Meal kit company Blue Apron (NYSE: APRN) recently launched a new series of prepared meals, in response to feedback from customers that suggested that its recipes were too high maintenance and needed too much work. This new set of meals made by Blue Apron would entail that no real mess or clean-up would be involved, unlike its previous signature meal kits.
"Our customers' desire for easier meal options on days when time is limited has led us to introduce Ready to Cook recipes. After exploring and testing dozens of options, our culinary team created delicious meals, without compromising on quality of ingredients for convenience," said Josh Friedman, chief product officer at Blue Apron, in a statement. "We believe these meals meet an important need for our key customer segments, including families, a category we see as one of the biggest opportunities for Blue Apron."
"Ready to Cook" meals include recyclable, easy-to-use aluminum trays that make the processes of baking and cooking hassle-free, accessible, and easy to use. On top of the "Ready to Cook" feature, Blue Apron provides other features, such as "Heat & Eat" (single serving meals that are intended to be cooked in the microwave and can be done in five minutes or so) or "Fast & Easy" (a set of recipes that is meant to be easy to cook and clean).
Although this new feature could prove to be successful in the long run, Blue Apron has been facing much competition among other companies (such as Kroger (NYSE: KR), Walmart (NYSE: WMT), and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)), and as such, has decreased in valuation from around $2 billion (in 2015) to $99.33 million today.
The new dishes that Blue Apron is introducing are based on Blue Apron's most famous recipes, such as cheesy tomato gnocchi with Calabrian chili and spinach, or pesto chicken and orzo with spinach, tomatoes, and ricotta.
"Our Ready to Cook recipes were developed by testing a combination of grains, starches and sauces from our pantry to offer a variety of options and cuisines, including Italian, Mediterranean and Mexican, with a cooking vessel that delivered the most consistent results," said John Adler, vice president of culinary at Blue Apron, in a statement. "For example, our oven-baked gnocchi features a mixture of juicy tomatoes, spinach, spicy Calabrian chile paste topped with mozzarella, and our hearty tacos feature a mixture of chorizo and black beans served in a soft tortilla."