Food preparation company Blue Apron was having a quiet September with its stock shift from the New York Stock Exchange to Nasdaq being the biggest highlight of the month.
Not anymore, as the New York City-based company just announced an agreement to be acquired by Wonder Group, a company founded by ex-Walmart e-commerce executive Marc Lore that specializes in at-home dining and food delivery.
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The deal was green-lit by Blue Apron’s board this week and will guarantee that company shareholders receive $13.00 per share of Class A common stock. It’s a good deal for Blue Apron shareholders, whose share price premium rose 137% against the stock’s September 28 closing price.
Wonder said it plans on taking a hands-off stance with Blue Apron operationally and will maintain the brand name.
What else can consumers expect from the deal? Plenty, given Lore’s background as an entrepreneur and idealist in the digital retail sector.
Blue Apron is a burgeoning brand that has made a household name for itself in U.S. kitchens with its fresh ingredient and recipe service. Wonder has broken through in a relatively new digital food category with meal deliveries from high-end eateries.
With those dynamics in play, a dream-team scenario may not be far away if the new company opts to put both food preparation and food delivery on the same mobile app. “Making great food more accessible was something that really bonded us early on in the discussions,” Lore said.
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For now, both companies are taking a long view on what the partnership will bring to consumers’ kitchen tables.
“Wonder 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 the merger was completed. “At-home meals play a key role in this vision and have been on our strategic roadmap since the beginning.”
“When the opportunity presented itself to unite with Blue Apron, pioneers in the meal kit industry, we knew it would accelerate our strategic position, create immediate opportunities for synergy, and most importantly, enable us to further delight customers by expanding the ways you can access and experience Wonder,” he added.
Blue Apron chief executive officer Linda Findley called the deal a “great match” that would "enable the newly blended company to offer more incredible mealtime experiences.”
“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,” she said.
There’s a third partner in the mix, too.
Blue Apron in June closed a deal with retail food delivery company FreshRealm, which owns approximately 16.5% of Blue Apron stock. FreshRealm CEO Michael Lippold said his company continues to deliver meals for Blue Apron.
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