Jumping into the grocery aisle, Blue Apron surprises everyone and stays in business

Blue Apron, the grizzled veteran of the meal-kit delivery space, reported better-than-expected earnings, sending shares up 9% yesterday.

To be clear, the chain didn’t make more than it expected, it just lost less. But for the dirty Apron, whose value was in free fall just months ago, this stability is a win — even if it means a trip to the supermarket.

A lot of the produce(rs) in meal delivery will go rotten

For meal-kit delivery startups, the cart is full. To stay competitive, many companies offer free first deliveries to incentivize new customers — operating at a loss to do so. 

But even the hungriest of meal-kit startups could only eat so much cost. 

When grocery stores — from Kroger to Whole Foods — began offering meal kits in-store, meal-kit delivery services, which have higher fixed packaging and delivery costs, were forced to adapt or decompose.

So Blue Apron begged its way back into the Costco aisles

Cuz f*ck the haters, they’ll do what they gotta do. On top of the #pivot, they also cut costs, which should help their long-run revenue.

As part of an inaugural promotion, the first Blue Aprons to hit Costco shelves will be 30% off — not quite as high as the unwanted 80% discount on Blue Apron stock, which is still down from its July IPO.