They do not have a unique tech advantage or path to the customer, Just another software application.

Looks like a Big Short!

Your (H) is “in the cross-hairs of Amazon”. I wish them luck. But we’ve seen the blue apron story before. The banksters should have never taken this flying pig public in the 1st place and everyone knew it!

But for startup analysis 101, (A) where are the big margins, (B) where is the proprietary advantage, (C) where is the technological advantage, (D) where is the proprietary intellectual property, (E) where is the network effect, (F) where are the economies of scale, (G) where is the ability to beat competition? Little issues like those.

I can tell you what I did for a fast dinner last night: In a 2 quart classic Farberware pot (I like so much I have a big supply still new in the unopened boxes!) I dumped in a lot of Worcestershire sauce and a lot of hot sauce (like commonly used in hot chicken wings), and a can, IIRC 18 ounces, of Campbell’s Chunky Beef Sirloin Burger soup (the one without the potatoes), and placed on low heat. In another such pot, I put 1 cup of dry, raw, long grain white rice and 2 1/4 cups of water, placed on high heat, when it simmered turned the heat to as low as possible, added a lid, set a timer for 20 minutes, got out a luncheon plate, a big spoon, a soup spoon, and a 1 1/2 quart Pyrex glass casserole dish, and started watching the old WWII Victory at Sea about how the US Navy beat the heck out of the Japanese Empire. When the timer wen off, I dumped the rice into the glass bowl and used the large spoon to get all the rice. Then I used the large spoon to push the rice aside and poured in the soup, using the large spoon to get all the soup. Then that was dinner, where the soup spoon moved some of the mixture, rice flavored with the spicy soup, to the luncheon plate and then to my mouth as I saw again what Spruence and Nimitz did at Midway.

The soup was right at $2. The rest was not very expensive. $10 for a meal? Likely not much interested.

But, I can get $10 for a meal now: At my local Chinese carryout, the 1 quart servings with rice make a good meal for one and go for about $10 each. I can get a nice pizza for less than $20, and half of that makes a good meal. At my local Sam’s Club I can buy a pizza, relatively large and good, for less than $10 that will make at least two good meals.

I can get some onions, cut them roughly, and brown them in a skillet, and add them to a 2 quart Pyrex casserole dish. Then I can cut up 6 hot dogs and brown and add them to the casserole dish. Then, sure, add Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, some yellow mustard, and two cans of Bush’s baked beans. Stir and heat in my nice microwave oven until there is some reduction of the liquid and some browning on top. Cost is much less than $10, and can get a dinner and a lunch out of it.

Another dish is to take from Sam’s Club a 40 ounce or so can of chunks of chicken breast, drain, put it in a bowl of 2-3 quarts, stir to break up the chunks and turn them into shreds, add bottled BBQ sauce, mix, cover, and refrigerate. It keeps nicely for some months. For a fast meal, measure out 1 cup of that mixture, add some hot sauce, warm in a microwave, toast six slices of bread for three sandwiches, and get out some coleslaw. Assemble for three decently good sandwiches.
If don’t like the chicken option, then roast a fresh picnic pork shoulder, about 10 pounds,
on a rack, in a pan, in an oven at about 220 F,
for about 16 hours or until the internal temperature is 170-180 F. Separate the lean chunks and continue as for the chicken.

For the slaw, shred some green cabbage and make wet with bottled ranch dressing. The slaw will still be good for months. I’d like to know some good ways to shred common green cabbage — all the instructions I’ve seen or read so far are not even trying to be good information.

For what Blue Apron is doing, there’s an obvious problem: It’s a local business where Amazon has little or no advantage and where local vendors can have an advantage.

There’s another problem: IMHO, a lot of what people actually need is some cooking instruction such as here above. Some video clips at YouTube would help, too.

The TV cooking shows and the cookbooks? They don’t want to be instructional or practical. Instead they want to be entertaining as in fictional story telling, vicarious escapist fantasy emotional experience entertainment (VEFEEE).

E.g., I’d like to know how to make the usual dishes at the common US Chinese carryout restaurants. Indeed, I have on the back porch, just off the kitchen, a propane burner that works well with my Chinese wok. I’ve improvised a decent Moo Shu Pork, but I’d like to know MUCH more.

If there is a market for such prep-done dishes, then the local grocery stores or Sam’s Club can do that. Heck, a neighbor could do that. For delivery, if drones can work, then anyone with a cutting board and a chef’s knife could use a drone for the delivery.

Ah, put a Web server in the microwave oven and the stove. On the way to work, put the pots, casserole dishes, etc. in place. Then at work use a Web browser to start the cooking and monitor it. Then have the hot dinner, e.g., a great pot roast, done when get home.

You mean some people actually spent good money investing in Blue Apron?

Big question: Just where did they get that really strong funny stuff they’d been smoking.

Bigger question: How come they have so much money to throw away?

http://themusingsofthebigredcar.com/blue-apron/

How ugly? $2/share and the company doesn’t survive as an independent entity beyond a year from now.

BRC
http://www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com

#blueapron #amazon #wholefoods #mealkitindustry