5 ms·

Physical supermarkets can still be really terrible. It always seems to take me over an hour to do my grocery shopping. My idea to bring the industry into the 2

Physical supermarkets can still be really terrible. It always seems to take me over an hour to do my grocery shopping. My idea to bring the industry into the 21st century would be take a similar route to Blue Apron et al, where all the ingredients are combined into a single package. The difference is that the work of preparation would be distributed to local restaurants looking to supplement their income, and people would just pick up their uncooked packages there. That would keep the cost down and scale well, while still being convenient for customers and allow them to cook new, interesting meals everyday.

nol13 10y ago
"Physical supermarkets can still be really terrible. It always seems to take me over an hour to do my grocery shopping." An accident, this is not.
- brianwawok 10y ago
  My local grocery store I buy online. Pull up. They put the items in my car. Cost $5 for the service. And this is a flyover state smallish size chain not a SF giant grocery store.
gautamnarula 10y ago
I've thought about this in similar ways. The reason I don't use Blue Apron is because it's pricey--$10/meal when you're cooking at home isn't very affordable unless you're a lot of disposable income. But I understand why it's expensive. Each box of ingredients must be shipped with multiple cooling packs to keep it from spoiling, and shipping to each individual's doorstep also adds costs. Imagine if grocery stores offered a similar Blue Apron like service, where they came up with good, reasonably healthy recipes, and packaged all the ingredients (which they already have in store) in the appropriate amounts into a box with recipes and instructions, just like Blue Apron, and you could pick up the box at the grocery store. They could easily offer this for less than half the cost of Blue Apron, and the value proposition (at least to me) would be so big (no meal planning, no wandering around a the grocery store for an hour, no risk of buying too much stuff that I then goes bad) that'd be a no-brainer to use it.
- idunno246 10y ago
  i find it pricy too, I cant imagine what someone in a lower cost of living area(than sf, so everywhere) thinks of the price. Packaging waste is a big complaint my friends have, easier to swap out reusable packages if its at a store. And I have to go to the store anyway for perishables(eggs/milk/etc), so blue apron doesnt even save a trip to the store. id buy this too
- hossbeast 10y ago
  At Safeway, this is referred to as, "The Deli".

nol13 10y ago

"Physical supermarkets can still be really terrible. It always seems to take me over an hour to do my grocery shopping." An accident, this is not.

brianwawok 10y ago
My local grocery store I buy online. Pull up. They put the items in my car. Cost $5 for the service. And this is a flyover state smallish size chain not a SF giant grocery store.

gautamnarula 10y ago

I've thought about this in similar ways. The reason I don't use Blue Apron is because it's pricey--$10/meal when you're cooking at home isn't very affordable unless you're a lot of disposable income. But I understand why it's expensive. Each box of ingredients must be shipped with multiple cooling packs to keep it from spoiling, and shipping to each individual's doorstep also adds costs. Imagine if grocery stores offered a similar Blue Apron like service, where they came up with good, reasonably healthy recipes, and packaged all the ingredients (which they already have in store) in the appropriate amounts into a box with recipes and instructions, just like Blue Apron, and you could pick up the box at the grocery store. They could easily offer this for less than half the cost of Blue Apron, and the value proposition (at least to me) would be so big (no meal planning, no wandering around a the grocery store for an hour, no risk of buying too much stuff that I then goes bad) that'd be a no-brainer to use it.

idunno246 10y ago
i find it pricy too, I cant imagine what someone in a lower cost of living area(than sf, so everywhere) thinks of the price. Packaging waste is a big complaint my friends have, easier to swap out reusable packages if its at a store. And I have to go to the store anyway for perishables(eggs/milk/etc), so blue apron doesnt even save a trip to the store. id buy this too
hossbeast 10y ago
At Safeway, this is referred to as, "The Deli".