Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just as well they worked that out after burning through only $13.5M in funding, and not after the IPO.
Only?
Seriously. I could run my lab for years on 13 million.
SpoonRocket shuts down
111–120 of 194 posts
Re: SpoonRocket shuts down
#112Sad to see any startup die, but this was not unexpected. I know I am but a tiny sample of the overall SF food market, but I'm squarely in the target demographic (work at home, don't like to go out to eat). I used SpoonRocket a few times, but entirely gave up on them after trying a few times. I love Sprig and order from the often. Here's why: * SpoonRocket's meals simply weren't healthy. A lot of the folks in this spa…
Excellent points. Honestly it's the founders fault why this happened. They ignored these obvious signs and shouldn't be surprised. It's easy to order unhealthy food. It's a pain to make healthy food. Ironically UberEATS launched officially today.
It's also easy to see all the issues in hindsight. Perhaps at the time they thought there's a market for less-healthy-but-cheaper food, and perhaps they were right and messed up the execution...
Re: SpoonRocket shuts down
#113Re: SpoonRocket shuts down
#114As someone who's ordered from spoon rocket dozens of times over the past two years, I'm definitely sad to see it go. A quick timeline (from what I can remember): - Initially started out in Berkeley / Emeryville area by a couple of Berkeley alumni who had previously launched a food delivery startup focused on midnight munchies (aka, unhealthy food for college-type students). Each meal was initially only $6, tasted qui…
>Lastly, what I'm hoping for is the "Airbnb" of food, where regular people could cook meals and sell them to neighbors on a marketplace with reviews, pictures, etc.
I really don't want to buy food from random strangers that are not regularly being inspected for the cleanliness of their operations. A dirty room or a car is an inconvenience. A meal prepared in an unsanitary way could potentially kill you.
Re: SpoonRocket shuts down
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indie restaurants, maybe. But for franchises, the opposite.
Depends on the franchise. Subway, for example, is apparently an absolutely brutal franchise to run, whereas Chik-fil-a is super careful about who they give them to.
Restaurants, not junk fast food chains. He or she was probably referring to corporations like Bloomin' Brands (OSI) and Brinker International.
Re: SpoonRocket shuts down
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depends on the franchise. Subway, for example, is apparently an absolutely brutal franchise to run, whereas Chik-fil-a is super careful about who they give them to.
Restaurants, not junk fast food chains. He or she was probably referring to corporations like Bloomin' Brands (OSI) and Brinker International.
I happened to pick two fast food chains because I know they're on polar ends of the "How nice is it to be a franchise" spectrum. The core of the point is that not all franchises are created equal.
Re: SpoonRocket shuts down
#117As someone who's ordered from spoon rocket dozens of times over the past two years, I'm definitely sad to see it go. A quick timeline (from what I can remember): - Initially started out in Berkeley / Emeryville area by a couple of Berkeley alumni who had previously launched a food delivery startup focused on midnight munchies (aka, unhealthy food for college-type students). Each meal was initially only $6, tasted qui…
>Lastly, what I'm hoping for is the "Airbnb" of food, where regular people could cook meals and sell them to neighbors on a marketplace with reviews, pictures, etc. I really don't want to buy food from random strangers that are not regularly being inspected for the cleanliness of their operations. A dirty room or a car is an inconvenience. A meal prepared in an unsanitary way could potentially kill you.
Seems to me, Neighbors would be less likely to have an inspected kitchen. I'd much rather get food from a kitchen 'vetted by SpoonRocket or some organization. In fact in my state, its illegal to sell food out of your kitchen. Unless it passes inspection, which no home kitchen could (e.g. need 7 sinks minimum and so on).
Re: SpoonRocket shuts down
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Restaurants, not junk fast food chains. He or she was probably referring to corporations like Bloomin' Brands (OSI) and Brinker International.
I happened to pick two fast food chains because I know they're on polar ends of the "How nice is it to be a franchise" spectrum. The core of the point is that not all franchises are created equal.
But it matters which franchises you are talking about. A restaurant like Maggiano's, or Bonefish Grill is as far removed from Subway as Subway is as far removed from a 7-Eleven.
Re: SpoonRocket shuts down
#119The company had actually reached contribution margin positive — it was selling meals for more than it cost to cook them. But due to other costs and the frosty fundraising climate, wasn’t able to get the money it needed to continue operating. Am I reading this correctly, and the business metric this company managed to achieve is simply "selling food above cost", like every deli and diner in the country does? Or is the…
Reminds me of recent Instacart news.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-11/instacart-...
Here's the money quote: "[Instacart] said 40% of the company's volume is profitable - meaning most orders still lose money. It also said that it will be profitable globally by summer. However, its calculation for profitability doesn't include the cost of office space, the cost of acquiring shopper workers, or the salaries of its executives, engineers, designers or other employees..."
In other words, a $2b company figured out how to "not lose money" 40% of the time when their lowest paid workers deliver things. Ignoring those pesky cost centers that are developers, designers, hiring managers and executives. When every corner deli within 10 miles of me delivers (often for free) and presumably does so profitably (disclaimer: I live in a major metro area).
Technology has a peculiar ability to light gigantic piles of money on fire. These are strange times we live in.
Re: SpoonRocket shuts down
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
$100 pre-tax right? Also, it may take 10 min but it won't require 10 minutes of unbound attention On a personal note cooking dinner is just relaxing, it's good to get off the screen sometimes
> $100 pre-tax right? Yes, but that's just a baseline. Even if you knock it down to $60, that doesn't change the overall result, especially when you consider the additional cost of groceries. If you derive utility from cooking dinner, that's fine! I totally respect making individual choices which increase your utility. It's just the attitude that those of us who don't cook (and don't like cooking) are being economica…
I don't think there's much economic irrationality on display here - at least, on the short term. The ROI on those decisions is certainly an individualized calculation. However, I would wonder how healthful your options are when you resort to food delivery services. There's certainly not a lot of wiggle-room here because most humans require the same nutrients to be healthy and need to avoid the same ingredients to avoid being unhealthy.
Delivery food, even the "healthy" kind, is often packed with excessive amounts of sugars, salt, and artificial flavors. You're going to need to make a lot more than $100/hr pre-tax to afford the heart surgery, diabetes treatment, or other major health interventions that result from decades of eating food products prepared by people making about 10% of your base income.