The Wonder Group to acquire struggling meal-kit firm Blue Apron

Meal-kit maker Blue Apron entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by The Wonder Group.

Founded in 2012, Blue Apron helped to remake at-home dining and food delivery habits in the U.S., but struggled after it went public in June 2017.

Wonder’s acquisition of Blue Apron is expected to create “a leading platform for mealtime, enhancing mealtime with choice, flexibility and convenience through two exceptional brands,” Blue Apron said.

"The combination is expected to enhance both companies’ abilities to deliver chef-curated meals with high-quality ingredients to more customers across the country, solving for additional meal moments throughout the week,” it said.

Blue Apron stockholders will receive USD 13.00 (EUR 12.29) in cash per share of Class A common stock through a tender offer, representing an equity value of approximately USD 103 million (EUR 97 million). The per share purchase price represents a 137 percent premium to the 28 September closing price and a 77 percent premium to the 30-day volume weighted average price of the company’s common stock.

After the acquisition closes, Wonder plans to continue Blue Apron’s current operations serving customers nationwide under the Blue Apron brand, with expected new synergies between consumer-facing apps and delivery logistics.

“The Blue Apron brand and products that our customers know and love will stay the same, with more opportunity for product expansion in the future. Further, the transaction delivers immediate and certain value for Blue Apron stockholders at a significant premium over recent trading prices,” Blue Apron President and CEO Linda Findley said.

The Wonder Group was founded by entrepreneur Marc Lore, its current CEO, in 2021 as a foodservice start-up. It recently achieved a valuation of USD 3.5 billion (EUR 3.3 billion), according to the Wall Street Journal.

“The Wonder Group is creating the mealtime super app, serving a broad range of occasions that feature cuisines from some of the world’s best chefs and restaurants while leveraging our culinary engineering and vertically-integrated model,” Lore said.

After financial struggles in 2022, resulting in layoffs of around 10 percent of its corporate workforce, Blue Apron shifted to an asset-light business in early June, when it transferred its operational infrastructure to FreshRealm.

Blue Apron stepped up its marketing of seafood meals last year and this year, included a limited time Summer Crab Picnic meal kit for eight that included crab salad sandwiches with chives and celery, romaine wedge salad with bacon and everything-seasoned ranch, and other dishes.

Last August, the meal-kit company launched a line of ready-to-cook meals initially featured only chicken and vegetarian options, but said at the time it planned to include shrimp and possibly cod and salmon in upcoming recipes.

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