Rapid Growth Creates Problems For Unique Silicon Valley Venture Blue Apron

An NPR reporter who interviewed 14 former employees of meal kit delivery service Blue Apron heard tales of violence and code violations at one of its main packing facilities in California. They described violence among staff members, police visits, telephoned bomb threats, evacuations, and threats of gun violence. The police in the city (Richmond) chalked up the problems to growth so rapid that security was lax or non-existent. And early on, hiring was handled by incompetent temp agencies. But perhaps the basic difficulty was that the Blue Apron facility is both a warehouse and a manufacturing facility involved in fresh food handling, packaging, and delivery – not a typical Silicon Valley start-up model at all.