Blue Apron Inks Deal With WW To Sell Healthy Meal Kits

Blue Apron, the meal kit company, inked a partnership this week with WW, otherwise known as Weight Watchers International, in which it will make healthy meal kits for dieters.

The Wall Street Journal, citing Blue Apron chief executive Brad Dickerson, reported Dickerson said the deal gives it the potential to reach millions of customers and should help it stabilize the customer count without having to spend more money on advertising and promotions.  Ever since the company went public it has struggled with shares, trading at $10 in its debut in July of last year only to plummet. The stock finished the trading session Wednesday (December 26) at 78 cents a share. The dip in the share price has also put more pressure on the meal kit company to prove itself with solid financial results. The Wall Street Journal noted that if the stock trades under $1 for 30 days it has six months to get above $1 or be delisted on the New York Stock Exchange under the exchange’s rules.

In the interview with The Wall Street Journal Dickerson said Blue Apron will pay WW when it gets subscriptions from the partnership. The CEO wouldn’t disclose the financial terms of the deal, but said he thinks the WW deal will enable Blue Apron to be profitable in 2019. WW has 4 million subscribers to its services around the world and sells everything from cookbooks to cruises. The WSJ noted that changing its name to WW from Weight Watchers International in September was part of its effort to become more than just a weight loss service in the mind of consumers.

This isn’t the first time WW has inked a deal with a meal kit provider. According to the paper, it had a deal with Chef’d, the meal kit startup out of Los Angeles — but the deal ended in July.