Blue Apron Is Looking To Sell Its Meal Kits In Supermarkets

Blue Apron was a pioneer in the meal kit subscription box business, but now the company could be bringing its purple barley fried rice and za'atar-spiced barramundi to grocery stores in a bid to reach more customers.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Blue Apron has been losing customers since the meal kit market has been getting more competitive. Blue Apron reportedly had 750,000 customers last month, compared with over a million at its peak last year.

Blue Apron intends to continue its subscription service, but has also been considering selling individual meal boxes on its website without a subscription, and in grocery stores. The company has reportedly been in talks with "a variety of retailers," and plans to have Blue Apron boxes available in stores in 2018.

Some potential Blue Apron customers may have been reluctant to sign up for a membership service that sent three meals a week, every week. So putting the Blue Apron meal kits in stores could mean more potential customers might be willing to try them once or twice, or even a few times a week, without the commitment of a full-time subscription. Supermarkets have been getting into the meal kit game too lately. Walmart and Kroger both released supermarket meal kit boxes this year, and Weight Watchers has one on the way as well. So now people will be able to experiment with meal kit boxes at while they're shopping at America's best grocery stores.