Blue Apron stock has lost nearly 80 percent of its value since going public.
And Inc. reporter Zoe Henry told Cheddar that, if the meal-kit company wants to compete in an increasingly crowded space, it has to funnel more money into its marketing strategy and serve more niche audiences.
“Maybe they need to be offering different types of meals. Maybe vegan, maybe vegetarian, or sourced-locally,” she said Friday. “They need to do a little bit more of what the Sun Baskets of the world are doing.”
Shares of Blue Apron rebounded slightly Friday, after news Weight Watchers is entering the space sent them plunging more than 16 percent a day earlier.
And that’s just the latest blow. If the myriad of pure-play companies in field -- from Sun Basket to HelloFresh to Purple Carrot -- weren’t enough, earlier in the week even Walmart announced plans to offer meal-prep kits.
Competition from lower-priced rivals like that could be a real problem for the company.
“New York and San Francisco yuppies could only take you so far, so we’re going to need to expand beyond the upper middle class millennial market,” she said. “Try telling a mom of four in Barlow, Ohio, that she needs to spend however much a month on Blue Apron, when she could just run to Walgreens or the dollar store and buy cheaper products for dinner that night.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/blue-apron-stock-hits-record-low-with-weight-watchers-announcement).
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
