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> Exactly who it was that was both upwardly mobile to pay for this service while also having a barren kitchen, nobody really knew—but by the divine math of Sili

by _bxg1 7y ago

> Exactly who it was that was both upwardly mobile to pay for this service while also having a barren kitchen, nobody really knew—but by the divine math of Silicon Valley gamblers, your existence made this an idea worth several billion dollars and potent enough to “disrupt” the grocery business. I mean. My partner and I are both software engineers, she loves to cook, and these meals make up a hearty portion (for two people) of healthy, really diverse and flavorful dishes that come to around the same price per person as going to Chipotle. We eat them three nights a week and are really very happy with it. I'm not surprised to hear that they overestimated their market (who doesn't these days?), but there definitely is one.

metalforever 7y ago
The market value to me, to be honest, was learning to be a better cook.
- elorant 7y ago
  And that's when the service becomes less usable because by then you'll start buying the ingredients by yourself.
- flukus 7y ago
  Cookbooks and cooking shows already fill that need in a much better way.
SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
A subscription service doesn't seem like the right way to deliver that, though. It seems like their competitor Plated had the right idea; grocery stores have highly optimized the process of distributing cooking ingredients to people, so the right way to sell meal kits is to become part of a grocery store.
- _bxg1 7y ago
  Sure, I've no doubt grocery stores have a better economy-of-scale around this sort of thing, but the article seemed to be invalidating the entire product, so I was speaking against that. I will also say that the recipes are a huge factor, and the delivery is a non-zero factor. We haven't gotten the same recipe twice and they consistently impress with bold and unexpected flavors, and fewer trips to the store (and fewer ingredients going to waste from expiration) is really nice as a pair of working adults.
- flukus 7y ago
  We had a similar one in stores around me but they've since disappeared. The biggest problem with being in store is that it only saves you about 5 minutes of walking around the store to gather the ingredients and it costs a lot more. The mostly got replaced by reasonably fresh microwavable meals that save the shopping time and the cooking time.
- erikpukinskis 7y ago
  Yea, I think delivery was a fine strategy to start with.... as a well funded startup in a complex ecosystem where you will need partners and those partners will generally start out with a hostile position (like Blue Apron to grocery stores, like Tesla to car dealers) I think it’s right to at least attempt to “leap to the future” in as many areas of the business as possible. Where those bets work, the strategic benefits going forward are huge. But once you have some traction in customers, you need to start sweet talking those hostile partners and get some of them on your side, and make difficult calls to give up on “the future” in those aspects of the business model that aren’t working, and embrace the status quo more.

by _bxg1 7y ago

metalforever 7y ago

The market value to me, to be honest, was learning to be a better cook.

elorant 7y ago
And that's when the service becomes less usable because by then you'll start buying the ingredients by yourself.
flukus 7y ago
Cookbooks and cooking shows already fill that need in a much better way.

SpicyLemonZest 7y ago

A subscription service doesn't seem like the right way to deliver that, though. It seems like their competitor Plated had the right idea; grocery stores have highly optimized the process of distributing cooking ingredients to people, so the right way to sell meal kits is to become part of a grocery store.

_bxg1 7y ago
Sure, I've no doubt grocery stores have a better economy-of-scale around this sort of thing, but the article seemed to be invalidating the entire product, so I was speaking against that. I will also say that the recipes are a huge factor, and the delivery is a non-zero factor. We haven't gotten the same recipe twice and they consistently impress with bold and unexpected flavors, and fewer trips to the store (and fewer ingredients going to waste from expiration) is really nice as a pair of working adults.
flukus 7y ago
We had a similar one in stores around me but they've since disappeared. The biggest problem with being in store is that it only saves you about 5 minutes of walking around the store to gather the ingredients and it costs a lot more. The mostly got replaced by reasonably fresh microwavable meals that save the shopping time and the cooking time.
erikpukinskis 7y ago
Yea, I think delivery was a fine strategy to start with.... as a well funded startup in a complex ecosystem where you will need partners and those partners will generally start out with a hostile position (like Blue Apron to grocery stores, like Tesla to car dealers) I think it’s right to at least attempt to “leap to the future” in as many areas of the business as possible. Where those bets work, the strategic benefits going forward are huge. But once you have some traction in customers, you need to start sweet talking those hostile partners and get some of them on your side, and make difficult calls to give up on “the future” in those aspects of the business model that aren’t working, and embrace the status quo more.