Blue Apron needs to find an ally in the form of a grocery chain.Raising prices by $1 will add approximately 5% to Blue Apron's gross margin and removing its blanket same-price policy will remove discrepancies between meat and vegetarian costings.The benefit of buying portioned ingredients for single shoppers is huge meal kit businesses save consumers almost half the price of collecting the ingredients themselves. Despite selling its meals for less than $10, food critics have said they would pay 3x that amount for the same meal in a restaurant. Blue Apron needs to increase its prices, it is leaving too much value on the table.In a world where people are working and staying single for longer, meal kits also fit more suitably into these lifestyles.

81% of millennials believe that meal kits are healthier than traditional take-out models. The meal kit industry is capitalizing upon a trend whereby millennial consumers are spending more money on food, but they want healthy options.It also provides access to personalized data insights relating to the habits and eating preferences of consumers. For the startups that sell them, meal kits are a potentially lucrative recurring revenue business, via its subscription-based model.For the consumer, they save time on buying ingredients, reduce waste by 62% through having the exact ingredients, and can discover new recipes in a less intimidating way.These are home delivered boxes containing freshly prepared ingredients that the consumer then cooks in their own time. One such way that startups are tackling the 'digitization' of this sector is through meal kits. 96% of Americans still do their weekly shopping in-person at a supermarket.What is the attraction of the meal kit business?

Blue apron ready made meals