Albertsons snaps up meal kit startup Plated
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Albertsons snaps up meal kit startup Plated
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Re: Albertsons snaps up meal kit startup Plated
#2This is just the start. Eventually all supermarket companies will buy a meal kit company.
Re: Albertsons snaps up meal kit startup Plated
#3Did CS broker on behalf of Plated or Albertsons?
Re: Albertsons snaps up meal kit startup Plated
#4This is just the start. Eventually all supermarket companies will buy a meal kit company.
Maybe a high percentage of young people go into a supermarket and are overwhelmed. Supermarkets need employees to tell people what can be done with the food they find on the shelves to remain relevant and buying a pre-packaged fresh mailed to you food company is trying to fix a symptom of that actual problem.
Re: Albertsons snaps up meal kit startup Plated
#5This is just the start. Eventually all supermarket companies will buy a meal kit company.
Curious what the value proposition would be. I mean, I can see delivery + pre-existing logistics network. Or selling better kits in stores. Or a segue to delivered groceries.
But it seems kind of antithetical to how grocery stores make money. They're low margin, high volume businesses. And this directly attacks volume.
Buying a grocery delivery startup seems like it would make way more sense as a first step.
Re: Albertsons snaps up meal kit startup Plated
#6This is just the start. Eventually all supermarket companies will buy a meal kit company.
I wonder if one might buy a national pizza delivery chain. Then you get an established driver network too.
Re: Albertsons snaps up meal kit startup Plated
#7This is just the start. Eventually all supermarket companies will buy a meal kit company.
Maybe a high percentage of young people go into a supermarket and are overwhelmed. Supermarkets need employees to tell people what can be done with the food they find on the shelves to remain relevant and buying a pre-packaged fresh mailed to you food company is trying to fix a symptom of that actual problem.
Regardless of feeling overwhelmed, the convenience of picking up one meal kit box vs knowing what ingredients to get, finding them, getting the right amount (often the minimum is far too much for the meal), etc. is huge.
AFAIK a lot of the margins for online meal kit companies is the shipping+packaging cost. Grocery stores don't have to pay for shipping to the customer and can keep the boxes refrigerated which would make the packaging much smaller and cheaper.
Re: Albertsons snaps up meal kit startup Plated
#8This is just the start. Eventually all supermarket companies will buy a meal kit company.
Curious what the value proposition would be. I mean, I can see delivery + pre-existing logistics network. Or selling better kits in stores. Or a segue to delivered groceries. But it seems kind of antithetical to how grocery stores make money. They're low margin, high volume businesses. And this directly attacks volume. Buying a grocery delivery startup seems like it would make way more sense as a first step.
>But it seems kind of antithetical to how grocery stores make money.
It is, but they are probably looking at what Amazon has already done to brick and mortar. Then seeing the Whole Foods acquisition. And wondering where that progression ends. So, maybe this isn't the right direction, but staying put is arguably worse.
Re: Albertsons snaps up meal kit startup Plated
#9This is just the start. Eventually all supermarket companies will buy a meal kit company.
Maybe a high percentage of young people go into a supermarket and are overwhelmed. Supermarkets need employees to tell people what can be done with the food they find on the shelves to remain relevant and buying a pre-packaged fresh mailed to you food company is trying to fix a symptom of that actual problem.
Recipes are everywhere though.
Plated's market is probably for people who mostly want to save time, but don't want fast food or frozen meals.
Re: Albertsons snaps up meal kit startup Plated
#10This is just the start. Eventually all supermarket companies will buy a meal kit company.
Curious what the value proposition would be. I mean, I can see delivery + pre-existing logistics network. Or selling better kits in stores. Or a segue to delivered groceries. But it seems kind of antithetical to how grocery stores make money. They're low margin, high volume businesses. And this directly attacks volume. Buying a grocery delivery startup seems like it would make way more sense as a first step.
One of the major national supermarkets here does delivery[1]. There's also a cheaper option where you can pick up but they do the shopping for you, so you can just stop by and get your cart. Both are actually a really nice service and good value for the time you save too, but I'm not sure how popular it actually is.
You do miss out on being able to select your own fruit, meat etc, but they did a good job the couple of times we've tried it. Occasionally something you ordered isn't actually in stock, and you can choose whether you'll let them sub it out or just no include it. The ordering is per-supermarket to minimise that happening - every store has a slightly different online selection to match what they should actually have.
There's no competition here either though. If there are any other grocery delivery options around, I haven't heard of them.