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SpoonRocket shuts down

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Re: SpoonRocket shuts down

#171

Post by jonesb6 »

Bjorkbat wrote: post #36

The on-demand apocalypse? Well, knowing Techcrunch they're probably overreacting, but this is a prediction I can get behind. Maybe now VCs can invest in companies that don't rely on questionable labor tactics in order to deceive themselves and others into thinking that they're unicorns.

As a middle class person I signed up to two subscription services the other day. This is on top of my netflix, A-Prime and other common subscriptions. I realize they might not qualify to "on-demand services" 1:1 but seeing as the customer demographic is pretty much the same I believe on-demand services will always be viable as long as people demand things. And my god do some people demand things.

One start-up is an insignificant sample size.

Re: SpoonRocket shuts down

#172

Post by wcummings »

ruddct wrote: post #119
tptacek wrote: post #2

The 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 sala…

Peapod looks like it hasn't changed in 10 years and basically does the same thing as instacart but cheaper and better.

Re: SpoonRocket shuts down

#173

Post by abrookewood »

tptacek wrote: post #2

The 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…

There are lots of startups that expect to lose money for a lengthy period of time while they attempt to capture the market or grow to a sufficient scale that their business becomes profitable.

In fact, it's not even limited to startups. I worked for Red Bull many years ago and when they open a subsidiary in a new country, the only metric that matters for the first few years is how much money they are SPENDING on marketing & promotion - sales just aren't that important until the brand has been established.

Re: SpoonRocket shuts down

#174

Post by abrookewood »

anexprogrammer wrote: post #22
tptacek wrote: post #2

The 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…

Ignoring the app, and disruptive gimmick, I have to wonder what your average diner could have achieved with $13.5m in funding. You could build a small, well branded chain. Probably selling food above cost to boot! :)

Your average diner knows NOTHING about scaling a business to a national or international level, nor about venture capital and the pressures of shareholders.

Re: SpoonRocket shuts down

#175

Post by egd »

abrookewood wrote: post #174
anexprogrammer wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ignoring the app, and disruptive gimmick, I have to wonder what your average diner could have achieved with $13.5m in funding. You could build a small, well branded chain. Probably selling food above cost to boot! :)

Your average diner knows NOTHING about scaling a business to a national or international level, nor about venture capital and the pressures of shareholders.

From the look of things around here, your average tech company ain't much better.

Re: SpoonRocket shuts down

#176

Post by hablahaha »

nlh wrote: post #69

Sad 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…

Their meals were not just unhealthy, they were off the mark entirely. For example, they had a partnership with Stouffer's. As in, reselling Stouffer's lasagna. Like the same Stouffer's frozen lasagna I can buy at Safeway that feeds 8 people. At that point I just laughed and closed my app. Why would I ever choose to pay a premium for that?

I found it so funny and off putting I sent a screenshot to my friends: http://imgur.com/He7Hfkj

Re: SpoonRocket shuts down

#177

Post by lubos »

richcollins wrote: post #19
Splines wrote: post #11

I'm not an on-demand-food customer because the economics don't make sense to me. I either bring leftovers from dinner to work (I just have extra from dinner and spend an extra minute packing it the night before) or snag something from my work's decent cafeteria. And yet, I still see food deliver signs at my work and see coworkers utilizing them. What's the deal? ROI for food delivery seems ridiculously low in compari…

It was a lifesaver for those times when it was 6pm and you didn't have dinner ready for your kids.

Do you need cooked dinner for kids every day? There are plenty of healthy meals which take 10 minutes to prepare and will do as a dinner.

Re: SpoonRocket shuts down

#178

Post by ttam »

mcintyre1994 wrote: post #83
ttam wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

can you show us something to back this statement? I'm really curious

From the article: "Sprig had looked into acquiring SpoonRocket, but decided against it and is now doing 6X the meal volume SpoonRocket did in SF."

Right, in SF, which is different from 6x overall volume.

SpoonRocket also served the East Bay, which Sprig doesn't.

Sprig also serves Palo Alto and Chicago, which SpoonRocket doesn't.

Re: SpoonRocket shuts down

#179

Post by Ironchefpython »

free2rhyme214 wrote: post #95
nlh wrote: post #69

Sad 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.

> Ironically UberEATS launched officially today.

"If they cut off one head, two more shall take it's place"

Re: SpoonRocket shuts down

#180

Post by foobar1962 »

tptacek wrote: post #2

The 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…

Good. It's not just me that reads this stuff and constantly wonders at the the complete lack of reason in Silicon Valley. (silly con?)
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