Latest news with #Blue Apron
Fast Company
6 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Blue Apron rebrands for a future beyond subscription meal kits
Blue Apron is breaking free of subscriptions. The meal kit delivery service, known for its boxes that include a recipe and all the ingredients customers need to cook a meal themselves, has relaunched this week with a refreshed logo and new mascot alongside a new, reimagined business model that now lets consumers make purchases a la carte. The brand's old subscription-based membership is now optional, and while those who like it can keep it or sign up for their own meal-kit subscriptions, customers now also have the option to order meal kits for one-off deliveries. There's also new 'Dish by Blue Apron' line of pre-made meals, and an 'Assemble & Bake,' line of one-pan meals that Blue Apron says take five minutes of prep time or less. Both extend the brand into new product categories. 'As we thought about our legacy Blue Apron offering, we felt that it was a bit too inflexible for what our customers were needing, and also not offering quite enough convenience,' Whitney Pegden, Blue Apron's senior vice president and general manager tells Fast Company. Blue Apron rebrand plates up a new purpose Much of the brand's original value proposition when it launched in 2012 was that it 'could help you learn how to cook, and teach you new skills, and expose you to new, cool ingredients,' Pegden says. 'Recently we're finding that more and more, customers just need help.' The new Blue Apron is meant to be a 'shortcut,' to help get dinner on the table. After seeing its net revenue fall by nearly half in the late 2010s, Blue Apron was bought by the Walmart-owned Wonder Group for $103 million in 2023. It's now one in a portfolio of brands that make up Wonder's food delivery super app alongside Tastemade and Grubhub. The idea is households don't want to eat the same thing every night, but no matter what they're looking for, Wonder will have it. Blue Apron's relaunch and new product lines show that under new ownership, the brand is outgrowing its meal-kit-subscription-only model to meet more needs. Meet Sous The brand's new mascot the Blue Apron Sous, as in sous-chef, is an illustrated chef that shows up as a man, woman, or child wearing a blue apron. Sous is meant to convey that the brand is 'with you in the kitchen, helping you out, almost like you're sous-chef to get the meal on the table,' Pegden says. For Blue Apron, being a helper no longer necessarily means having customers cook all on their own—or relying on recurring customer payments. The hope is that the less restrictive model will lead to more sales. 'One of the big bets we are making with this relaunch is that by not locking people into a subscription and requiring them to get a box every week,' Pegden says of the Blue Apron rebrand and repositioning. 'If we can give you all the freedom you want to shop when you want, how you want, then actually people will continue to use us more and we'll attract a broader audience.'
Bloomberg
11-08-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Blue Apron Nixes Subscription Model in Favor of A-La-Carte Meal Kits
Blue Apron is moving away from the weekly subscription model it pioneered to sell a-la-carte meal kits that require zero or little preparation, as it caters to shifting consumer preferences for more budget-friendly and convenient food options. Instead of purchasing meals through a subscription, customers will now pay as they go for meal kits. The company is offering 5% discounts if users opt for recurring deliveries and it's waiving the shipping fee under a new $10-a-month membership program called Blue Apron+. Legacy subscribers will be switched to the recurring-deliveries setting, with the option to select the a-la-carte option instead if desired.
CNET
17-07-2025
- Business
- CNET
Meal Kits Have Gotten Cheap, but Are They Cheaper Than Groceries?
Bloated costs on everything from eggs to olive oil have folks looking for ways to cut costs. Meal kits -- once considered a splurge -- may not have cause a blip on your thrifty radar. While supermarkets seemingly jack prices up at will, meal kit companies have been more careful when raising consumer costs, since retaining subscribers is key to their survival. Meal kit services such as EveryPlate, Blue Apron or HelloFresh are known for helping busy people save time and eat better, but I crunched the numbers to find out if any of of the top meal delivery services are cheaper when compared with a supermarket haul of the same items. Meal kits vs. buying the groceries Cost per serving (average plan) Cost of same ingredients at grocery store EveryPlate $6 $5.40 Blue Apron $11 $9.75 HelloFresh $9 $6.55 After looking at several ingredient lists for various recipes, I found that some meal kits are more expensive while others are about the same price as grocery shopping, or in some cases even cheaper. It depends on the service and, more importantly, the meals you choose. Here's a breakdown and how I got these figures. How I did the math I put on my math hat to see if meal kits are actually a good deal in see how much Blue Apron, HelloFresh and EveryPlate meals cost to make, I priced out the ingredients for two real recipes that are included in a standard subscription. When choosing groceries, I used the cheapest version of the same or similar ingredient I could find at Shop-Rite, a budget-friendly grocery store in my area. Because meal kit recipes include only the amount of ingredients needed, I prorated the cost by how much you would actually use for a recipe, not the full price of the bottle, jar, box or bag. I chose basic, nonorganic items unless it was otherwise specified in the meal kit recipe. How I picked the recipes I picked steak and seafood recipes to compare since they represent the best value on most meal kit menus. David Watsky/CNET If you're looking to meal kits as a value proposition, you'll have to be smart about which recipes you choose. Steak, chicken and fish tend to be more expensive to cook at home than plant-based meals, so I specifically chose recipes featuring those proteins. (I also recommend you take advantage of them if you're signing up for a service). Not all services include steak recipes without a surcharge, but HelloFresh and Blue Apron do. Blue Apron typically offers at least one fairly high-end beef cut like sirloin steak with no added charge. HelloFresh offers one or two beef recipes per week, but it's usually a cheaper cut like chuck steak. Seafood options are limited with a basic HelloFresh, but I found a barramundi recipe on this week's menu, in addition to the ranch steak with Caesar salad. Budget-friendly services including EveryPlate don't usually offer steak or seafood, which is how they keep prices low. For my EveryPlate analysis, I chose a cherry beef meatball and pork chop recipe. Blue Apron presents real value if you choose the right meals Blue Apron's seafood recipes including steak, salmon and trout prove to be an excellent value in 2025. Blue Apron Blue Apron has the most high-end recipes of the three I chose to analyze. I picked a recipe featuring sirloin steak and another with fresh filets of steelhead trout. When I priced out the groceries to make these meals, they clocked in at $11.26 and $8.23, respectively, with an average price of $9.75 per serving. Both meals proved more expensive to buy at the supermarket than the $8 per-serving cost for the largest (cheapest) Blue Apron plan. As good as that sounds, Blue Apron's largest plan is a whopping five meal kits per week with four servings each, and likely practical for most people. If you choose a more reasonably sized plan -- let's say three meal recipes with four servings each -- the price per serving jumps to $10. That's still cheaper than the cost of buying the groceries, but only by a little. Add the $11 weekly shipping cost and the Blue Apron creeps over the cost of buying the groceries, but only slightly. When you consider the convenience a meal kit provides, it's hard to argue that Blue Apron isn't a good value. Blue Apron vs buying the groceries Trout with feta, couscous and vegetables Ingredients: Cost: Steelhead trout filets, 10 oz $11.50 Pearl couscous, 1/2 cup $2 4 oz. grape tomatoes $1.25 1 red onion $1.29 Crushed pepper flakes $0.10 Feta cheese, 1/2 oz $2 Spice blend, 1 tbs $0.25 Green beans, 6 oz $3 Roasted sunflower seeds, 2 tbs $0.50 Pitted niçoise olives, 1 oz $0.64 Total: $22.53 Per serving: $11.26 Mexican steak with green beans and sweet potatoes Ingredients: Cost: 2 sirloin steaks, 11 oz $7 Guajillo chile pepper sauce, 1/3 cup $1 Lime, 1 $0.50 Raw pepitas, 2 tbs $0.59 Cotija cheese, 2 tbs $0.60 Sweet potatoes, 1 lb $3 Green beans, 6 oz $3 Smoky spice, 1 tbs $0.25 Garlic, 2 clove $0.20 Worcestershire sauce, 2 tbs $0.46 Total cost: $16.55 Per serving: $8.23 HelloFresh was the worst value HelloFresh meal kits cost $10 per serving but only around $6.50 per serving if you were to buy the groceries yourself. HelloFresh HelloFresh might be the most popular meal kit service, but it was also the worst value of the three. I chose a barramundi recipe and chuck steak meal kit to compare with local grocery prices. By my calculations, HelloFresh meal kits would cost just $6.55 per serving to buy the groceries and make the meals yourself. That's about $2.50 cheaper than HelloFresh's average meal plan of $9 per serving, and that's all before factoring in your weekly delivery cost of $11. If you were to spread that shipping fee out across two or three meal kits, the actual per-serving cost is more like $11 to $12. HelloFresh may have one of the largest weekly menu of meal kits and user-friendly ordering interface, but as it turns out, the popular service doesn't offer as much value as other meal kit companies. HelloFresh vs buying the groceries Barramundi with lemony carrots & couscous Ingredient: Cost: Barramundi, 10 oz $7.56 Carrots, 12 oz $1.50 Lemon, 1 $0.57 Cumin, 1 tsp $0.23 Israeli Couscous, 2.5 oz $0.75 Cilantro, ¼ oz $1 Garlic, 2 cloves $0.20 Chili flakes, 1 tsp $0.23 Veggie stock concentrate, 1 packet $1 Total: $13.04 Per serving: $6.52 Balsamic-glazed steak tagliata Ingredient: Cost: Potatoes, 12 oz $1.50 Lemon, 1 $0.57 Italian seasoning, 1 tbs $0.50 Garlic powder, 1 tps $0.23 Ranch steak, 10 oz $6 Mixed greens, 2 oz $0.70 Caesar dressing, 1.5 oz $0.45 Croutons, 2 oz $1.00 Parmesan cheese, 3 tbs $1.50 Balsamic glaze, 5 tsp $0.80 Total: $13.17 Per serving: $6.59 EveryPlate is also about the same as buying groceries EveryPlate meal kits clocked in at $5.40 per serving when ingredients were purchased at the store. That's just a hair cheaper than the service, making it a great value if you're trying to save time and energy. David Watsky/CNET EveryPlate's two meal kits cost $4.98 and $5.82 when purchased a la carte at the grocery store, which averages out to $5.40. That's just 60 cents less than the per-serving price of EveryPlate's meal kits, which cost $6 per serving no matter which plan you choose. Add the $10 shipping cost per box and the meal kit cost creeps up a bit, but it's still around the same price as buying all the groceries yourself. EveryPlate's meal kit menus don't feature much in the way of steak or seafood so you can expect more budget-friendly proteins such as chicken, ground beef and pork chops. EveryPlate meals are also easy to make and satisfying, making it our top pick best cheap meal kit service. EveryPlate vs buying the groceries Cherry meatballs with zucchini and garlic mashed potatoes Ingredients: Cost: Potatoes, 12 oz $1.50 White bread, 2 slices $0.50 Zucchini, 1 $2 Ground beef, 8 oz $3.50 Cherry jam, 1 oz $0.85 Garlic powder $0.10 Sour cream, 4 oz $1 Soy sauce, 1 oz $0.50 Total $9.95 Per serving $4.98 Smothered pork chops with potatoes and carrots Ingredients: Cost: Carrots, 12 oz $1.50 Potatoes, 12 oz $1.50 Yellow onion, 1 $1 Scallions, 2 $0.50 Boneless pork chops, 10 oz $4.93 Chicken stock concentrate $1 Cayenne pepper $0.25 Sour cream, 4 oz $1 Total $11.63 Per serving $5.82 To get the most out of your meal delivery, see my guide to hacking a meal delivery subscription in 2025.
