Albertson's buying Plated

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klkla
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Albertson's buying Plated

Post by klkla »

Albertson's is buying the Plated meal kit company.

This is a small purchase for them but probably a good strategy. I think these kits will only be successful if they can get into retail.

I bought a meal kit from CHEF'D a couple weeks ago because they don't require a subscription and it was very good but the packaging was ridiculously wasteful and not environmentally friendly.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/20/alberts ... lated.html
http://plated.com
pseudo3d
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Re: Albertson's buying Plated

Post by pseudo3d »

klkla wrote:Albertson's is buying the Plated meal kit company.

This is a small purchase for them but probably a good strategy. I think these kits will only be successful if they can get into retail.

I bought a meal kit from CHEF'D a couple weeks ago because they don't require a subscription and it was very good but the packaging was ridiculously wasteful and not environmentally friendly.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/20/alberts ... lated.html
http://plated.com
Honestly, I think that overall these strategic non-grocery purchases (including MedCart) are better than supermarket acquisitions because they contribute the company's overall strategy instead of just adding stores.

I wonder why they went for Plated instead of Blue Apron, considering Blue Apron has an IPO Albertsons can take via a "reverse merger" and also make their stock more valuable before it sells.
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Re: Albertson's buying Plated

Post by storewanderer »

This could be a good move if executed well.

Also not sure if meal kits are really going to be that big of a thing or if they are just the financial market's latest fascination. I suppose time will tell. Raleys has some meal kit type things and they are not selling well at all even in upper income type locations.
pseudo3d
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Re: Albertson's buying Plated

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote:This could be a good move if executed well.

Also not sure if meal kits are really going to be that big of a thing or if they are just the financial market's latest fascination. I suppose time will tell. Raleys has some meal kit type things and they are not selling well at all even in upper income type locations.
This purchase indicates that Albertsons does see Amazon as a legitimate threat, which is a great sign for the continued future of the company (Lampert aside, this failure of seeing Amazon as a big problem was probably one of the biggest reasons of the downfall of Sears/Kmart). Whether or not the meal kit thing will ultimately last, it's better for Albertsons than, say, Raleys, because they can integrate it with their growing grocery delivery service (which is far larger than Raleys' store base).

It's a good benefit for both companies. Plated is now partnered with a grocery store which can lower their costs (in theory, at least--the whole merger hasn't really proven that true yet) and gives them an anchor while their competitors like Blue Apron sinks when the market cools down, and for Albertsons, even if the idea completely blows up in their face, they still have the brand which can be used for in-store products, much like H-E-B's "Meal Simple" products.

And perhaps maybe it is too late. Blue Apron's IPO is not doing too well, and Plated's owners simply took advantage of a good market, walking away as multi-millionaires as Blue Apron will die and Albertsons is stuck with a white elephant.
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Re: Albertson's buying Plated

Post by architect »

This morning, I received an email invitation from Tom Thumb cross promoting Plated with a 50% off coupon. Has anyone else noticed such promotion in other markets?
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