Blue Apron aligns its operating model with its business model through:

• Control of the supply chain. Blue Apron’s model centers on delivering fresh ingredients. To maintain control of quality, the company manages its own distribution channel. The company sources farms differently for each of their three regional fulfilment centers, so the food is local and fresh and the delivery costs are low. The boxes are delivered in refrigerated boxes to maintain freshness, however, so delivery is outsourced to the cheapest partner for a given shipment.
• Bulk purchasing, portioned delivery. Blue Apron built its model on the idea of reducing food waste. At each fulfilment center, workers on assembly lines pack boxes with poultry, meat, vegetables and condiments to be delivered anywhere from 1-7 days later. Purchasing in bulk allows the company to negotiate prices with farmers, who are happy to receive a slightly lower price for a guaranteed volume. By only offering 6 recipes per week, Blue Apron can allocate the ingredients in a way that reduces food waste. Everything subscribers receive is pre-measured to the precise proportions the recipe requires, meaning less spending on unnecessary produce and less food waste.
• Data analytics. As a subscription business, Blue Apron collects data on its customers that allows for predictive modeling of demand. They built an internal suite of tools that manage the workflow of purchasing, fulfilment operations, ecommerce and order processing, shipping software, customer service software⁶. The software can estimate how many customers will cancel an order in any given week, for example, which allows the company to plan meals based on the expected availability and price of certain crops. Using this data helps create processes that improve operational efficiency and lower costs, supporting the $10 per meal price.
• Supporting Suppliers. There is a team at Blue Apron responsible for negotiating with farms to source ingredients, but they also work closely with farmers on crop rotation and management. This allows the company to work with farmers to plan production in a way that is more seasonal, more efficient and utilizes their resources better, all of which results in higher quality crops at lower prices for consumers. Additionally, by helping farmers to plan to rotate “heavy feeder” plants with less hungry plants like legumes, the farms use less pesticide and fertilize, resulting in healthier farms.