It has been another long day in the office. It is the end of the week, your fridge is empty and you haven’t eaten since that blueberry muffin and cup of coffee at noon. You weigh the options. Order in again? Maybe Chinese or pizza, maybe you muster up some energy to go to the grocery store to make an actual meal or maybe you just dare to consume that microwave meal that has been sitting in your freezer for eternity in case of an emergency. All these options are less than enticing. After all you love to cook, but grocery shopping takes way too much time out of your week.
Amidst a sea of food services Blue Apron has differentiated in an incredibly unique way, developing a RECIPE 😉 for success for Americans who love to cook by offering them a meal kit – a big box of ingredients in exactly the right amounts and a recipe card with easy instructions on how to make the meal. All at a price of roughly $10. A gourmet meal at your fingertips for a very reasonable price.
Our mission is to make incredible home cooking accessible to everyone
And that is exactly what they do. They pick the freshest, most unique ingredients on the market within a sustainable food system. Blue Apron sets the standards high for ingredients sourcing from direct relationships with farmers. The company desires to build a community of home chefs, through providing recipes that encourage home chefs to try new ingredients and cooking techniques every week, customizing the meals to the skill level of the cook.
You can have all of these ingredients for one of these meals delivered directly to your door for just you or for your family.
Like many start-ups Blue Apron started in a with a problem that translated into an idea. In the summer of 2012, Matt Salzberg, Ilia Papas, and Matt Wadiak tested the first Blue Apron recipes in their tiny New York apartments. “The goal was to make the experience of cooking with quality produce and specialty ingredients accessible to everyone, no matter where they live or how busy they are.” The first test was to family and friends, when the three entrepreneurs hand-picked the first boxes themselves and delivered them to family and friends. It was hugely successful. Now the company sends over 8 million meals per month to home chefs nationwide, with thousands of employees working in the offices around the country.
Blue Apron is not only providing a high quality service but is bringing families together through these delivered meals. The recipes are easy for kids and parents to get involved in!
This is such a great idea! I will admit–I was skeptical at first because I thought to myself, “hmm, good idea but probably unhealthy.”–but then I continued reading and was amazed. It is cool that this business makes sure to get good ingredients, because that is something that people are interested in these days. Blue Apron certainly does transform the cooking experience in a way that nothing has before! Your post makes me want to purchase one.
This is ingenious! I don’t even know how many times my mom and I have painstakingly sifted through tons of recipes online and in cookbooks looking for something to make with the ingredients we had. This would solve everything! Blue Apron provides a recipe and the ingredients to make it. I really want to try one of their meals to see what they’re like.