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It's time that companies who put food in a box and mail it to peoples' houses stop claiming to be tech companies. They are just food delivery companies who hap

It's time that companies who put food in a box and mail it to peoples' houses stop claiming to be tech companies. They are just food delivery companies who happen to have websites. Like all other food delivery companies and restaurants, they are in a cutthroat low-margin business and a few bad months can kill their company. They have no moat because anyone else can also deliver food.

fipple 8y ago
The meal kit companies do have fundamental operating advantages which have yet to translate into a massively successful business. By offering customers only a limited choice of meals, they are supposed to achieve huge economies of scale. The problem is that perishables delivery cancels all of these out and then some. This business will be won by operators with local infrastructure and no delivery... like selling meal kits at grocery stores, or prepared meals for family dinners at office cafeterias.
- cft 8y ago
  Economies of scale means that the more customers you have, the cheaper it is to offer the service per customer. In this case, the cost basically remains the same, no matter how many customers you have.
  - fipple 8y ago
    I know what economies of scale are. When you are buying and prepping 100,000 of the same meal at once it is much cheaper than prepping 100,000 different meals.
manigandham 8y ago
Technically, there is no such thing as a tech company. They are all selling something, usually software directly or better software-powered versions of existing industries. Amazon is retail, AWS is IT, Google/Facebook are ad networks, Microsoft/Apple is hardware and software, etc.
- twblalock 8y ago
  Let me put it this way: Could people have put food in a box and mailed it to your house before the invention of computers? Yes. Could people have offered computer hardware and software before the invention of computers? Of course not, that's silly. Of course Microsoft and Google and Apple and Facebook are tech companies. It requires ridiculous reductionist contortions to argue otherwise. On the other hand, Munchery could have existed at any time the USPS and Visa/Mastercard were operational. Restaurants have been delivering food for far longer than computers have existed.
  - manigandham 8y ago
    Do you think tech is just computers? Of course you cant offer computer software until computers are invented, what does that statement prove exactly? Technology is scientific knowledge, strategies and processes used to solve problems. It's been around since the dawn of civilization and is used by every company to conduct and improve business. Let me put this way: your average hospital has 1000x times more technology in use at any given moment then even the most silicon valley "tech" companies, but they are properly classified as healthcare companies.
    - twblalock 8y ago
      This is the kind of reductionism that blends everything together, which is useless. Nobody is better off for having thought this way. It just muddles everything together and there is no upside to doing it.
      - manigandham 8y ago
        Actually this is the opposite since it's clearly defining the kind of company based on what it actually produces and the industry it serves. Reductionism is considering tech to only be something about computers and that only a handful of special companies are the only ones who use it. Perhaps you missed my statement about the hospital?
bloak 8y ago
Being a "tech company" has something to do with the ethos, I think, or how investors view the company. It has very little to do with "technology" (which is ubiquitous in any case). For example, Rolls-Royce does technology, but they're not a "tech stock" or a "tech company", I think, or only marginally, as I understand it. But perhaps there is no common understanding of the term. (Edit: Personally I get annoyed when some stupid web programming framework gets described as "technology". Gas turbines are proper technology, in my opinion!)
IWeldMelons 8y ago
It is a very simple rule: if it is in the South Bay or Southern part of the East Bay or Peninsula - than it is probably a tech company (Tesla, Micron, Intel etc.). Otherwise it is another pseudo-tech Hipthing.

fipple 8y ago

The meal kit companies do have fundamental operating advantages which have yet to translate into a massively successful business. By offering customers only a limited choice of meals, they are supposed to achieve huge economies of scale. The problem is that perishables delivery cancels all of these out and then some. This business will be won by operators with local infrastructure and no delivery... like selling meal kits at grocery stores, or prepared meals for family dinners at office cafeterias.

cft 8y ago
Economies of scale means that the more customers you have, the cheaper it is to offer the service per customer. In this case, the cost basically remains the same, no matter how many customers you have.
- fipple 8y ago
  I know what economies of scale are. When you are buying and prepping 100,000 of the same meal at once it is much cheaper than prepping 100,000 different meals.

manigandham 8y ago

Technically, there is no such thing as a tech company. They are all selling something, usually software directly or better software-powered versions of existing industries. Amazon is retail, AWS is IT, Google/Facebook are ad networks, Microsoft/Apple is hardware and software, etc.

twblalock 8y ago
Let me put it this way: Could people have put food in a box and mailed it to your house before the invention of computers? Yes. Could people have offered computer hardware and software before the invention of computers? Of course not, that's silly. Of course Microsoft and Google and Apple and Facebook are tech companies. It requires ridiculous reductionist contortions to argue otherwise. On the other hand, Munchery could have existed at any time the USPS and Visa/Mastercard were operational. Restaurants have been delivering food for far longer than computers have existed.
- manigandham 8y ago
  Do you think tech is just computers? Of course you cant offer computer software until computers are invented, what does that statement prove exactly? Technology is scientific knowledge, strategies and processes used to solve problems. It's been around since the dawn of civilization and is used by every company to conduct and improve business. Let me put this way: your average hospital has 1000x times more technology in use at any given moment then even the most silicon valley "tech" companies, but they are properly classified as healthcare companies.
  - twblalock 8y ago
    This is the kind of reductionism that blends everything together, which is useless. Nobody is better off for having thought this way. It just muddles everything together and there is no upside to doing it.
    - manigandham 8y ago
      Actually this is the opposite since it's clearly defining the kind of company based on what it actually produces and the industry it serves. Reductionism is considering tech to only be something about computers and that only a handful of special companies are the only ones who use it. Perhaps you missed my statement about the hospital?

bloak 8y ago

Being a "tech company" has something to do with the ethos, I think, or how investors view the company. It has very little to do with "technology" (which is ubiquitous in any case). For example, Rolls-Royce does technology, but they're not a "tech stock" or a "tech company", I think, or only marginally, as I understand it. But perhaps there is no common understanding of the term. (Edit: Personally I get annoyed when some stupid web programming framework gets described as "technology". Gas turbines are proper technology, in my opinion!)

IWeldMelons 8y ago

It is a very simple rule: if it is in the South Bay or Southern part of the East Bay or Peninsula - than it is probably a tech company (Tesla, Micron, Intel etc.). Otherwise it is another pseudo-tech Hipthing.