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>No reason why Amazon couldn't just tack on nice recipes to their food delivery service and the acquisition of Whole Foods makes that direction even more likely

>No reason why Amazon couldn't just tack on nice recipes to their food delivery service and the acquisition of Whole Foods makes that direction even more likely. Blue Apron is in a dangerous and precarious spot and that's being reflected in the lowering of valuations. It's a lot more complicated than this and it's distressing you reduced it so much. The expansion for Amazon would be dramatic and expensive. Right now, Amazon is a warehouse business that re-sells food products which already pass regulation and inspection. You're talking about Amazon becoming a food business that prepares uncooked food and re-sells food, which must be regulated and inspected. These services don't just send you a prepackaged spice container, they individually portion out most of the spices, oils, liquids, creams, etc etc into exact amounts needed. I guess Amazon could try and find a supplier which would buy high quality ingredients and spices for precise repackaging, but one thing is for sure: it's far more complicated than "add recipes to prepackaged food delivery business"

code4tee 9y ago
Yes, but they just started the process of acquiring Whole Foods which does the prepared food thing quite well. I'm sure Amazon would tap into that. It's no longer just a "dry goods in warehouse" business.
- criley2 9y ago
  This I can absolutely see. Amazon has WholeFood's staff prepare what are essentially Blue Apron boxes. Produce, meat, and the deli can pre-portion the specific spices and ingredients for each recipe choice. And then AmazonRestaurants/AmazonNow uber competitor can same day (next hour!) deliver it to you. That's a real product strategy there. It's noon, you're texting your wife about dinner, you're both having a stressful day, you order a Amazon/WholeFoods dinner for four.
stickfigure 9y ago
This makes me think of what could be a Blue Apron killer from Whole Foods/Amazon: Sell the whole package, not individual servings. A dozen eggs; a half-liter of olive oil, the shaker of paprika, etc. Then, when new recipes come up, the customer typically only needs one or two things; you can track what bulk items they've recently purchased and suggest that maybe they want to reorder a new bottle. Yeah, the first couple orders might be expensive, but it would quickly turn into a groove where most delivery items are perishables, and the overall cost would be less. If I lived slightly farther away from a supermarket than I do (1 block), I would totally subscribe to a service like this. This probably isn't much of a stretch from supermarket delivery services that have reorder options - if WF/A doesn't have that already in the works, I expect they will soon. It really just coordinates it with a menu-of-the-day service. And if WF/A is smart, they'll make an API for this so anyone with menu-of-the-day inspiration can create their own startup built on the food delivery platform and take a small cut. I don't see this ending well for Blue Apron.
- dkonofalski 9y ago
  That is a genius idea and I hope Amazon is listening. This would absolutely kill Blue Apron for me especially if they can ensure some kind of local supply chain. That would be great.
mountainofdeath 9y ago
They already do this in the NYC area. The AmazonFresh facility in New Jersey that serves the area has a complete deli and bakery the churns out all kinds of prepared meals.

code4tee 9y ago

Yes, but they just started the process of acquiring Whole Foods which does the prepared food thing quite well. I'm sure Amazon would tap into that. It's no longer just a "dry goods in warehouse" business.

criley2 9y ago
This I can absolutely see. Amazon has WholeFood's staff prepare what are essentially Blue Apron boxes. Produce, meat, and the deli can pre-portion the specific spices and ingredients for each recipe choice. And then AmazonRestaurants/AmazonNow uber competitor can same day (next hour!) deliver it to you. That's a real product strategy there. It's noon, you're texting your wife about dinner, you're both having a stressful day, you order a Amazon/WholeFoods dinner for four.

stickfigure 9y ago

This makes me think of what could be a Blue Apron killer from Whole Foods/Amazon: Sell the whole package, not individual servings. A dozen eggs; a half-liter of olive oil, the shaker of paprika, etc. Then, when new recipes come up, the customer typically only needs one or two things; you can track what bulk items they've recently purchased and suggest that maybe they want to reorder a new bottle. Yeah, the first couple orders might be expensive, but it would quickly turn into a groove where most delivery items are perishables, and the overall cost would be less. If I lived slightly farther away from a supermarket than I do (1 block), I would totally subscribe to a service like this. This probably isn't much of a stretch from supermarket delivery services that have reorder options - if WF/A doesn't have that already in the works, I expect they will soon. It really just coordinates it with a menu-of-the-day service. And if WF/A is smart, they'll make an API for this so anyone with menu-of-the-day inspiration can create their own startup built on the food delivery platform and take a small cut. I don't see this ending well for Blue Apron.

dkonofalski 9y ago
That is a genius idea and I hope Amazon is listening. This would absolutely kill Blue Apron for me especially if they can ensure some kind of local supply chain. That would be great.

mountainofdeath 9y ago

They already do this in the NYC area. The AmazonFresh facility in New Jersey that serves the area has a complete deli and bakery the churns out all kinds of prepared meals.