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

markets.businessinsider.com

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

#281

Post by g051051 »

goldcd wrote: post #140

Always seemed a strange business model. Appealing to people who "want to cook", but doing so by turning yourself into a production-line assembler. Like saying your want to learn carpentry, by buying some Ikea flat-pack. What confused me (and makes me think I've overlooked something) is why nothing more interesting has come along from the supermarkets. In the UK at least, they're all online and deliver - but they all…

> Appealing to people who "want to cook", but doing so by turning yourself into a production-line assembler. Like saying your want to learn carpentry, by buying some Ikea flat-pack.

That's not a great analogy. It was far more than assembly...with Ikea products, you don't cut the wood to size, or carve joints, or even use glue. With Blue Apron and the other in this space, you do everything except the shopping. so you will learn how to handle a knife, different cooking techniques, etc.

The real value add was in removing the need for keeping a stocked pantry and doing grocery shopping. Many recipes used ingredients that it was inconvenient or impossible to buy in small quantities, or that were hard to find at a standard megamart.

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

#282

Post by ghaff »

dwild wrote: post #269
gambiting wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tbf, I have done one of those boxes(Hello Fresh) for nearly 2 years and I has absolutely definitely taught me how to cook, purely through repeated experience. It goes beyond being able to follow a recipe - after cooking nearly 500 meals I have enough experience to make delicious meals without looking at timers or measuring everything down to a gram. Plus, each meal works out much cheaper than eating out. So for me pe…

> Plus, each meal works out much cheaper than eating out. So for me personally this was money extremely well spent. I also live in the UK. I just got 2 free boxes from Missfresh (seems local to where I live) and Goodfood. I tried my first yesterday and god I wish it was worth it to keep doing because they shown me that I actually can cook something amazingly good. However I didn't expected to keep buying theses boxes…

In general, the prices in the US are similar to a chain restaurant that maybe isn't quite fast food but in the ballpark. Getting the direct restaurant equivalent of most of the meals would typically cost quite a bit more.

These services aren't about value. You can get mostly lower quality restaurant meals for about the same money. And you can cook much more cheaply at home if you want to.

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

#283

Post by jghn »

harryh wrote: post #149
jghn wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience has been that most of the recipes I’ve received are single pot/pan recipes

BA recipes have gotten WAY WAY simpler over time so your two different experiences are almost certainly explained by using the service at different times.

In particular, they took a serious turn for the simpler side of things around the time their business problems started

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

#284

Post by megy »

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…

Ok, but don't you usually go to the supermarket anyway? I don't quite see what the point is, how did you survive until this point? The only thing difference is you are buying some more ingredients.

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

#285

Post by asavadatti »

marrone12 wrote: post #157
ghaff wrote: post #142

Somewhat OT but do any of these services let you opt into deliveries rather than opt out? As someone who might consider trying out a few meals now and then on a week when I'm not traveling/busy, the menus look appealing, etc. I'd be potentially interested. But I don't want to have to be constantly opting out and/or canceling my subscription (which I'm sure would get messed up sooner or later). It really is a dark pat…

I haven't used Blue Apron in a couple years but it used to be an opt-out dark pattern which was supremely frustrating.

Same with Sun Basket the last time I used them. I would order more if I knew I had the ability to start/stop/cancel my subscription online

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

#286

Post by adrianmonk »

I considered trying one of these but I realized I'm not going to get all my at-home meals (or any drinks, snacks, paper towels, etc.) from them. Which means I'm still making a weekly trip to the grocery store. So where's the convenience?

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

#287

Post by zanny »

g051051 wrote: post #281
goldcd wrote: post #140

Always seemed a strange business model. Appealing to people who "want to cook", but doing so by turning yourself into a production-line assembler. Like saying your want to learn carpentry, by buying some Ikea flat-pack. What confused me (and makes me think I've overlooked something) is why nothing more interesting has come along from the supermarkets. In the UK at least, they're all online and deliver - but they all…

> Appealing to people who "want to cook", but doing so by turning yourself into a production-line assembler. Like saying your want to learn carpentry, by buying some Ikea flat-pack. That's not a great analogy. It was far more than assembly...with Ikea products, you don't cut the wood to size, or carve joints, or even use glue. With Blue Apron and the other in this space, you do everything except the shopping. so you…

Which is why the Blue Apron crates were always so ludicrously expensive compared to a regular grocer despite their purported scale. You got the right proportion of green onion but get to pay the price of a whole bundle.

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

#288

Post by watmough »

parthdesai wrote: post #237
asdff wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some perishables like fruits and vegetables are terrible to buy. Cilantro comes in a massive bunch from which I take three sprigs, and its rotten in a couple days. Bananas are unedible until day 2, then I have maybe a 3-day window to eat all the bananas before they are flabby, brown, and mushy. Even if I throw a handful of arugula in every single one of my meals, its massive tub is barely half empty by the time it st…

Pro-tip for Bananas: When they start to have black spots on the skin, throw them in the freezer. Use them in a smoothie, it will give your smoothie a really nice creamy texture, almost like an ice-cream and it's all natural!

Yeah, soft bananas are also great for banana muffins.

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

#289

Post by dragonwriter »

taude wrote: post #151
dragonwriter wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I thought the Blue Apron recipes were too complicated, used too many pans to wash, and wasted too much packaging material. I've rarely seen a BA recipe use more than one pot and one pan, most, IME, use a single pan (often with a wipe-and-reuse step to do that.) If anything, BA goes out of their way to minimize the required cooking vessels compared to most recipe sources (even America’s Test Kitchen, which is actual…

I wonder if their recipes have evolved over the years. Like I mentioned, I haven't used them in four years.

I first used them about three years ago and most recently about one year ago; packaging changed a bit, but the overall complexity and demands of the recipes didn't seem to much.

Of course, change before that I couldn't speak to.

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

#290

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

all2 wrote: post #147
goldcd wrote: post #140

Always seemed a strange business model. Appealing to people who "want to cook", but doing so by turning yourself into a production-line assembler. Like saying your want to learn carpentry, by buying some Ikea flat-pack. What confused me (and makes me think I've overlooked something) is why nothing more interesting has come along from the supermarkets. In the UK at least, they're all online and deliver - but they all…

You have just described a value-add B2B SaaS; offers integration into existing retailer's online shopping portals. If this doesn't exist, give it six months and it will. If you want to try and swing something like this and need an extra set of hands, my email is in my profile.

There's literally dozens of people who have tried to do this recently and failed, and dozens more still trying to do it.

How do you make money? How do you acquire customers cheaper than it costs to provide the service?

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