Blue Apron went public in the same month Amazon agreed to buy Whole Foods, and investors suddenly worried about competition in food. The company mailed dinner. Each week a box arrived with fresh ingredients in exact amounts and illustrated recipe cards. Customers cooked the meal themselves and skipped the grocery store. When Blue Apron filed to go public in June 2017, it led a wave of meal kit startups.

A Chef's Supply Chain

Matt Salzberg, Ilia Papas and Matt Wadiak started Blue Apron in New York in 2012. Wadiak was a chef. The founders wanted to make cooking at home easier and less wasteful. They built their own warehouses and supply chain to buy food directly from farms. Their bet was that a subscription would keep customers cooking week after week and answer the daily question of dinner.

Customers Cancel, Wonder Buys

Blue Apron cut its price range and priced at $10 a share in late June 2017. The stock fell steadily as customers canceled and marketing costs stayed high. The company did a reverse stock split and changed leaders several times. In 2023 Wonder Group, the food hall and delivery startup, bought Blue Apron for about $103 million. Blue Apron kept selling meal kits under Wonder.

Cover: The Cook and his Wife, Albrecht Dürer. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a cook and his wife (home cooking).