Blue Apron is truly a one of a kind online subscription company. They entered a relatively undisturbed market, taking on a new approach to bringing homemade dinner to a family’s table. This is a completely unique take on the subscription box, delivering fresh ingredients rather than non-perishable goods directly to the customer. There business model is simple. The customer chooses from a compiled list of chef created step by step recipes each week online that they would like to try. Blue Apron then sends them the fresh ingredients to these specific recipes via subscription box, delivering them directly to their door. The customer can then use the step by step recipe to create a delicious homemade meal. This is a subscription that they make easy to enter into and out of, just asking a payment of $9.99 per serving. Customers are given the option to sign up for specific plans that Blue Apron caters to the customers needs regarding couple or family, and including ways to work around any food allergy.
Not only is this business unique in its way to bring homemade meals to people across the US, but its also unique in its vision. Blue Apron strives to create better food standards for raising animals and growing crops. They do this by partnering with sustainability experts. They also strive to support regenerative farming practices to replenish farmer’s land. To do this, they develop their recipes around the 150 farms that they work with according to their crop rotations so that they can keep replenishing their soil. Blue Apron also works to eliminate the middleman to deliver fresher foods. This way fresh ingredients really do go straight from farm to table, instead of sitting in grocery stores over a period of time. By doing this crops are able to be picked when they are ripe, so they are at their freshest when received by the customer. Their last goal is to reduce food waste to create better value. They do this by predicting their future crop need, so that there are no leftover crops and also send out these ingredients in portioned servings, so the customer has just the right amount, without having extra food to dispose of.
Overall, Blue Apron has a sound and intriguing subscription model. According to Forbes magazine, in April of 2017 they had over 4 million visits to their site. This company has truly become a success since its founding in 2012. It is so interesting that they have been able to penetrate this market in such a big way. Typically, it seems that subscription models do not delve into the sending of perishable items, but Blue Apron seems to have done an excellent job figuring out these challenges of their company, and delivering product on time and in a way that keeps the food fresh. They have truly found their niche in the market, taking a brick and mortar concept, and finding a way to efficiently operate this company from online, eliminating the middleman. To learn more about Blue Apron, click the link below.
My family has recently subscribed to Blue Apron within the last couple years and I must say I have never been disappointed with the quality and taste of each meal. I think this is a fabulous model for those who wish to eat healthy, and maintain portion size. As far as them revolutionizing the subscription model with food- I think it’s only the beginning. This is huge for those who wish to eat healthy, hate shopping, and live a busy schedule. After a long day my mother was able to provide great quality dishes, without needing to search her cupboards for a recipe or run to the store quick. Glad to see this company recognized!!
I think Blue Apron is unique because of what you mentioned about how it originated in a generally un-disturbed market. This is a perfect demonstration of how the internet is truly incorporating itself in every known area of business today. Blue Apron is an innovative online business that I would really want to try myself to see how well it functions.
I do like the idea of adding this kind of an exploratory subscription service. Most companies just send random food samples, but adding the idea of choosing from recipes is genius. My family use to get “Homemade Gourmet” which were recipe packets that included spices, seasoning and other things for meals. However, they tasted awful and we quickly went separate ways with them. I think the model behind Blue Apron is great, hopefully they can stay profitable with being able to deliver fresh food from farms.