Blue Apron has Acknowledged that We aren't Truly Motivated to Labor

There is no need to chop or tidy up — new Prepared foods aim to simplify the act of "cooking" even more.

Irina Krechmer has worked as Blue Apron's CTO for a little over a year now. Her primary duty after being hired was to assist the business in modernizing its technology stack. Even though it is still one of her key duties, recent world events have caused her and everyone else's priorities to change in unexpected ways.

So what happens when your business transitions from being significant to being essential? How can you effectively pivot so that your technology stack is scalable as needed? Irina joined IT Visionaries to talk about how Blue Apron implemented those modifications and to describe the future function of food delivery services.

Blue Apron, a struggling meal kit startup, has introduced a new line of prepared meals in response to criticism that its home-delivered, pre-portioned dishes still need too much preparation labor and cleanup afterwards.

However, unlike its renowned signature ingredient meal kits, which involve chopping and cleaning up, the new ready-to-cook meals just require basic assembly. Simply unpack the pre-portioned proteins, vegetables, etc., place everything in the included (recyclable) aluminum tray, and bake. However, it's not cooking as we know it, Jim.

Blue Apron's annual income hasn't kept up with its early triumphs due to greater competition and a growing antipathy to subscription services among consumers. The corporation was formerly valued at $2 billion, but its value has since decreased. Its market value at the moment is $99.33 million.

Blue Apron has had trouble competing in the market it effectively founded, despite a slight increase that was undoubtedly caused by the pandemic. The attractiveness of maintaining a monthly membership when you could just have a meal kit delivered along with your regular shopping has definitely diminished as grocery behemoths like Kroger, Walmart, and Amazon grasp onto the idea of meal kits and fresh, ready-to-cook meals.

However, Blue Apron promotes its premium ingredients as a key selling feature. As faster to prepare, delivered to your door meals that don't taste like they came out of a cardboard box, the new Ready to Cook meals join a Heat & Eat option (microwave meals) and Fast & Easy recipes (sheet pan and one-pot recipes). Nevertheless, they do indeed emerge from a box of cardboard, or ten. Another common criticism of this service and others like it is the amount of packing used.

The new meals, which are based on some of Blue Apron's most well-liked recipes, include pesto chicken and orzo with spinach, tomatoes, and ricotta, as well as cheesy tomato gnocchi with Calabrian chile and spinach. Instead of the company's meals that require you to chop, subscribers can select to add meals that are Ready to Cook. On the two- and four-serving menus, they will start to appear as an option to order with your meal box on July 29. Please pardon me while I thaw a frozen enchilada.