Blue Apron apologizes for delivery issues
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After failing to deliver orders for all of its customers the week of March 23, Blue Apron has issued a new statement to customers about its operations during the coronavirus epidemic.
The email explains the service saw a big spike in orders, which caused issues with being able to pack and deliver all of its orders.
To prepare for the expanded demand in coming weeks, the meal kit service says it’s simplifying operations and eliminating select recipes to make more efficient to fill orders.
Meanwhile, the company says it is “ramping up” capacity “very fast” and plans to fulfill all orders to receives in the next cycle, starting March 30.
The full text of the email is below:
First, I want to thank you for your patience during this unprecedented time. We had to make some difficult decisions this week that impacted our service and I want to personally email an explanation.
On behalf of the team at Blue Apron, we are truly sorry for any issues you may have experienced. Within the span of 48 hours, we saw an increase in orders that surpassed the staff we had in place to fulfill this higher-than-expected demand, and this caused some challenges in our fulfillment process.
We know we are in a position to help people across the country by delivering fresh meals to their door so our intent is to help as many people as possible by getting them the food they need. To do this, we had to make some choices. First, we simplified our operations so that our team could fulfill more orders. This meant we discontinued a set of recipes for all customers, which allowed us to send more meals to more homes. Even with streamlining our operations, we had to delay a subset of orders and informed some customers that we would not be able to send them a box until the week of 3/30. We had to make some changes faster than we were able to communicate them to you and understand the frustration this may have caused.
While this is not the experience we are known to deliver, the good news is, we are ramping up our capacity very fast and plan to fulfill all of the orders we receive by the next delivery cycle, as early as 3/30. We may have to discontinue some recipes in future cycles to maintain our focus of getting more food to more people but assure you this is only temporary. Moving forward, we promise to consistently communicate product updates to you.
We are working extremely hard to serve our customers. We are also doing our part to support communities in need with food donations through our existing food bank partners: City Harvest, Tarrant Area Food Bank, and Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. And, we are about to launch a partnership with Feeding America that will enable our customers to get involved––stay tuned for more details on this. This is a trying time for all of us, and we are doing our best to help as many people as we can.
To our most loyal customers, thank you for your longstanding commitment. Whether you’re new to Blue Apron or you’ve been with us for years, we want you to know that we value everyone who invites us into their home and chooses to cook with us.
We hope a home-cooked meal from us brings some comfort and joy to you and your loved ones during this challenging time in our world. Thank you again for your trust, patience, and understanding.