UPDATED 19:15 EDT / JULY 17 2017

APPS

Amazon’s meal kit trademark gives Blue Apron indigestion

Amazon.com Inc. has filed for a new trademark for a cook-it-yourself meal kit delivery service, suggesting that the e-commerce giant might be looking to compete with similar services such as Blue Apron and HelloFresh.

This month, Amazon filed for trademark serial number 87517760, with the phrase “We do the prep. You be the chef.” So far, there are no details on pricing for the new service or how exactly it would work, but here is how the company describes the service in its trademark filing:

Prepared food kits composed of meat, poultry, fish, seafood, fruit and/or and vegetables and also including sauces or seasonings, ready for cooking and assembly as a meal; Frozen, prepared, and packaged meals consisting of meat, poultry, fish, seafood, fruit and/or vegetables; fruit salads and vegetable salads; soups and preparations for making soups

Amazon is no stranger to the food business, which seems to be an increasingly important focus for the company, from grocery deliveries with AmazonFresh and Prime Now to the company’s stunning $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods. Amazon has yet to share any details about its meal kits or even acknowledge any plan to offer them, but it seems likely that they could be integrated with some or all of its other food services. In theory, Amazon could even sell them under the Whole Foods name, which is already established as a high-end food brand.

When Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods was announced, the news dealt a serious blow to stock prices for a number of large grocery chains, and now it looks like the company’s new trademark filing is doing the same to meal kit services. Blue Apron’s shares have been struggling since its initial public offering in June, but today they plummeted more than 10 percent, closing at their lowest value ever.

With Amazon potentially entering the ring as a competitor, market analysts are not optimistic about Blue Apron’s future. Equity research firm Northcoast Research released a note telling clients that they should sell their Blue Apron stock, and the firm placed a brutal new target of $2 per share. Chuck Cerankosky, managing director at Northcoast, said that the financial outlook for the Blue Apron is “one of continued losses.”

Photo of Amazon fulfillment center in Fernley, Nevada: Ken James

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