Building H Index

Blue Apron

INDUSTRY

food

products Profiled

Blue Apron meal kit service

H-Score

60

ranked 1st (tie) of 16 within food industry

ranked 9th (tie) of 37 overall

product description

Blue Apron’s meal kit service allows subscribers to choose from a variety of recipes and ingredients for weekly delivery. Subscription plans have flat rates, based on the number of meals and servings per meal.

product usage

Subscribers have the opportunity to customize their order every week online. Subscribers select a line of menus (Signature, Wellness or Vegetarian) and the number of days per week and servings per day. Signature meals are available between 2 and 4 times a week; Wellness and Vegetarian meals can be ordered either 2 or 3 days per week. Meal boxes come in once a week for subscribers and may contain ingredients, recipes, extra instructions on meal-prepping or food handling and information on ingredient sourcing.(1) The average Blue Apron meal should take 30-45 minutes to prepare, with the majority taking 35 minutes(2), allowing subscribers to fit in cooking to a busy schedule if necessary. Blue Apron has recently branched into prepared meals, introducing a line of microwaveable “Heat & Eat” dishes.(3) Blue Apron reported that it had 336,000 customers, who averaged 5.0 orders (representing a week of meals) for the quarter ending December 31, 2021.(4) Their customers are spread out fairly evenly across age groups.(5)

influence on health-related behaviors

EATING

moderate to strong positive influence

Blue Apron’s meal kit service enables people to cook meals with fresh ingredients two (2) to four (4) times per week.

In general, fresh, home-cooked meals have been shown to be healthier than meals eaten at or taken out from sit-down or fast food restaurants.(6-10) People who cook at home more frequently also tend to have diets that have higher compliance with dietary guidelines.(11)

In Building H’s consumer research, nearly 80% of meal kit users (not specific to Blue Apron) said that meal kit meals were healthier than (33.5%) or as healthy as (46.0%) the meals they cooked for themselves. In addition, 69.1% of users said that their meal kit meals were healthier than meals that they got via delivery or takeout.(12)

As part of a broader campaign to promote wellness,(13) Blue Apron offers a Wellness menu that features recipes with “Balanced, nutritionist-approved recipes designed for your holistic health, including carb-conscious and WW™ Recommended options.”(14)

In an analysis conducted by researchers at UC Irvine in collaboration with Building H, a four-week sample of Blue Apron’s meals had a median Adapted Dietary Inflammatory Index (ADII) score of 4.38. ADII(15) is one marker of nutritional quality and is associated with inflammation, which has been connected with obesity and diabetes. A lower score is better than a higher score. (By comparison, the ADII score for a McDonald’s Big Mac with a large order of fries is 10.47, a kale salad is 0.34 and a medium-sized apple is -0.32.) Blue Apron’s score of 4.38 is the lowest of the three meal kit services Building H reviewed (the highest was 5.88).

In terms of calories, a four-week sample of Blue Apron’s Signature meals had a median of 720 calories per serving, representing 1.05 times the recommended calories for women and 0.81 times the recommended calories for men at dinner.(16) Blue Apron’s Vegetarian line had a median of 740 calories and the Wellness line had 540. Note that these calorie counts do not include beverages consumed with dinner.

The new “Heat & Eat” meals might be less healthy than the meal kit meals, given that prepared meals are typically less healthy than meals cooked at home with fresh ingredients.(17) However, Blue Apron notes that it uses the same nutritional standards for “Heat & Eat” offerings that guide its other meals. It is not clear what portion of Blue Apron customers choose the “Heat & Eat” meals over traditional meal kits, although according to Blue Apron, customers are often adding them to their orders rather than substituting them for traditional meal kits.(18)

PHYSICAL ACTVITY

neutral influence

Cooking a meal certainly involves more physical activity than preparing ready-to-eat or takeout/delivery meals.

While Blue Apron promotes home cooking, it also potentially deters subscribers from the physical activity associated with grocery shopping (to the extent that the meal kits obviate some amount of grocery shopping).

Sleeping

neutral influence

By offering a relatively healthy alternative to fast food and other food delivery services, Blue Apron could potentially be saving people time for sleeping while allowing them to still eat healthy.

Engaging Socially

slight positive influence

Offering meal plans for up to four people might help bring families and friends together for meals.

By requiring that the subscriber purchase a minimum of two servings per meal, Blue Apron encourages (though certainly doesn’t require) social eating.

In Building H’s consumer research, 77% of respondents who use meal kits (not specific to Blue Apron) indicated that they eat with others (23% eat them alone). This result compares with a finding, from a 2015 report from the Food Marketing Index(19), that Americans eat approximately 46% of meals alone -- suggesting that meal kits could contribute to increased social engagement.

To the degree that the service leads to less time in grocery stores, it likely reduces the casual social interactions associated with in-person shopping. In Building H’s consumer research, 54% of shoppers rated these interactions positively, as compared with 9% rating them negatively.(20)

opportunities:

Offer the ability to order additional meals (beyond normal limits) to facilitate gatherings of friends, family.

Getting Outdoors

neutral to slight negative influence

While Blue Apron’s service can substitute for grocery shopping, the weekly limit of four meals per person likely forces subscribers to continue to shop at grocery stores. To the degree that the service cuts down on trips to grocery stores, Blue Apron could potentially reduce time spent outdoors.