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Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

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Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#41

Post by ghaff »

calafrax wrote: post #21
notyourday wrote: post #13

As I have said before with Amazon eating Whole Foods meal kit companies that are not currently ramen profitable are toast. Ramen profitable companies would have to learn how to grow out of their cash flow. No sane investor would be pumping money into them until they know what and how Amazon would be looking at this market. I think over next few years we would see a total implosion of meal-kit industry with the except…

> I think over next few years we would see a total implosion of meal-kit industry I don't think so. Meal kits are a niche business fighting against mass market competitors already so nothing changes with the Amazon entry. If anything having an established player like amazon advertising meal kits increases market awareness and gets people interested. No one is going to have a monopoly of the food business, ever. It ju…

Pretty much agree. I think it's more:

- Grocery delivery seems to generally be gaining a bit of momentum in the US, at least close in to major urban centers, as a lot of people get more and more comfortable with buying things online.

- Grocery chains are beginning to take notice of meal kits. Most of them already sell a fair bit of prepped but uncooked food. Creating packaged bundles with a recipe card is a pretty small incremental step.

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#42

Post by Yhippa »

pera wrote: post #19

Please Amazon, do something different about the huge amount of material waste generated by companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. This is the main reason why I stopped using these services, the footprint is just disgusting: plastic bags inside aluminum+plastic bags inside cardboard boxes with more plastic. Please, invent some form of reusable container that can be easily stored and delivered back so we can stop t…

What's the resultant carbon footprint as a result of delivering these things back?

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#43

Post by stevewillows »

This was heavily predicted around here, and seems like a natural direction for Amazon (with very little effort.)

It'll be interesting to see who else steps into this market. Hopefully there will be a focus on local pick ups to eliminate even more of the footprint.

Ideally we'd see something similar to the CSA shares where you get a rubbermaid bin once per week with everything packed in something similar to Mason jars (with an initial deposit to ensure people are playing along.)

This is a fantastic opportunity for local supermarkets and grocery stores to dedicate a section to 'What's for dinner?' -- where all of the ingredients are grouped together with a small recipe card and a link to a video, or something along those lines.

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#44

Post by rednerrus »

This is why Amazon purchased Whole Foods. I've been trying to get my regional WF competitor (New Season Market) to do these meal kits and have them delivered with Amazon Prime for the past 18 months. They could have killed this game and without all of the wasted packaging. I am going to continue to chip away at them.

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#45

Post by clw8 »

erik-g wrote: post #38
notyourwork wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the ingredients provided are the exact amounts needed for a meal. If I was making the same meal doing my own shopping I will probably purchase slightly more than I need of some perishable ingredients. These will in a lot of kitchens end up as waste and not used in other meals.

That's fair, but when I shop I don't buy food with just one meal in mind. Sure, at home maybe I'll have a bit less onion one day then I would prefer because I used half of it the night before, but storing excess in the fridge and buying with leftovers in mind or multi-use items (bulk bag of carrots) means I have very little excess food waste. Certainly excess food waste is far, far less than packaging material from t…

You are the exception though. The statistical fact is that most people are like notyourwork, myself included. I'm absolutely horrible at this. I buy a huge bag of potatoes because even if I waste half the bag (although usually I'm not that bad) it's cheaper than buying a few as needed. I want to use them all but I just don't get around to it in time.

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#46

Post by [deleted] »

pera wrote: post #19

Please Amazon, do something different about the huge amount of material waste generated by companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. This is the main reason why I stopped using these services, the footprint is just disgusting: plastic bags inside aluminum+plastic bags inside cardboard boxes with more plastic. Please, invent some form of reusable container that can be easily stored and delivered back so we can stop t…

[deleted]

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#47

Post by ghaff »

notyourwork wrote: post #30
erik-g wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does meal-kit distribution eliminate a lot of food waste?

Because the ingredients provided are the exact amounts needed for a meal. If I was making the same meal doing my own shopping I will probably purchase slightly more than I need of some perishable ingredients. These will in a lot of kitchens end up as waste and not used in other meals.

It's not so much that people end up with a lot more food than they need and throw it out. It's the wastage at the supermarket and elsewhere in the distribution chain. Furthermore, I suspect the meal kit companies are tending to replace takeout of various sorts and eating out more than they're replacing conventional shopping and cooking.

And there's lots of waste throughout in those cases even when it's not visible.

It's hard to quantify any of that but, plastic bags or not, I suspect Blue Apron is relatively environmentally friendly.

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#48

Post by lubujackson »

As someone who has used and enjoyed meal kits (Good Eggs, not Blue Apron), I don't think this is a slam dunk for Amazon. Meal kits are a lot more than recipes and portioning.

I have 2 small kids so meal planning is hard to do consistently. I can whip up a chicken breast and veggie, but what I get from Good Eggs is seasonal recipes and fresh produce sourced directly from local farmers PLUS prepared elements including marinated meat and sauces.

So when I cook a meal kit I'm getting a much better meal (more like a dinner party meal) for about the same effort as a barebones meal I would make otherwise.

I have used Instacart and bought prepared stuff from Whole Foods, and there just isn't a comparison. In SF, I often get or see old/bruised produce in Whole Foods which used to be consistently good.

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#50

Post by rednerrus »

calafrax wrote: post #21
notyourday wrote: post #13

As I have said before with Amazon eating Whole Foods meal kit companies that are not currently ramen profitable are toast. Ramen profitable companies would have to learn how to grow out of their cash flow. No sane investor would be pumping money into them until they know what and how Amazon would be looking at this market. I think over next few years we would see a total implosion of meal-kit industry with the except…

> I think over next few years we would see a total implosion of meal-kit industry I don't think so. Meal kits are a niche business fighting against mass market competitors already so nothing changes with the Amazon entry. If anything having an established player like amazon advertising meal kits increases market awareness and gets people interested. No one is going to have a monopoly of the food business, ever. It ju…

Amazon is going to have giant advantages which will allow them to push the prices through the floor. The only thing that Blue Apron had going for it was the fact they had a giant markup on their product.

Amazon now has regional distribution centers in every major city. They have a network of vendors, they have a fleet of delivery trucks and contract drivers. Blue Apron is F'ed.

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