of the meals was the most complicated hamburger recipe I'd ever made and I didn't think it was really all that good.

I half suspect there are motivations behind making the recipes for these services complex and a little exotic. If they had four ingredient recipes that took 10 minutes of prep, I daresay a lot of people would think "I'm paying 2x to 3x what I would pay in the grocery store for that???"

I'm glad to hear they're simplifying things though. The only reason I'd use something like this is if they did a lot of the pre-prep so it really is a quick meal on a weekday night when I really just don't have the energy to do more than minimal cooking. (Especially when there's so much in the grocery store that's partly prepped these days.)

Re: Blue Apron becomes a penny stock, trading under $1 for the first time

#29

Post by scrumbledober » Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 5:55 PM UTC

Pfhreak wrote: post #18

chad_strategic wrote: post #6

After 10 years of marriage, my wife thought it would be helpful for me to start cooking, as she was getting stressed out with our 2 years old. We used Blue Apron as the starting point. I can't tell you how much time we save in planning meals and trips to the store. My wife doesn't have nag me about what I what I want for the week's dinner. The quality of the food and the time saved is well worth the price. I know the…

> my wife thought it would be helpful for me to start cooking, as she was getting stressed out with our 2 years old. This seems like a good opportunity to see if there is more labor (emotional or physical) that your wife is doing that she could use a hand with. > My wife doesn't have nag me about what I what I want for the week's dinner Meal planning is work. She is doing a job for the family. She is trying to includ…

HN: come for the engineering talk, stay for the relationship advice.

Re: Blue Apron becomes a penny stock, trading under $1 for the first time

#30

Post by chrisseaton » Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 5:55 PM UTC

robertAngst wrote: post #7

chad_strategic wrote: post #6

After 10 years of marriage, my wife thought it would be helpful for me to start cooking, as she was getting stressed out with our 2 years old. We used Blue Apron as the starting point. I can't tell you how much time we save in planning meals and trips to the store. My wife doesn't have nag me about what I what I want for the week's dinner. The quality of the food and the time saved is well worth the price. I know the…

Dang, I had the opposite experience with Blue Apron. Never saved time. Expensive and the recipes took 2-3x longer than it says on the box. Delicious food, but there was no leftovers. We finished the food and were still hungry. Cannot fathom using them as a meal provider. The only thing I learned is that roasted beats and carrots are delicious. Don't need Blue Apron anymore.

> Delicious food, but there was no leftovers.

I don't understand why do you want leftover food?