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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

meal kits

Pandemic Helps Push Blue Apron into Profitable Q2

Meal kit company Blue Apron announced profitable second quarter 2020 earnings today, driven in large part by the global pandemic. Blue Apron’s net revenue for Q2 was $131 million, up 20 percent over the previous quarter and 10 percent year-over-year. The company reached a net income of $1.1 million, or $0.08 diluted earnings per share.

In its earnings release, Blue Apron attributed the good numbers to the “impact on consumer behavior from the COVID-19 pandemic.” Translation: Q2 was smack dab in the middle of restaurants closing and people stuck at home, cooking more. It didn’t hurt that early on in the pandemic, panic shopping meant groceries at the store were harder to come by, pushing people to find alternate ways of getting dinner ingredients.

Blue Apron added 20,000 customers during Q2, and the average revenue per customer increased 25 percent year-over-year to $331. Orders per customer were also up 17 percent to 5.4 and average order value increased to $61, the highest level since 2015. You can see the company’s growth in this chart from the earnings release:

While Blue Apron was a pioneer in the meal kit space, it’s a market that consumers seemed to have soured on in recent years. While meal kits send you all the ingredients, those meals still take a long time to prepare and cook. But the pandemic turned everything on its head, creating an any-port-in-a-storm situation. If you’re stuck at home for many months, may as well try out a meal kit shipped directly to your door.

Today’s earnings report is the first time in a while that we’ve written anything positive about Blue Apron. The last few stories we’ve done on Blue Apron here at The Spoon were basically preparing its coffin:

Will this bump be sustained? In providing guidance for its Q3 results, Blue Apron said its outlook is “reflecting certain assumptions regarding the company’s business, trends, historical seasonal factors, and the continuing impact of COVID-19 on its business, including as a result of changes in consumer behavior and grocery alternatives.” The company is expecting revenue to grow year-over-year to $112 million with a net loss of no more than $18 million.

Impossible Goes the Meal Kit Route With Home Chef Partnership

Meal kit company Home Chef announced today it is partnering with Impossible Foods to offer the latter’s plant-based burgers in its kits. This is the first time Impossible has shown up in the meal kit realm, and it comes at a point when consumer demand for plant-based meat is rapidly growing.

Home Chef will offer multiple recipes that give customers the option to swap out regular ol’ protein for Impossible’s burger, which will come as a 12-oz, package of ground meat for use in a range of recipes that would ordinarily call for beef.

The addition of Impossible to the Home Chef roster is part of the meal kit company’s new “Customize It” feature, which lets users adjust their weekly order to fit their needs, whether that’s extra protein, more veggies, or additional servings. Think Chipotle for meal kits. It’s also the latest way in which the Kroger-owned meal kit company is trying to diversify its offerings to meet different consumers’ lifestyles.

Meal kits are just the latest expansion for Impossible, which up until recently had only been available in restaurants. The company launched its direct-to-consumer online store in June. Those in the lower 48 states can buy bulk orders of Impossible products through it.

But while Impossible may be ahead of its rival Beyond in terms of D2C (Beyond has announced but not yet launched its own e-commerce site), it lags behind in meal kits. Beyond has been available in Blue Apron and HelloFresh kits for some time.

Since the start of the pandemic, Impossible has grown its grocery store footprint by more than 30x and its products are now in about 5,000 grocery stores. Meal kits are another road into consumers’ homes, an important destination seeing as how a lot more people are staying home these days. It doesn’t hurt, either, that the long-struggling meal kit market is actually making something of a comeback.

Purple Carrot Launches Frozen Meals at Whole Foods Stores

Purple Carrot, best known for its plant-based meal kit subscription service, is getting into the retail game. The company today announced the launch of a line of frozen, single-serve meals that are now available at Whole Foods stores in the U.S.

Like the rest of Purple Carrot’s offerings, the meals are 100 percent plant based and developed in partnership with CPG company Conagra Brands, which owns Health Choice, Earth Balance, and Gardein, among other names. 

These frozen meals will be available for purchase at “nearly all” Whole Foods stores in the U.S. this week for $5.29 each, according to the company press release.

The move to retail is a first for Massachusetts-based Purple Carrot. It has long been known for its subscription-based meal kit company, which specializes in plant-forward, vegan-friendly meal kits. The company was acquired by Tokyo, Japan-based Oisix ra daichi Inc. in 2019. 

Purple Carrot’s launch in physical retail outlets comes at a time when more people are ordering their groceries online thanks to the pandemic. And recent research suggests the pandemic is also causing something of a resurgence in the previously struggling meal kit sector. Finally, COVID-19 may be ushering a new trend into the food world: frozen food as medicine. Given Purple Carrot’s plant-forward, healthy menu, the new line of products is a prime contender for this category.

One might wonder why Purple Carrot is focusing on physical retail stores right now. But despite what the headlines would have us believe, not everyone is avoiding the brick-and-mortar grocery store. Presumably online shoppers will still be able to purchase Purple Carrot’s frozen meals along with any other item they throw in their virtual cart. And with more people working from home, these single-serving meals could easily become a regular staple of someone’s freezer, and a quick way to grab a healthy bite in the middle of the workday.

I Tried Yo-Kai’s Ramen Meal Kit, and Now I Have to Move to California

“This is amazing!” That was my 9-year old son raving in between big juicy slurps of his Black Garlic Tonkatsu ramen that I had just whipped up for him.

This five star review was soon followed by my wife, who after trying the Spicey Kimchi ramen I also made this afternoon, said “That’s soul satisfying food.”

Am I a ramen prodigy? A culinary genius? Not quite (or at all). Both of those delicious ramen dishes were courtesy of Yo-Kai Express, the automated ramen vending machine company that launched a ramen meal kit service last week. Right now, Yo-Kai’s meal kits are only available in parts the Bay Area, but the company was kind enough to overnight me a couple samples to try.

I was eager to see how all this would work for a number of reasons. I’m not the world’s best cook, and have certainly never made real ramen (read: not the bricks of dried noodles+salt you buy at the grocery store). I don’t really like traditional meal kits because they are too much work. And honestly, the Yo-Kai ramen was one of the highlights of my robot food tour of San Francisco last year, and I didn’t want to be disappointed.

Thankfully, the Yo-Kai meal kit came through.

All the ingredients for the two different dishes arrived in a plain box. I was a little concerned because the food wasn’t packed in dry ice or anything, but it was evident that the meats and broths had been shipped frozen. Tucked inside an insulated sleeve, they were still cold to the touch.

The one complaint I had about the meal kit was that it didn’t come with the cooking directions. I had to go to Yo-Kai’s site for those. Whether this was an accident or by design to get me back to menu and order page, I’m not sure.

The ramen kits run between $11 and $12 each, and both dishes were super easy to make. Boil water, add the noodles for a quick heat before draining. Heat up the broth and add the meat, corn, green onions and other ingredients right as it’s coming to a boil. Put everything in a bowl and enjoy.

The two dishes Yo-Kai sent: Black Garlic and Spicy Kimchi were delightful in their own completely different ways. The black garlic had a robust umami flavor with a lot of depth. The Kimchi, for this middle-aged suburban dad, was just the right amount of spicy. Enough to give the dish a punch, but not enough to distract from the flavors of the meal.

Look, I’m not a food critic, nor a ramen expert. I’m writing about this because I think it’s a fascinating move by Yo-Kai. As noted, the company’s main business is automated ramen vending machines. But vending machines are typically located in high-traffic areas like airports and office buildings. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing shelter-in-place orders, most of those locations aren’t high-traffic anymore. So the company is adapting. If you can’t make it to one of their machines, they’ll deliver the ramen to you, where you can enjoy it at your own social distance.

Those of us living outside the Bay Area are too distant to even get Yo-Kai’s ramen kits for now. And while moving back to California would mean I could get these meal kits all the time, I’m guessing that if Yo-Kai’s meal kit line takes off, they’ll be available up here soon enough.

Gousto Raises $41M for High-Tech Meal Kit Business

London, UK-based Gousto announced today it has raised another £33 million (~$41 million USD) for its meal kit subscription service, according to a press release sent to The Spoon. The round was led by Perwyn, with participation from BGF Ventures, MMC Ventures and online fitness guru Joe Wicks. It brings Gousto’s total funding to $179 million.

The new funds will go towards further developing Gousto’s technology, which is a huge component of both its customer interface and back-end logistics. On the consumer-facing side, Gousto uses an AI-powered personalization tool to recommend the most relevant meals to customers, who can select from over 50 recipes each week. Customers can choose a 2-person box or a family-size box, with recipes ranging from around $30 to $60, depending on the size of the box. According to the press release, Gousto currently delivers over 4 million meals to 380,000 U.K. households each month.

Behind the scenes, Gousto uses AI to automate parts of its supply chain and optimize overall logistics. The company also plans to launch a Next Day delivery service and build out its tech team over the coming months. 

If fundraising and headcount growth sounds a little out of place in today’s troubled economic times, remember that Gousto is a meal kit company whose primary goal is to serve people in their homes. The UK, where the service is available, is currently on lockdown in response to coronavirus that’s set to be extended until early May. That makes for a plenty of potential customers where a service like Gousto is concerned. The company told TechCrunch that demand for its business “has spiked upward” in recent weeks. In particular, Gousto has seen a 28 percent increase in family-style boxes. 

All that said, if you’re hoping to become a new Gousto customer, you’ll have to wait. A note on the Gousto website says the company is not accepting orders from new customers at this time, due to “extremely high demand.” There’s no word of how long that will last. Presumably, the new funding round and corresponding plans to increase headcount and tech development will help Gousto better reach the high demand for meal kits that will be around for some time.

Could the COVID-19 Outbreak Save Meal Kits?

When I get anxious or stressed out, my natural response is to cook elaborate meals for myself. Following complex recipes soothes me.

But I understand that that is absolutely not the case for many folks out there. Nonetheless, in a time where we’re not supposed to be leaving the house, there’s only so much delivery you can order in — and so many meals of spaghetti you can make.

That’s where meal kits could come in handy. They’re delivered to your door (no venturing out to grocery stores!), contain ingredients for a balanced meal, and give folks who might not be super comfortable in the kitchen some training wheels to get them cooking. On top of that, most meal kit services are at least slightly cheaper than ordering delivery, especially when you factor in tip.

I reached out to a few meal kit companies to see how the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent social distancing is affecting them. And the news was uniformly positive! Unlike many food-related companies, meal kits are actually seeing a boost in sales.

Purple Carrot’s founder and CEO Andy Levitt told me that the company had seen a “sharp increase in demand for our plant-based meal kits since COVID-19 has been shifting consumer behavior.” A representative from HomeChef emailed me that the company was seeing an “unprecedented increase in orders” with “more people cooking at home.” Over email, Blue Apron’s CEO Linda Findley Kozlowski also noted that the company had seen “a sharp increase in consumer demand.” No one would disclose exact numbers.

All of the companies I contacted emphasized that their employees were following CDC guidelines to ensure food safety during sourcing and packing. One benefit of meal kits is that the ingredients are packed in a warehouse, which means there are also fewer people touching your food and less chance of contamination than in a supermarket.

As we’ve written about time and again on The Spoon, the meal kit industry has been struggling for quite a while. Will this recent boost in subscribers be enough to sustain meal kits? Levitt is optimistic; he anticipated that the demand would continue even after the COVID-19 pandemic dies down.

I’m perhaps less so. The basic problems for meal kits — managing disparate supply chains, encouraging customer stickiness, making recipes easy enough for anyone to cook, and competing against food delivery — will still be present in our post-coronavirus future.

True, maybe some folks who are trying out meal kits now will get hooked and decide to continue on that path. But overall, if meal kit companies want to survive I think they’ll have to continue to innovate to cater to shifting consumer needs by focusing on retail, enabling more customization, and creating easier, faster recipes.

But for now, meal kits are filling an important need for consumers who want to cook more at home, but aren’t sure how. It’s a small but noteworthy silver lining in the time of COVID-19.

Why a Blue Apron Sale is a Good Idea, and Who Might Buy It

Meal kit company Blue Apron said on its Q4 earnings call today that it was “evaluating a broad range of strategic options” to revive its struggling business — including a sale of the company or its assets.

To say the least, the company’s Q4 earnings were not good: sales have dropped more than 30 percent over the last quarter and the company posted a loss of $1.66 per share, both of which were bigger dips than expected.

Sales aren’t the only way forward for Blue Apron. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company is also considering raising more money, as well as a merger with other meal kit companies.

But for my money, Blue Apron’s best option would be to sell, sell, sell. Blue Apron has been hustling hard to claw itself out of its downward spiral with little to no success. The company halted its partnership with Walmart-owned Jet.com in August. Deals with Beyond Meat and Weight Watchers to make specialized kits haven’t pulled up dragging sales, either. And just last week the company rolled out its new Meal Prep Kits aimed at aspirational, Instagram-savvy millennials.

However, none of those initiatives could solve the two of the big reasons that consumers didn’t stick with Blue Apron meal kits: time and convenience. Even with the simple recipes and pre-prepped ingredients, meal kits still take time to make — and they’re not always markedly cheaper than just ordering food delivery, which is more convenient than having to cook at all (plus no dishes). Some customers also chafe at being locked into subscription models.

These challenges aren’t unique to Blue Apron. Competitors like Hello Fresh, Purple Carrot and Marley Spoon are also trying to figure out how to attract customers and, most importantly, keep them loyal to their brands. But that’s just it — there are so, so many players in the meal kit game, likely due to its relatively low barrier to entry — and they’re all competing for the 93 million Americans who, according to NPD, have stated that they would like to try meal kits. Other players include deep-pocketed retailers like Kroger (which sells Home Chef meal kits) and Albertsons, which are rolling out their own in-store meal kits, and even CPG companies like Tyson.

In short, the competition is just too fierce, the margins are too thin, and the market’s not getting any bigger. Blue Apron has been struggling ever since its dismal IPO in 2017, and at this point it seems like no amount of corporate brainstorming or brand partnerships will save it.

In this author’s opinion, it’s time to sell.

So who would step up and buy Blue Apron? My colleague Chris laid out a comprehensive list of potential buyers in December of 2018, and I think it still holds true. The biggest contenders? Retailers who don’t already have their own meal kit service (hi, Walmart!), CPG companies, other meal kit companies, and even dark horses like Uber. Or maybe private equity groups would just acquire Blue Apron and sell it for parts.

Despite its troubles, Blue Apron has significant assets to offer. According to its latest quarterly report, the meal kit company reported $454.9 million in net revenue in 2019 with thousands of orders per month. It also has a nationwide logistics network and supply chain, which is one of the trickiest parts of meal kits. Not to mention years of customer data related to what food people are buying, and where they’re buying it.

All of that could make Blue Apron an attractive purchase, especially at a low price point. Maybe by the next earning call we’ll have a better idea on whether Blue Apron will continue to try and turn the tides, or if it’s going to cut and run.

Food Tech News: Califia Farms Raises $225M, Tyson Instant Pot Kits and Corn Fiber Chocolate

After a week of frigid winds and school closures in the PNW, we at the Spoon are looking forward to a long weekend. Hopefully you have a break too.

But before you start queuing up a Netflix series to binge, catch up on our latest food tech news roundup. We’ve got stories on Tyson’s new Instant Pot meal kits, a patent to reduce the sugar in chocolate, and a massive fundraise for plant-based dairy. Enjoy!

Tyson rolls out Instant Pot Kits
This week Tyson and Instant Pot announced their new speedy-cook collaboration: Tyson Instant Pot Kits. The kits contain prepped ingredients, including Tyson chicken. You dump all the ingredients into an Instant Pot and the meal is ready to serve in 20 minutes. Tyson Instant Pot Kits are currently available at select retailers and will roll out nationwide this spring. Pricing has not been disclosed.

Mondelez patents tech to reduce sugar in chocolate
If you’re trying to cut down on sugar in the new year, we might have good news for you. Mondelez has patented a process to reduce the sugar content in chocolate by up to 50 percent (h/t GroceryDive). The new technology uses soluble corn fiber as a stand-in for sugar, and apparently does not significantly affect chocolate’s sweet taste or physical appearance. Mondelez owns brands Cadbury, Toblerone, Chip’s Ahoy and more, so we could see reduced-sugar chocolate popping up in those products sometime soon.

Califia Farms raises $225 million Series D
Plant-based food & bev company Califia Farms announced this week that it had completed $225 million in Series D financing. The round was led by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) with participation from Temasek, Claridge, Green Monday Ventures, and more. This brings the company’s total funding to a whopping $340 million. Founded in 2010, Califia Farms is known for its dairy-free milks, yogurts, and cold-brew coffee blends. The company will use the new capital to build on its popular oat-based platform, increase production, and ramp up global expansion.

Purple Carrot Is Launching an Incubator Program for Plant-based Food Brands

Got an early-stage startup developing plant-based consumer packaged goods? Purple Carrot may be able to help. The plant-based meal kit company just announced a new incubator program called The Garden Incubator that aims to invest in plant-based CPG companies and help them scale up.

Each selected participant gets $250,000 in seed round funding provided by VC firm Unovis Partners and its New Crop Capital fund. Unovis specifically invests in companies developing plant-, fungi-, and cell-based protein replacement foods, and counts AlephFarms, Beyond Meat, and Good Catch among its portfolio companies. Purple Carrot is also a member of the firm’s portfolio.

In addition to the seed funding, Purple Carrot will work with companies on improving and growing strategy, branding, financial modeling, data analytics, operations, and fulfillment areas of their businesses. 

“The plant-based space is in the midst of a powerful transformation with a range of early-stage brands that are struggling for investment dollars, product-market fit, and distribution. With The Garden our goal is to accelerate the positive trajectory of qualifying brands, improve their focus and enable rapid and improved distribution in the U.S. and beyond,” said Purple Carrot founder and CEO, Andy Levitt said in the press release tied to the announcement.

Needless to say, the major criteria for joining The Garden Incubator is a focus on plant-based food products. According to the program’s website, the program looks for “early stage plant-based CPG companies with unique and scalable products.”

Unlike startup accelerators, which usually run for a set period of time, incubator programs typically have no set start and stop date, and take applications on an ongoing basis. As of right now, no deadline is affixed to The Garden Incubator’s program. Those interested in applying can simply fill out the application.

Purple Carrot was acquired by Tokyo-based Oisix, Japan’s largest meal kit and food delivery service, in May of 2019. For now, its focus on plant-based products remains somewhat unique in the world of accelerators and incubators, though given the popularity of plant-based foods, that will change soon.

Albertsons to End Plated Meal Kit Subscription Service

Albertsons struck another nail in the coffin of mail order meal kits yesterday when the company announced that it will be ending its Plated subscription service and shifting that brand to become one of the retailer’s private label products.

From the press announcement:

As a result, Plated’s subscription service will be phased out at the end of November, giving way to a sharper focus on how the brand can help deliver a differentiated in-store experience. The company plans to expand the Plated brand with new product offerings in additional stores in 2020.

Plated was acquired by Albertsons in 2017 for $200 million and began rolling Plated meal kits out to stores nationwide in 2018. But 2019 has been a tough year for Plated:

The bloom is definitely off the rose for mail order meal kits. Blue Apron, a pioneer in the business, continues to limp along with dismal results. A report earlier this year from Nielsen said that sales of meal kits grew with in-store retail being the engine for meal kit growth. Research this year from NPD found that 93 million US adults hadn’t tried meal kits but wanted to, and that those who bought meal kits were happy with their purchase and that meal kits had an opportunity to expand beyond dinner.

That last bit helps explain why Albertsons said its Own Brands will manage Plated “into a holistic home meal solution” that goes beyond dinner. Meal kit company Sun Basket announced this summer that it was expanding its lineup of meal offerings to include breakfast, lunch and snacks. Albertsons’ rival Kroger has also been experimenting with a new lineup of meal kit options that offer more food flexibility and require less work to make.

What I’m curious about is whether we’ll see an uptick in meal kit sales as retailers like Amazon, Walmart roll out free and superfast same-day grocery delivery. Will people order meal kits, or will service continue to bend towards convenience and allow people to just go ahead and order hot bar options (e.g. fully cooked rotisserie chicken) that arrive in an hour?

Report: Meal Kits Not Performing Well at Amazon Go Stores

In an effort to get each of its cashierless checkout Amazon Go stores to hit a goal of $2 million in annual sales, Amazon has been examining various ways to optimize each location, according to a recent story in The Information (subscription required). Among the things the company is at least considering is dropping meal kits from Go stores.

Amazon Go stores are the convenience stores that offer a range of fresh and packaged food, snacks and grab-and-go items. The stores are built from the ground up to provide a cashierless shopping experience. Users scan the Amazon Go app on their phone as they walk in, then high-tech cameras and sensors keep track of what they purchase, so shoppers are billed automatically as they walk out.

The Information reviewed an Amazon internal analysis document, which revealed that the ideal size for an Amazon Go store was 1,440 sq. feet (not including the entryway). The decision teams at Amazon faced was to figure out how to best design the store and offer the best selection of inventory to meet fill the space and hit the sales goal.

You should read the full story as it delves into some real nitty gritty (like the debate around fountain sodas). But one item in particular in The Information’s reporting caught our eye:

A category in which Amazon Go hasn’t performed as well is meal kits, the boxes filled with ingredients a customer can take home to prepare a designated meal, such as chicken parmesan, according to the analysis. It referred to meal kits as a “strategic focus” for the company, but said they could be cut from Go stores. The company plans to add flowers, greeting cards, loose produce and bakery cases to stores this year and next year to test new product categories.

It’s not hard to understand why meal kits could be a strategic focus for Amazon at its Go stores. A Nielsen survey in March of this year found that in-store meal kit sales are where most of the growth in the sector has been taking place, generating $93 million in sales in 2018. A March 2019 study from NPD found that 93 million Americans haven’t tried meal kits but want to.

Given that growth, it was no surprise that meal kits were featured in Amazon Go’s debut store, and that Amazon meal kits started appearing on Whole Foods shelves this year. Both Amazon Gos and meal kits are all about convenience, and the combination of the two seemed like chocolate and peanut butter. Go is all about speed. For busy professionals, being able to bring home a full-fledged meal-in-a-box on your way home seemed like a winner.

But hindsight being 20/20, it’s easy to see the flaw in this logic. First, according to an InMarket study last year, “Peak visits to Amazon Go happen during business hours. Noon, 2 p.m., and 1 p.m. bring in the most visits, followed by 8 and 9 a.m. InMarket concludes that customers are stopping by for breakfast and lunch.” So at least from that data, customers weren’t even coming into the store around dinner time.

Another big issue is that while meal kits may be easy to grab, they are still hard to make. If you are a busy professional wanting to eat something quickly when you get home, you’re better off grabbing something from the hot food section of a store. Meal kits may be pre-portioned and include all the ingredients, but you still have to put them all together and cook the food. That’s not super convenient.

Granted, all of this is based on one news site, going from one strategy document. There is obviously a lot of discussion and experimentation going on internally at Amazon about Go, err, going forward. We know that Go stores might be shrunk down to fit in office buildings, Amazon is eyeballing airports as Go locations, and even changing existing locations to accept cash where required.

At the end of the day, whether or not Amazon sticks with meal kits at Go stores or not isn’t even that important. What remains impressive about Amazon is that they are always experimenting to see what works. It’s why we named the company to our Food Tech 25 list this year. The company lives for optimization, and iterating Go stores, and what’s in them, is just a part of that.

Blue Apron Ends Its Jet.com Partnership to Focus on Its ‘Core’ Business

Meal kit company Blue Apron announced this week it is terminating its partnership with e-commerce site Jet.com.

On its August 6 Q2 2019 earnings call, Blue Apron CEO Linda Findley Kozlowski said the company needed to focus on its core business, which is its direct-to-consumer sales of meal kits.

“We have not kept up with the ever evolving needs and preferences of our customers over the past couple of years, and we are behind it,” Kozlowski said on the call, adding that part of the reason for that is because the company “redirected attention of way from innovating in our core offering as we tested alternative distribution channels for the past year and a half.”

Blue Apron made its meal kits available for delivery via the Walmart subsidiary Jet.com in 2018 in NYC. At the time, the company appeared to be looking for ways to revitalize its struggling business through third-party sales channels (the company sold meal kits for a time at Costco stores, too).

But based on this week’s call, that move appears to have been a distraction, and Blue Apron seems to believe stepping away from these third-party sales channels and tapping “unrealized opportunities” within its core business model is the place to invest time and resources at the moment.

To that end Kozlowski outlined a new strategy on the call for the company’s future that includes focusing on fresh food, offering more convenience and flexibility in terms of menu options, making Blue Apron’s various digital touchpoints easier to use, and increasing marketing efforts.

But even if Blue Apron is able to pull its subscription-model business back on track, the company’s long-term viability is still uncertain. Right now, meal kits only account for 21.9 percent of online grocery services used in 2019. NPD recently reported that 93 million adults in the U.S. want to try a meal kit, but the same research also highlighted a shift away from traditional dinner-only mail-order meal kits towards ones that can be found in retail stores and/or cater to other eating times, such as lunch and snacks.

Some meal kit companies have already responded to these trends: Kroger and Home Chef started piloting new meal offerings like “heat and eat” and lunch options, which they sell in Kroger stores. Sun Basket, too, expanded its options to include breakfast, lunch, and snacks, though the company remains a direct-to-consumer subscription service like Blue Apron.

Meanwhile, Blue Apron itself has always had an issue with customer churn, partly because its kits tend to be expensive and time consuming, even for people who love to cook. That means what the company winds up offering customers in terms of more flexibility and convenience in the future will surely give an idea of how successful the company’s renewed focus on its core business will be.