Amazon Will Launch Meal Kit Delivery This Fall

Amazon will be the latest company to join the meal kit delivery service bandwagon, Business Insider reports. In a collaboration, Amazon Fresh and meat-monger Tyson Foods will launch Tyson Taste Makers this fall, "a line of chef-inspired meal kits," says Tyson CEO Donald Smith.

Amazon may already have restaurant and produce delivery services, but that will hardly stop them from tapping into the meal kit delivery market which has experienced meteoric growth in recent years. Despite criticism that Blue Apron and like-minded businesses are extravagances with weighty environmental impacts, Blue Apron sells over 9 million meals a month and is valued at $2 billion. The New York Times announced its own foray into the meal kit business last week.

It's not yet clear how Taste Makers will operate. Competitors like Marley Spoon and Blue Apron sell weekly subscription for meal kit deliveries. At Marley Spoon, users get four family-sized meals for $139.20, while Blue Apron provides the same for $139.84. Chef'd, on the other hand, lets users order individual meal kits featuring celebrity chefs' recipes. Dinner entrees for two are $39 on average.

"Premium proteins" will distinguish the Amazon/Tyson partnership from other models, according to Smith. "We'll teach them about the cuts of meat and where they come from," he says. "We'll help pre-cut, trim, dry age, smoke, marinate, and do the prep so all they have to do is cook it. And then we'll inspire them to explore and cook with ingredients that they may have never used before."

Reached by email, Amazon would not comment on the launch or other details of this new venture.