[fernly]

Plated should be able to lower costs by participating in Albertson/Safeway's purchasing system. Everything that they pack in a meal kit is also an SKU for a grocery store.

Then, there's lovely marketing synergy. On the one side, people going through the store looking for the stuff they need to cook for dinner, are going to see how "oh, I could have all this packaged up for me and sent to my door and I wouldn't have to futz with this list."

While on the other side, people who are stopping by the store to pick up their Plated box -- which they would be incented to do because the subscription price would be lower for that mode -- will take a few extra seconds to buy a bottle of wine or a dessert to go with it.

[jhbadger]

But one issue is that the quantity might not be a sellable SKU. Quite often in Blue Apron, I'll get a tiny amount of say, smoked paprika. A grocery store would sell that in a container containing many servings probably costing $5-$10.

[QAPereo]

Safeway also has their own grocery delivery service, so there's more synergy for you. I do think by far the biggest bonus here is gaining access to Safeway's experience, and supply chain. It's not an easy thing to get right, and definitely easier in most cases to buy that existing expertise/system, or be bought as in this case.

I wonder if more delivery systems might go this way, instead of partying with a bunch of restaurants that mostly can't support them because of their existing terrible margins. In a sense Amazon and Whole Foods are already there now, since Whole Foods has a huge line of prepared foods, pizzas, sandwiches, etc... and they already deliver. If they expanded that a little bit, use their own supply chains and produce, and essentially set up warehouses to prepare various kinds of meals to be rapidly delivered by Amazon. Basically everything they need is already there, it's just putting it together. How often would that kind of option win out over something relatively overpriced, and often potentially less healthy like Caviar, Dining In, or Dashed?

[KGIII]

The store will also have data that shows what items are frequently purchased together. With this, they can find out what meals are popular and market those to increase popularity. With additional monitoring, they can probably go so far as to individualize it and optimize for profit.

Of course, there are privacy concerns but I think we've established that people are quite willing to give up their privacy for a perceived benefit.