Blue Apron Achieves Profitability Under New CEO

Blue Apron continued to shed customers in the first quarter of 2018, but it reported a smaller net loss for the period than during the same time a year ago.

Blue Apron customers were making slightly more orders during Q1 than during the same period a year ago, and average order value and revenue per customer grew slightly as well.

The meal delivery kit company announced its latest financials on Tuesday (April 30) as new President and CEO Linda Findley Kozlowski transitions into her role. Kozlowski, who will also be a member of the board, most recently served as chief operating officer of Etsy. Prior to that, she was COO of Evernote Corp.

For the first quarter of 2019, Blue Apron reported that it had some 550,000 customers, a 30 percent decline from the same period last year. Orders decreased by about 29 percent, to nearly 2.5 million. Average order value stood at $57.15, up about 1 percent year over year, while orders per customers stood at 4.5 for Q1 2019, down from 4.4. Meanwhile, average revenue per customer reached $258, a 3.2 percent increase from the first quarter of 2018.

The company’s net loss for Q1 2019 narrowed by 83 percent as compared to the same period last year, dropping to $5.3 million. Blue Apron said that, on an adjusted EBITA basis, it achieved probability “of $8.6 million in the first quarter of 2019, with an improvement of $25.8 million year over year from an adjusted EBITDA loss of $17.2 million.” That’s reportedly the first time that has happened since the company’s initial public offering in 2017.

Net revenue, meanwhile, increased 28 percent to $141.9 million.

“I am thrilled to join Blue Apron as CEO, and see significant opportunities ahead for the company as we deepen our relationship with customers to bring them more creativity, discovery and connection through cooking at home,” Kozlowski said. “Having achieved the important milestone of profitability on an adjusted EBITDA basis, positive operating cash flow and a company record for operational efficiency, we are now focused on leveraging this strong foundation as we build a strategy to reinvigorate the business for future sustainable growth.”

Outgoing CEO Brad Dickerson recently said the meal kit company has reached an “important point” in its history and is on a clear path toward adjusted EBITDA profitability as well as a sharpened focus on the opportunities. Earlier in January, prior to the release of Q4 earnings, Blue Apron reportedly teased the possibility that it would become profitable this year – in part due to the fruit of partnerships with the likes of WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers, on healthy meal kits for dieters, a deal announced in December 2018.