Blue Apron

Okay.

Yeah, because it was so many times we've done every company as far as like, Blue Apron, and there's so many of the delivery companies, which we have loved.

We've had great experiences with with some of those purple carrot, the vegetarian one, I think.

And, and that was really

Well, and let me, can you give us just a little bit of context for those who don't know about the Vero meal

kits? Blue Apron came out and I was like, I'm going to do Blue Apron, Italian style.

And so Blue Apron, it's all fresh ingredients and it's raw ingredients with recipe cards.

We were doing pizza and pasta kits and they were very beautiful and but they took a while and they kind of destroyed your kitchen a little bit but the shipping was crazy to ship a fresh product that's why we turned frozen because you need everything frozen to make it there so boxes were arriving and you know if they took two days they were you know you couldn't use them the other thing is like not that many people like to cook really really cook and so if there were a million of you I would do it again but there aren't

That is totally fair.

One investor told the press that they were drawn to the idea of an internet-connected device that transforms single-serving packets of chopped fruits and vegetables into a refreshing and healthy beverage.

Another said that Juicero was building a platform for a new model of food delivery and that the subscription-based model is reminiscent of other food delivery startups like Blue Apron and NatureBox.

A Bloomberg reporter noted that squeezing the fruit bags by hand yielded nearly the same amount of juice as the $400 device and was often quicker.

Juicero responded that most people would prefer to use the machine because the process is more consistent and less messy.

And it was like a lot, a lot to manage.

Before we hit record too, I was mentioning that one of our things that we've done for, I don't know, it's gotta have been almost 10 years since these meal kits were a thing, but we have used Blue Apron and HelloFresh.

They've both been sponsors at some point.

They aren't right now, but anyway, they've changed our lives because my only decision is looking at a list and deciding what looks good for next week.

Yeah.

your fucking mattress delivery company in Blue Apron, pop it, yeah, right in your pregnant paws, and you could get two ads in one.

So I think that, yeah, we did a reward.

And it was just dead air.

So when Grover was born, it was just as I was getting my first PO for Fresh Direct, right? Which, if you know Splendid Spoon now, it's a digitally native business.

You purchase our products online, either through SplendidSpoon.com or through an online grocery store like Blue Apron.

It's all online.

But early, early days, it was a handful of retail accounts.

I just, you know, I keep like, for us, it was like, so we were always behind on raising.

And I remember, so Blue Apron and Hilo Fresh- Like when we were raising, they would raise, like they were always around ahead of us.

So we would be raising our A, they'd be raising the B.

And they, I think Blue Apron raised, I want to say 400 million.

And freshly, we only raised a hundred million dollars.

So we were all, but that's that, I mean, and so relatively a hundred million is a lot of capital.

So I feel like subscription boxes had, like, a moment back in the, yeah, mid-2010s.

I think it was-- So I think Birchbox was kind of the first one that was founded in 2010, and then after that, a bunch of other ones kind of started, you know, Blue Apron and BarkBox and all that.

And there was kind of the golden era of them there for about four or five years, and then they just kind of tanked and fell off a cliff.

And now they're having a little bit of a resurgence recently, and there's been a few good examples of ones.

And the, the per- what this gentleman would do is he would spend six months of the year developing, like, three, like, rock solid pitches for very specific shows that were essentially turnkey.

Like, it was like Blue Apron for TV shows, where all the ingredients were in there, the thought work was done, the story engine was in there, and everything like that.

And what he would do is go around during pitch season or during a certain time of the year, he would go and sell even just one of those.

He'd sell one, and that would fund him, and he'd take the next six months off and spend it with his son.