KOZLOWSKI: So I remember exactly where I was. Do you remember what you did personally, at the beginning, and what you did with the business? And I wanted to start by asking you where you were when that happened.

SAFIAN: So we are now almost exactly a year since the pandemic was declared. Linda’s coming to us from her home in New York, as I asked my questions from my home in Brooklyn. SAFIAN: I’m Bob Safian, and I’m here with Linda Findley Kozlowski, the CEO of Blue Apron. I wanted to talk to Linda because she’s on the frontlines of assessing which pandemic-fueled behaviors will persist, and in what ways.Įarly on, Linda made the choice not to sop up every ounce of demand, instead focusing on what she calls sustainable growth.īlue Apron has seen a flood of new competitors come onto the market, but her bet is that long-term trends and a differentiated product will matter more than crisis opportunity.Īs she puts it, a pandemic is not a business model. I’m Bob Safian, former editor of Fast Company, founder of the Flux Group, and host of Masters of Scale: Rapid Response. But a year in, the trend toward at-home dining now faces a new inflection point.

With the pandemic, cooking at home got a renewed boost, and outfits like Blue Apron saw a rise in demand. But we really had to focus on long-term what’s right for the company.īOB SAFIAN: That’s Linda Findley Kozlowski, CEO of meal-kit pioneer Blue Apron. We’re thrilled to see more and more people connecting with their families and cooking together. And we are thrilled to see more and more people getting confident in the kitchen coming out of the pandemic. I can’t rely on this to drive the long-term health of the business. We’re not going to lose sight of product innovation, we’re not going to lose sight of the things that will help us when we come out of the pandemic. We saw heightened demand, but we decided we’re going to focus on long-term sustainable growth. The risk and the incredible effort it takes to get some of these products out the door by people who are dealing with COVID issues in their own homes, in their own lives. And I think that’s important for all people to recognize, is how much essential labor goes into creating the products that let you stay safe at home.

LINDA FINDLEY KOZLOWSKI: When I think about the pandemic, the first thing that comes to my mind is keeping our employees safe.

Blue apron linda kozlowski