Blue Apron Is Being Ripped to Shreds Thanks to One New Move by Amazon
Blue Apron Holdings (APRN) - Get Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. Class A Report shares crashed 11% Monday afternoon after a reports suggested Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) - Get Amazon.com, Inc. Report is readying a move into the meal kit market.
In a July 6 trademark application, Amazon subsidiary Amazon Technologies Inc. revealed it's planning "prepared food kits composed of meat, poultry, fish, seafood, fruit and/or and [sic] vegetables ... ready for cooking and assembly as a meal," as well as primarily grain-based offerings. Britain's Sunday Times newspaper said Amazon will market the service as "We do the prep. You be the chef" that will cover ready-to-assemble kits of prepared food.
Blue Apron shares have declined more than 30% since their June 30 IPO.
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Major food companies are scrambling to partner with meal kit companies as their popularity grows. In May, Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) - Get Campbell Soup Company Report invested $10 million in meal kit maker Chef'd LLC and Unilever NV (UN) - Get Unilever NV Report backed Sun Basket Inc. Conagra Brands Inc. (CAG) - Get Conagra Brands, Inc. Report sells meal kits through online grocer Peapod.com, while Hershey Co. (HSY) - Get Hershey Company Report partnered with Chef'd on dessert meal kits. Whole Foods itself has some experience with meal kits: last year it began selling Purple Carrot meal kits in its stores.
Amazon representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment when contacted by TheStreet.
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