Blue Apron Surges After Partnering With High-Flying Beyond Meat - Yahoo Finance

(Bloomberg) -- Blue Apron Holdings Inc. saw its best day in six months after announcing a tie-up with a hot brand: Beyond Meat Inc.The struggling meal-kit company will begin introducing products from the alternative-meat startup on its menus in August, New York-based Blue Apron said in a statement. The shares rose as much as 22% on Tuesday, their biggest intraday gain since January 15.The tie-up may breathe some fresh life into Blue Apron, whose stock has plummeted more than 90% since its 2017 initial public offering turned out to be one of the worst-performing in recent history. Meanwhile, Beyond Meat shares have gained almost seven-fold since their May debut as faux meat has taken off across restaurant and fast-food chains. Beyond Meat extended those gains Tuesday, adding as much as 1.6%.Blue Apron’s struggles stem from the meal-kit industry’s challenges attracting and retaining customers. Although subscriptions were originally marketed to people who wanted to cook but didn’t know what or how, it was soon beset with complaints: The meals were too expensive, you had to plan ahead, and people felt guilty throwing away all the packaging required to keep ingredients fresh. The nascent meal-kit industry found luring and retaining customers required margin-eating discounts and often didn’t work.In a bid to reinvigorate growth, Blue Apron got inside brick and mortar retail, but Costco Wholesale Corp. ultimately dropped the meal-kit boxes to make space for seasonal products.(Updates shares in first three paragraphs.)To contact the reporters on this story: Anne Riley Moffat in New York at ariley17@bloomberg.net;Catherine Larkin in Chicago at clarkin4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Courtney Dentch at cdentch1@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) -- Blue Apron Holdings Inc. saw its best day in six months after announcing a tie-up with a hot brand: Beyond Meat Inc.

The struggling meal-kit company will begin introducing products from the alternative-meat startup on its menus in August, New York-based Blue Apron said in a statement. The shares rose as much as 22% on Tuesday, their biggest intraday gain since January 15.

The tie-up may breathe some fresh life into Blue Apron, whose stock has plummeted more than 90% since its 2017 initial public offering turned out to be one of the worst-performing in recent history. Meanwhile, Beyond Meat shares have gained almost seven-fold since their May debut as faux meat has taken off across restaurant and fast-food chains. Beyond Meat extended those gains Tuesday, adding as much as 1.6%.

Blue Apron’s struggles stem from the meal-kit industry’s challenges attracting and retaining customers. Although subscriptions were originally marketed to people who wanted to cook but didn’t know what or how, it was soon beset with complaints: The meals were too expensive, you had to plan ahead, and people felt guilty throwing away all the packaging required to keep ingredients fresh. The nascent meal-kit industry found luring and retaining customers required margin-eating discounts and often didn’t work.

In a bid to reinvigorate growth, Blue Apron got inside brick and mortar retail, but Costco Wholesale Corp. ultimately dropped the meal-kit boxes to make space for seasonal products.

(Updates shares in first three paragraphs.)

To contact the reporters on this story: Anne Riley Moffat in New York at ariley17@bloomberg.net;Catherine Larkin in Chicago at clarkin4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Courtney Dentch at cdentch1@bloomberg.net

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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2019-07-16 12:28:00Z
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