It’s hard for any novice, urbanite independent to get into the swing of cooking easy, inexpensive (let alone healthy) meals for themselves. From overcrowded city supermarkets, to getting home way past the typical 5 p.m. dinnertime, most millennials (and even a few super-busy, never-really-learned-how-to-cook older folk) just settle for Chinese takeout, right? But what if there were a service that sent you fresh, easy, pre-portioned (and, yes, healthy too) meals for $9.99 per meal, per person (you can choose from either two, four, or six person meals)? Then you’d probably say ‘sign me up,’ right? Well, thanks to Blue Apron—a new, Brooklyn-based startup designed to take the guesswork out of cooking—you can leave the take-out menu under the door.
Founded in 2012, “the goal [of Blue Apron] is to get people cooking things they wouldn’t ordinarily,” CEO Matt Salzberg told Business Insider. Wiping out competitors like Plated and HelloFresh, Blue Apron “is the cheapest in the market and currently delivers to 80% of the U.S. population,” says Forbes. The startup, with investors from companies as varied as Seamless, Box Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Facebook, raised $50 million on a $500 million evaluation last April, according to Business Insider.
Via Blue Apron
Starting out delivery about 60,000 meals per month, Blue Apron currently sends out an approximate 600,000 meals each month. But how does Blue Apron work exactly? Once you put in your e-mail, zip code, and credit card information into the Blue Apron website, you can then choose from either two, four, or six person meals, and pick what kinds of meals you would like (from vegetarian meals to nothing but the meats). All of Blue Apron’s meals are thoroughly refrigerated, so fear not, late-night workers—you can use Blue Apron too. All of the recipes come with pre-measured ingredients, as well as easy-to-follow recipe cards—and are guaranteed to take just thirty-five minutes to prepare.
Has Blue Apron stumbled upon a previously untapped market of tired, overworked urbanites that long for easy, healthy meals that they can brag to their friends about having cooked themselves (instead of getting on a first-name basis with the local taco takeout shop)? We’ll count how many Blue Apron boxes we count on one city block, and let you know.
Photo Via Blue Apron
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