Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. - Quarter Report: 2021 September (Form 10-Q)

Table of Contents

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

☒

QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2021.

☐

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission file number 001-38134

Blue Apron Holdings, Inc.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)


Delaware		81-4777373
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

28 Liberty Street, New York, New York		10005
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)		(Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code (347) 719-4312

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act:


Title of Each Class	Trading Symbol	Name of Exchange on Which Registered
Class A Common Stock, $0.0001 par value per share	APRN	New York Stock Exchange LLC

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.


Large accelerated filer ☐	Accelerated filer ☒	Smaller reporting company ☒	Emerging growth company ☒

Non-accelerated filer ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each class of the issuer’s common stock as of the latest practicable date.


Class			Number of Shares Outstanding
Class A Common Stock, $0.0001 par value			24,052,784 shares outstanding as of September 30, 2021
Class B Common Stock, $0.0001 par value			0 shares outstanding as of September 30, 2021
Class C Capital Stock, $0.0001 par value			0 shares outstanding as of September 30, 2021

Table of Contents

BLUE APRON HOLDINGS, INC.

TABLE OF CONTENTS


PART I		FINANCIAL INFORMATION
	Item 1.	Consolidated Financial Statements (unaudited)	4
		Consolidated Balance Sheets	4
		Consolidated Statements of Operations	5
		Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity	6
		Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows	7
		Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements	8
	Item 2.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	25
	Item 3.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	46
	Item 4.	Controls and Procedures	46

PART II		OTHER INFORMATION
	Item 1.	Legal Proceedings	48
	Item 1A.	Risk Factors	49
	Item 2.	Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds	82
	Item 3.	Defaults Upon Senior Securities	83
	Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	83
	Item 5.	Other Information	83
	Item 6.	Exhibits	83

SIGNATURES			85

Table of Contents

NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, business strategy and plans, and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “could,” “intends,” “target,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” or “continue,” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are only predictions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions described in the “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The events and circumstances reflected in our forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Some of the key factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations include:

●

our ability, including the timing and extent, to successfully support the acceleration and execution of our growth strategy (including the ability to successfully increase marketing and technology improvements on our planned timeline), cost-effectively attract new customers and retain existing customers, including our ability to sustain any increase in demand resulting from both our growth strategy and the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, and our ability to continue to expand our direct-to-consumer product offerings, and to execute operational efficiency practices;

●

our expectations regarding our expenses and net revenue and our ability to grow adjusted EBITDA and to achieve or maintain profitability;

●

changes in consumer behaviors that could lead to declines in demand, including as the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on consumer behavior, such as travel and dining out, continues to taper;

●

our ability to attract and retain qualified employees and personnel in sufficient numbers, both generally and in light of ongoing nationwide labor shortages;

●

our expectations regarding, and the stability of, our supply chain, including potential shortages, interruptions and/or increased costs in the supply or delivery of ingredients, and parcel and freight carrier interruptions or delays and/or higher freight or fuel costs, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise;

●

our ability to effectively compete;

●

our ability to maintain and grow the value of our brand and reputation;

●

our ability to maintain food safety and prevent food-borne illness incidents and our susceptibility to supplier-initiated recalls;

●

general changes in consumer tastes and preferences or in consumer spending, including as a result of inflation or other negative economic factors, whether as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise;

Table of Contents

●

any material and adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations and results, such as the need to cancel or shift customer orders, whether as a result of challenges in employee recruiting and retention, any prolonged closures, or series of temporary closures, of one or both of our fulfillment centers, or supply chain or carrier interruptions or delays;

●

our ability, including the timing and extent, to sufficiently manage costs and to fund investments in our operations in amounts necessary to maintain compliance with financial and other covenants under our indebtedness while continuing to support the execution and acceleration of our growth strategy;

●

our ability to comply with modified or new laws and regulations applying to our business, or the impact that such compliance may have on our business;

●

our ability to achieve our environmental, sustainability and corporate governance goals and to adopt our planned corporate governance reforms, in our anticipated timeframe or at all;

●

our vulnerability to adverse weather conditions, natural disasters, and public health crises, including pandemics; and

●

our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection.

While we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, whether as a result of any new information, future events, or otherwise, we have no current intention of doing so except to the extent required by applicable law.

Table of Contents

PART I FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1. Financial Statements

BLUE APRON HOLDINGS, INC.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

(In thousands, except share and per-share data)

(Unaudited)



	September 30,		December 31,
	2021		2020
ASSETS
CURRENT ASSETS:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	35,282	$	44,122
Accounts receivable, net		146		116
Inventories, net		23,257		18,185
Prepaid expenses and other current assets		12,624		23,651
Total current assets		71,309		86,074
Property and equipment, net		112,656		125,208
Other noncurrent assets		4,063		4,053
TOTAL ASSETS	$	188,028	$	215,335
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
CURRENT LIABILITIES:
Accounts payable	$	36,572	$	23,691
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities		24,948		41,632
Current portion of long-term debt		3,500		3,500
Deferred revenue		5,345		6,269
Warrant obligation		7,003		—
Total current liabilities		77,368		75,092
Long-term debt		26,487		28,747
Facility financing obligation		35,913		35,957
Other noncurrent liabilities		14,289		11,564
TOTAL LIABILITIES		154,057		151,360
Commitments and contingencies (Note 10)
STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY:
Class A common stock, par value of $0.0001 per share — 1,500,000,000 shares authorized as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020; 24,052,784 and 14,365,664 shares issued and outstanding as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively		2		1
Class B common stock, par value of $0.0001 per share — 175,000,000 shares authorized as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020; 0 and 3,493,791 shares issued and outstanding as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively		—		1
Class C capital stock, par value of $0.0001 per share — 500,000,000 shares authorized as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020; 0 shares issued and outstanding as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020		—		—
Additional paid-in capital		674,046		642,106
Accumulated deficit		(640,077)		(578,133)
TOTAL STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY		33,971		63,975
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY	$	188,028	$	215,335

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Consolidated Financial Statements.

Table of Contents

BLUE APRON HOLDINGS, INC.

Consolidated Statements of Operations

(In thousands, except share and per-share data)

(Unaudited)


	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
	2021		2020		2021		2020
Net revenue	$	109,654	$	112,253	$	363,370	$	345,150
Operating expenses:
Cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization		73,397		74,499		232,574		213,005
Marketing		14,852		10,862		51,108		37,455
Product, technology, general and administrative		35,237		33,687		108,590		100,397
Depreciation and amortization		5,507		5,871		16,739		18,799
Other operating expense		—		1,100		—		4,567
Total operating expenses		128,993		126,019		409,011		374,223
Income (loss) from operations		(19,339)		(13,766)		(45,641)		(29,073)
Gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt		—		—		(4,089)		—
Interest income (expense), net		(1,864)		(1,482)		(6,303)		(5,178)
Other income (expense), net		(6,432)		—		(5,884)		—
Income (loss) before income taxes		(27,635)		(15,248)		(61,917)		(34,251)
Benefit (provision) for income taxes		(1)		(14)		(27)		(42)
Net income (loss)	$	(27,636)	$	(15,262)	$	(61,944)	$	(34,293)

Net income (loss) per share attributable to Class A and Class B common stockholders:
Basic	$	(1.17)	$	(0.96)	$	(3.07)	$	(2.41)
Diluted	$	(1.17)	$	(0.96)	$	(3.07)	$	(2.41)
Weighted-average shares used to compute net income (loss) per share attributable to Class A and Class B common stockholders:
Basic		23,709,639		15,861,948		20,196,442		14,206,273
Diluted		23,709,639		15,861,948		20,196,442		14,206,273

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Consolidated Financial Statements.

Table of Contents

BLUE APRON HOLDINGS, INC.

Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity

(In thousands, except share data)

(Unaudited)


	Class A			Class B			Additional				Total
	Common Stock			Common Stock			Paid-In		Accumulated		Stockholders'
	Shares	Amount		Shares	Amount		Capital		Deficit		Equity
2021
Balance — December 31, 2020	14,365,664	$	1	3,493,791	$	1	$	642,106	$	(578,133)	$	63,975
Conversion from Class B to Class A common stock	100,000		0	(100,000)		(0)		—		—		—
Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options and vesting of restricted stock, net of tax withholdings	191,595		0	—		—		0		—		—
Share-based compensation	—		—	—		—		2,366		—		2,366
Net income (loss)	—		—	—		—		—		(15,721)		(15,721)
Balance — March 31, 2021	14,657,259	$	1	3,393,791	$	1	$	644,472	$	(593,854)	$	50,620
Conversion from Class B to Class A common stock	83		0	(83)		(0)		—		—		—
Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options and vesting of restricted stock, net of tax withholdings	138,389		0	—		—		0		—		—
Issuance of common stock, net of offering costs	5,411,900		1	—		—		21,143		—		21,144
Share-based compensation	—		—	—		—		3,300		—		3,300
Net income (loss)	—		—	—		—		—		(18,587)		(18,587)
Balance — June 30, 2021	20,207,631	$	2	3,393,708	$	1	$	668,915	$	(612,441)	$	56,477
Conversion from Class B to Class A common stock	3,393,708		0	(3,393,708)		(1)		—		—		(1)
Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options and vesting of restricted stock, net of tax withholdings	151,445		0	—		—		—		—		—
Issuance of common stock from the Salzberg Private Placement, net of issuance costs	300,000		0	—		—		2,799		—		2,799
Share-based compensation	—		—	—		—		2,332		—		2,332
Net income (loss)	—		—	—		—		—		(27,636)		(27,636)
Balance — September 30, 2021	24,052,784	$	2	—	$	—		674,046		(640,077)		33,971

2020
Balance — December 31, 2019	7,799,093	$	1	5,464,196	$	1	$	599,976	$	(531,979)	$	67,999
Conversion from Class B to Class A common stock	1,835,947		0	(1,835,947)		(0)		—		—		—
Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options and vesting of restricted stock, net of tax withholdings	92,243		0	25,999		0		486		—		486
Share-based compensation	—		—	—		—		2,321		—		2,321
Net income (loss)	—		—	—		—		—		(20,145)		(20,145)
Balance — March 31, 2020	9,727,283	$	1	3,654,248	$	1	$	602,783	$	(552,124)	$	50,661
Conversion from Class B to Class A common stock	101		0	(101)		(0)		—		—		—
Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options and vesting of restricted stock, net of tax withholdings	159,260		0	—		—		0		—		—
Share-based compensation	—		—	—		—		2,094		—		2,094
Net income (loss)	—		—	—		—		—		1,114		1,114
Balance — June 30, 2020	9,886,644	$	1	3,654,147	$	1	$	604,877	$	(551,010)	$	53,869
Conversion from Class B to Class A common stock	327		0	(327)		(0)		—		—		—
Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options and vesting of restricted stock, net of tax withholdings	145,015		0	—		—		(7)		—		(7)
Issuance of common stock, net of offering costs	4,000,000		0	—		—		32,867		—		32,867
Share-based compensation	—		—	—		—		2,181		—		2,181
Net income (loss)	—		—	—		—		—		(15,262)		(15,262)
Balance — September 30, 2020	14,031,986	$	1	3,653,820	$	1	$	639,918	$	(566,272)	$	73,648

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Consolidated Financial Statements.

Table of Contents

BLUE APRON HOLDINGS, INC.

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)


	Nine Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021		2020
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES:
Net income (loss)	$	(61,944)	$	(34,293)
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash from (used in) operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization of property and equipment		16,739		18,799
Loss (gain) on disposal of property and equipment		(1,025)		—
Loss (gain) on build-to-suit accounting derecognition		—		(4,936)
Loss on impairment		—		7,662
Loss on extinguishment of debt		4,089		—
Change in fair value of warrant obligation		5,884		—
Changes in reserves and allowances		49		(235)
Share-based compensation		7,631		6,338
Non-cash interest expense		1,092		546
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable		(30)		136
Inventories		(5,356)		6,326
Prepaid expenses and other current assets		10,534		(13,966)
Accounts payable		13,001		3,388
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities		(16,460)		4,249
Deferred revenue		(924)		(347)
Other noncurrent assets and liabilities		(676)		2,281
Net cash from (used in) operating activities		(27,396)		(4,052)
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Purchases of property and equipment		(4,084)		(4,777)
Proceeds from sale of property and equipment		1,356		165
Net cash from (used in) investing activities		(2,728)		(4,612)
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds from issuance of common stock, net of offering costs		21,144		32,867
Proceeds from the Salzberg Private Placement, net of issuance costs		2,799		—
Receipt of funds held in escrow		5,000		—
Release of funds held in escrow		(5,000)		—
Repayments of debt		(2,625)		(10,846)
Payments of debt issuance costs		(214)		—
Proceeds from exercise of stock options		—		477
Principal payments on capital lease obligations		(101)		(166)
Net cash from (used in) financing activities		21,003		22,332
NET INCREASE (DECREASE) IN CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS, AND RESTRICTED CASH		(9,121)		13,668
CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS, AND RESTRICTED CASH — Beginning of period		45,842		46,443
CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS, AND RESTRICTED CASH — End of period	$	36,721	$	60,111

SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURES OF CASH FLOW INFORMATION:
Cash paid for income taxes	$	61	$	60
Cash paid for interest	$	4,977	$	4,991
SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURES OF NON-CASH INVESTING AND FINANCING INFORMATION:
Acquisition (disposal) of property and equipment financed under capital lease obligations	$	—	$	(565)
Non-cash additions to property and equipment	$	391	$	261
Purchases of property and equipment in Accounts payable and Accrued expenses and other current liabilities	$	392	$	119

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Consolidated Financial Statements.

Table of Contents

BLUE APRON HOLDINGS, INC.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

(Unaudited)

1. Organization and Description of Business

When used in these notes, Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries are collectively referred to as the “Company.”

The Company designs original recipes with fresh, seasonally-inspired produce and high-quality ingredients, which are sent directly to customers for them to prepare, cook, and enjoy. The Company creates meal experiences around original recipes every week based on what’s in-season with farming partners and other suppliers. Customers can choose which recipes they would like to receive in a given week, and the Company delivers those recipes to their doorsteps along with the pre-portioned ingredients required to cook those recipes.

In addition to meals, the Company sells wine through Blue Apron Wine, a direct-to-consumer wine delivery service. The Company also sells a curated selection of cooking tools, utensils, pantry items, and add-on products for different culinary occasions through Blue Apron Market, its e-commerce market.

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Presentation and Principles of Consolidation

The unaudited interim Consolidated Financial Statements (the “Consolidated Financial Statements”) have been prepared on the same basis as the audited Consolidated Financial Statements, and in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments, consisting of only normal recurring adjustments, necessary for the fair presentation of the Company’s financial position as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, results of operations for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, and cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020. These unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2020 included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 23, 2021 (the “Annual Report”). There have been no material changes in the Company's significant accounting policies from those that were disclosed in Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, included in the Annual Report, except those additional significant policies as described within the accompanying notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

The accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The Company prepares its Consolidated Financial Statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”).

Use of Estimates

In preparing its Consolidated Financial Statements in accordance with GAAP, the Company is required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs, and expenses, and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities which are reported in the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying disclosures. The accounting estimates that require the most difficult and subjective judgments include revenue recognition, inventory valuation, leases, the fair value of share-based awards, the fair value of the Blue Torch warrant obligation (discussed in Note 14), recoverability of long-lived assets, and the recognition and measurement of contingencies. The Company evaluates its estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis using historical experience and other factors and adjusts those estimates and assumptions when facts and circumstances dictate. Actual results could materially differ from the Company’s estimates and assumptions.

Table of Contents

Emerging Growth Company Status

The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”), and may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. The Company may take advantage of these exemptions until the Company is no longer an emerging growth company. Section 107 of the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period afforded by the JOBS Act for the implementation of new or revised accounting standards. The Company has elected to use the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards, and as a result of this election, its financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates. The Company may take advantage of these exemptions up until December 31, 2022 (the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the initial public offering, or the “IPO”), or such earlier time that it is no longer an emerging growth company. The Company would cease to be an emerging growth company if it has more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue, has more than $700.0 million in market value of its stock held by non-affiliates, or it issues more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt securities over a three-year period.

Smaller Reporting Company Status

The Company is a “smaller reporting company,” as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and therefore qualifies for reduced disclosure requirements for smaller reporting companies.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued its standard on lease accounting, Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), which supersedes Topic 840, Leases. Subsequent to February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-13, Revenue Recognition (Topic 605), Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), Leases (Topic 840), and Leases (Topic 842): Amendments to SEC Paragraphs Pursuant to the Staff Announcement at the July 20, 2017 EITF Meeting and Rescission of Prior SEC Staff Announcements and Observer Comments, ASU No. 2018-10, Codification Improvements to Topic 842, Leases, ASU No. 2018-11, Leases (Topic 842): Targeted Improvements, ASU No. 2019-01, Leases (Topic 842): Codification Improvements, ASU 2019-10, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326), Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815), and Leases (Topic 842): Effective Dates, ASU No. 2020-05, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606) and Leases (Topic 842): Effective Dates for Certain Entities, to improve and clarify certain aspects of ASU No. 2016-02, as well as to defer its effective date for certain entities, and ASU No. 2021-05, Leases (Topic 842): Lessors – Certain Leases with Variable Lease Payments. For the Company, the new standard is effective for annual periods beginning January 1, 2022, and interim periods beginning January 1, 2023. Upon adoption of this standard, the Company expects to recognize, on a discounted basis, its minimum commitments under non-cancelable operating leases on the Consolidated Balance Sheets resulting in the recording of right-of-use assets and lease obligations. The Company is currently evaluating any additional impacts this guidance will have on its Consolidated Financial Statements.

In August 2018, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2018-15 (“ASU 2018-15”), Intangibles — Goodwill and Other — Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract. The standard is intended to clarify the accounting for implementation costs of a hosting arrangement that is a service contract. For the Company, the amendments in ASU 2018-15 are effective for annual periods beginning January 1, 2021, and interim periods beginning January 1, 2022. The adoption of this guidance is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

In December 2019, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2019-12 (“ASU 2019-12”), Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes. The standard is intended to simplify the accounting for income taxes by removing certain exceptions to the general principles in Topic 740, as well as improve consistent application of and simplify GAAP for other areas of Topic 740 by clarifying and amending existing guidance. For the Company, the amendments in ASU 2019-12 are effective for annual periods beginning January 1, 2022, and interim periods beginning January 1, 2023. The Company is evaluating the impact this new guidance may have on its Consolidated Financial Statements.

Table of Contents

In March 2020, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2020-04 (“ASU 2020-04”), Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting. The standard is intended to provide optional expedients and exceptions for applying GAAP to contract modifications and hedging relationships, subject to meeting certain criteria, that reference LIBOR or another rate that is expected to be discontinued. The guidance was effective upon issuance, and may be applied prospectively through December 31, 2022. The application of the guidance is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

3. Inventories, Net

Inventories, net consist of the following:


	September 30,		December 31,
	2021		2020

	(In thousands)
Fulfillment	$	2,839	$	3,366
Product		20,418		14,819
Inventories, net	$	23,257	$	18,185

Product inventory primarily consists of bulk and prepped food, containers, products available for resale, and wine products. Fulfillment inventory consists of packaging used for shipping and handling. Product and fulfillment inventories are recognized as components of Cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations when sold.

4. Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets

Prepaid expenses and other current assets consist of the following:


	September 30,		December 31,
	2021		2020

	(In thousands)
Insurance proceeds receivable	$	—	$	11,250
Prepaid insurance		7,125		7,092
Other current assets		5,499		5,309
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	$	12,624	$	23,651

Estimated insurance proceeds recoveries are reflected as assets in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets when it is determined that the recovery of such amounts is probable, and the amount can be reasonably determined.

5. Restricted Cash

Restricted cash reflects pledged cash deposited into savings accounts that is used as security primarily for fulfillment centers and office space leases, and as of December 31, 2019, cash held in escrow related to a pending legal judgment that was returned to the Company in the second quarter of 2020 following final resolution of the case.

Table of Contents

The following table provides a reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash reported within the Consolidated Balance Sheets that sum to the total of the same amounts reported in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows:


	September 30,		December 31,
	2021		2020

	(in thousands)
Cash and cash equivalents	$	35,282	$	44,122
Restricted cash included in Prepaid expenses and other current assets		279		610
Restricted cash included in Other noncurrent assets		1,160		1,110
Total cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash	$	36,721	$	45,842

	September 30,		December 31,
	2020		2019

	(in thousands)
Cash and cash equivalents	$	58,722	$	43,531
Restricted cash included in Prepaid expenses and other current assets		279		—
Restricted cash included in Other noncurrent assets		1,110		2,912
Total cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash	$	60,111	$	46,443

6. Property and Equipment, Net

Property and equipment, net consists of the following:


	September 30,		December 31,
	2021		2020

	(In thousands)
Computer equipment	$	11,450	$	11,110
Capitalized software		23,490		21,318
Fulfillment equipment		52,064		51,096
Furniture and fixtures		2,730		3,408
Leasehold improvements		32,331		32,969
Buildings⁽¹⁾		114,877		114,877
Construction in process		1,553		1,442
Property and equipment, gross		238,495		236,220
Less: accumulated depreciation and amortization		(125,839)		(111,012)
Property and equipment, net	$	112,656	$	125,208

(1)

Buildings includes a build-to-suit lease arrangement in Linden, New Jersey where the Company is considered the owner for accounting purposes, and as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, contains $31.3 million of the capitalized fair value of the building, $80.8 million of costs incurred directly by the Company relating to this arrangement, and $2.8 million of capitalized interest for related construction projects.

Fairfield Lease Termination

In October 2017, the Company performed a review of its real estate needs and decided to no longer pursue its planned build-out of the Fairfield facility and as a result, pursued potential alternatives for the leased Fairfield property. On March 30, 2020 (the “termination date”), the Company terminated the lease, effective immediately, for its Fairfield facility (the “Fairfield lease termination”). In connection with the Fairfield lease termination, the Company agreed to a termination fee in the amount of $1.5 million, recognized upon the termination date and paid in the second quarter of 2020, which released the Company from all future minimum lease payments related to this facility in the amount of $32.9 million, which otherwise would have expired in 2028.

For accounting purposes, the Company had been deemed to be the owner of this arrangement and followed build-to-suit accounting. Therefore, the Company had capitalized the fair value of the building and direct construction costs incurred and recorded a corresponding facility financing obligation. Prior to the lease termination, the net carrying

Table of Contents

value of the build-to-suit assets totaled $31.1 million, the facility financing obligation totaled $35.7 million, and the Company had deferred rent of $1.8 million. Accordingly, as of the termination date, the Company derecognized the net carrying value of the build-to-suit assets and liabilities and the deferred rent balance. As a result, the Company recorded a non-cash gain of $4.9 million, net of the lease termination fee, in Other operating expense during the first quarter of 2020.

Impairment Charges on Long-Lived Assets

In February 2020, the Company announced the closure of its fulfillment center in Arlington, Texas and the consolidation of production volume from the Arlington, Texas fulfillment center to the Company’s fulfillment centers in Linden, New Jersey and Richmond, California in order to more efficiently continue to service the Company’s national footprint while also enabling the Company to redirect financial resources into other parts of the business, including growth initiatives.

The Company concluded that this change in operations represented a triggering event with respect to its long-lived assets at the Arlington fulfillment center and therefore performed an impairment test in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 360, Property, Plant, and Equipment. The carrying amount of the Company’s long-lived assets at the Arlington fulfillment center was $11.7 million and the fair value was $4.1 million as of the impairment date, resulting in an impairment of $7.6 million, primarily consisting of leasehold improvements and equipment, recorded in Other operating expense during the nine months ended September 30, 2020.

In May 2020, the transition of production volume to the Linden and Richmond fulfillment centers was completed, with the Company’s Arlington fulfillment center equipment primarily having been relocated to the Company’s other fulfillment centers. The Company temporarily reopened its Arlington fulfillment center beginning in January 2021 to leverage existing assets to meet forecasted demand while continuing to implement operating efficiencies at its other fulfillment centers. In April 2021, the Company closed down the temporary Arlington fulfillment center, with all production volume consolidated at its other fulfillment centers. The closure of the Arlington fulfillment center after its temporary reopening did not have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. Additionally, in May 2021, the Company entered into an agreement to sublease the remainder of its Arlington fulfillment center. The sublease continues through the duration of the Company’s existing lease for the fulfillment center and entitles the Company to future minimum sublease payments of approximately $2.4 million as of September 30, 2021. The Company has non-cancelable future minimum lease payments of approximately $1.4 million to the original lessor of the fulfillment center as of September 30, 2021.

7. Accrued Expenses and Other Current Liabilities

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities consist of the following:


	September 30,		December 31,
	2021		2020

	(In thousands)
Accrued compensation	$	11,178	$	17,189
Accrued credits and refunds reserve		1,312		1,547
Accrued legal settlements		—		12,250
Accrued marketing expenses		2,155		2,006
Accrued shipping expenses		2,363		2,060
Other current liabilities		7,940		6,580
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities	$	24,948	$	41,632

Accrued legal settlements reflect contingencies for which the Company has concluded the loss is probable and reasonably estimable. As of December 31, 2020, the Company determined that insurance recovery was probable related to $11.3 million of a legal settlement and recognized the full recovery amount in Prepaid expenses and other current assets as of December 31, 2020. The insurance proceeds receivable was recovered in full by the Company in the second quarter of 2021 following final resolution of the case. See Note 10 for further discussion of the accrued legal settlements.

Table of Contents

8. Deferred Revenue

Deferred revenue consists of the following:


	September 30,		December 31,
	2021		2020

	(In thousands)
Cash received prior to fulfillment	$	3,349	$	1,550
Gift cards, prepaid orders, and other		1,996		4,719
Deferred revenue	$	5,345	$	6,269

Under ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, the Company has two types of contractual liabilities: (i) cash collections from its customers prior to delivery of products purchased, which are included in Deferred revenue on the Consolidated Balance Sheet, and are recognized as revenue upon transfer of control of its products, and (ii) unredeemed gift cards and other prepaid orders, which are included in Deferred revenue on the Consolidated Balance Sheet, and are recognized as revenue when gift cards are redeemed and the products are delivered. Certain gift cards are not expected to be redeemed, also known as breakage, and are recognized as revenue over the expected redemption period, subject to requirements to remit balances to governmental agencies.

Contractual liabilities included in Deferred revenue on the Consolidated Balance Sheets were $5.3 million and $6.3 million as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively. During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, the Company recognized $5.1 million to Net revenue from the Deferred revenue at December 31, 2020.

9. Debt

In August 2016, the Company entered into the revolving credit facility with a maximum amount available to borrow of $150.0 million. The borrower under the revolving credit facility was the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Blue Apron, LLC. Between 2017 and 2020, the Company amended and refinanced the revolving credit facility to, among other things, reduce the aggregate lender commitments to $55.0 million and extend the final maturity date to August 2021.

On October 16, 2020 (the “effective date”), the Company entered into a financing agreement which provided for a senior secured term loan in the aggregate principal amount of $35.0 million that matures in March 2023 (the “2020 Term Loan”). The proceeds of the 2020 Term Loan were used, together with cash on hand, to repay in full the outstanding indebtedness of $43.8 million under the revolving credit facility, and to pay fees and expenses in connection with the transactions contemplated by the 2020 Term Loan. The Company terminated the revolving credit facility effective as of the closing of the 2020 Term Loan.

On May 5, 2021 (the “closing date”), the Company amended the financing agreement relating to the 2020 Term Loan (the “Amendment”). Among other things, the Amendment:

(i)

provided a $5.0 million term loan (the “2021 Term Loan”), which bore interest at a rate equal to LIBOR (subject to a 1.50% floor) plus 10.00% per annum and matured at the same time as the 2020 Term Loan, on March 31, 2023. The 2021 Term Loan was prepayable and did not require periodic principal payments;

(ii)

increased the interest rate margin on the 2020 Term Loan by 1.00% per annum, resulting in the 2020 Term Loan bearing interest, from and after the closing date, at a rate equal to LIBOR (subject to a 1.50% floor) plus 9.00% per annum;

(iii)

waived the requirement that the borrower prepay the 2020 Term Loan with 50% of the proceeds of equity issuances, provided that the waiver expired upon the earlier of (i) such time as the cumulative net proceeds from equity issuances of the borrower otherwise requiring such prepayment exceed $30.0 million (calculated net of the prepayment of the 2021 Term Loan described below) or (ii) 60 days after the closing date;

Table of Contents

(iv)

required that the borrower prepay the 2021 Term Loan with 100% of the proceeds of equity issuances (in addition to the other mandatory prepayment provisions applicable to the 2020 Term Loan, which also applied to the 2021 Term Loan); and

(v)

reduced the minimum liquidity covenant from $20.0 million at all times to $15.0 million at all times until the earlier of (i) May 15, 2022, and (ii) the date on which the 2021 Term Loan and all accrued and unpaid interest thereon is repaid in full.

The proceeds of the 2021 Term Loan were held in an escrow account and were considered qualified cash for purposes of the minimum liquidity covenant.

Pursuant to the Amendment, the net proceeds of the June 2021 offering (discussed in Note 11) were not subject to the mandatory prepayment provision of the 2020 Term Loan. However, the Amendment required that the 2021 Term Loan be released in full from escrow to the lenders upon completion of the June 2021 offering, upon which the minimum liquidity covenant was reset to $20.0 million at all times. The Company also repaid $0.5 million of the $1.0 million closing fee charged under the Amendment, which (i) bore interest at the same rate as of the 2021 Term Loan, and (ii) 50% of which was forgiven because the 2021 Term Loan was repaid within 60 days after the closing date.

As of September 30, 2021, the 2020 Term Loan bore interest at a rate equal to LIBOR (subject to a 1.50% floor) plus 9.00% per annum. The principal amount of the 2020 Term Loan is repayable in equal quarterly installments of $875,000 through December 31, 2022, with the remaining unpaid principal amount of the 2020 Term Loan repayable on March 31, 2023. The Company is also obligated under the 2020 Term Loan to pay customary fees, including an anniversary fee equal to 1.00% of the average daily principal amount of the 2020 Term Loan outstanding over the past 12 months.

In connection with the Amendment, the Company agreed to prospectively grant warrants (the “Blue Torch warrant obligation”) to the lenders. Under the terms of the Blue Torch warrant obligation, so long as the 2020 Term Loan remains outstanding, on the first day of each quarter beginning on or after July 1, 2021, the Company will issue a warrant to the lenders to purchase at an exercise price of $0.01 per share such number of shares of Class A common stock of the Company as equals 0.50% of the then outstanding shares of common stock of the Company, on a fully-diluted basis. Subject to limited exceptions, subsequent to their respective issuance date the number of shares issuable upon exercise of each warrant is subject to increase each time the Company issues or sells any shares of common stock, common stock equivalents, options, or convertible securities for a consideration per share (including upon exercise, exchange, or conversion) of less than the fair market value per share of the Class A common stock as of the applicable issuance date in accordance with the Amendment. The warrants will expire five years after the applicable issuance date and will be exercisable on a cash basis or, at the election of the holder, on a cashless basis.

The Blue Torch warrant obligation was accounted for in accordance with ASC 815-40, Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity, as a liability recognized at fair value as of the closing date, due to certain settlement provisions within the corresponding warrant obligation provisions under the financing agreement that do not meet the criteria to be classified in stockholders’ equity. The short-term portion of warrants to be issued, as well as the portion of warrants issued and exercisable for shares of Class A common stock, under the Blue Torch warrant obligation were recorded within Warrant Obligation, and the long-term portion within Other noncurrent liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Blue Torch warrant obligation is remeasured to fair value at each balance sheet date, with changes in fair value recorded in Other income (expense), net in the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

The Company evaluated the Amendment under ASC 470-50, Modifications and Extinguishments, which states that if the modification of the terms of an existing debt agreement is considered substantial, the transaction shall be accounted for as an extinguishment, with the amended debt instrument then initially recorded at fair value. The Company concluded that the modification was considered substantial, and qualified for extinguishment accounting under such guidance. Accordingly, the Company recorded a $4.1 million extinguishment loss in the Consolidated Statements of Operations, which consisted of (i) a $4.6 million loss related to the contemporaneous issuance of the Blue Torch warrant obligation, as discussed above, (ii) a $0.1 million loss related to fees paid on behalf of the lender, partially offset by (iii) a $0.6 million gain related to the difference between the fair value of the modified debt instrument and the net carrying value of the debt immediately before extinguishment.

Table of Contents

In connection with the extinguishment accounting, the Company derecognized all related unamortized debt issuance costs, and simultaneously recorded additional debt issuance costs of $2.0 million within Long-term debt, which are being amortized using the effective interest method over the remaining term. The following table summarizes the presentation of the Company’s debt balances in the Consolidated Balance Sheets as of the dates indicated below:


	September 30,		December 31,
	2021		2020

	(In thousands)
2020 Term Loan	$	31,500	$	34,125
Debt issuance costs, net		(1,513)		(1,878)
Total debt outstanding, net of debt issuance costs		29,987		32,247
Less: current portion of long-term debt		3,500		3,500
Long-term debt	$	26,487	$	28,747

The borrower under the 2020 Term Loan is the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Blue Apron, LLC. The obligations under the 2020 Term Loan are guaranteed by Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries other than the borrower, and secured by substantially all of the assets of the borrower and the guarantors. The 2020 Term Loan contains certain restrictive covenants, financial covenants, and affirmative and financial reporting covenants restricting the Company and the Company’s subsidiaries’ activities. Restrictive covenants include limitations on the incurrence of indebtedness and liens, restrictions on affiliate transactions, restrictions on the sale or other disposition of collateral, and limitations on dividends and stock repurchases. The Company will be required to make mandatory prepayments under certain circumstances, and will have the option to make prepayments under the 2020 Term Loan subject to certain prepayment premiums through the first anniversary of the effective date. As of September 30, 2021, financial covenants included a requirement to maintain a minimum aggregate liquidity balance of $20.0 million at all times and a minimum subscription count (defined in the 2020 Term Loan as the number of all active customers on the Company’s internal account list) of 300,000 on any determination date occurring between the effective date and December 31, 2021, and 320,000 on any determination date occurring thereafter.

Non-compliance with the covenants under the 2020 Term Loan would result in an event of default upon which the lender could declare all outstanding principal and interest to be due and payable immediately and foreclose against the assets securing the borrowings. As of September 30, 2021, the Company was in compliance with all of the covenants under the 2020 Term Loan.

Facility Financing Obligation

As of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, the Company had a facility financing obligation of $35.9 million and $36.0 million, respectively, related to the leased facility in Linden under the build-to-suit accounting guidance.

10. Commitments and Contingencies

Legal Proceedings

The Company records accruals for loss contingencies associated with legal matters when it is probable that a liability will be incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. If the Company determines that a loss is reasonably possible, the Company discloses the matter, and, if estimable, the amount or range of the possible loss in the notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

The Company was subject to a consolidated putative class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York alleging federal securities law violations in connection with the Company’s IPO. The amended complaint alleged that the Company and certain current and former officers and directors made material misstatements or omissions in the Company’s registration statement and prospectus that caused the stock price to drop. Pursuant to a stipulated schedule entered by the parties, defendants filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint on May 21, 2018. Plaintiffs filed a response on July 12, 2018 and defendants filed a reply on August 13, 2018. On April 22, 2020, the Court entered an order (i) denying the motion to dismiss insofar as Plaintiffs’ allegations pertained to certain of

Table of Contents

the disclosures in the registration statement and prospectus claimed by plaintiff, and (ii) narrowing the factual issues in the case. On August 11, 2020, the parties held a mediation after which they entered into a memorandum of understanding on August 14, 2020 regarding a proposed settlement. Discovery has been stayed since August 14, 2020. The Company entered into a stipulation and agreement of settlement to resolve the class action litigation on October 28, 2020, which was subsequently amended on November 12, 2020. Under the terms of the settlement, a payment of $13.3 million is to be made by the Company and/or its insurers in exchange for the release of claims against the defendants and other released parties by the lead plaintiff and all settlement class members and for the dismissal of the action with prejudice. The court granted preliminary approval of the settlement on February 1, 2021 and the Company paid $1.0 million of the settlement amount into escrow, with the remaining $12.3 million balance of the settlement funded by the Company’s insurers. The Company’s contribution to the settlement represented the portion of its insurance retention amount, less the $1.0 million which had been paid by the Company as of December 31, 2020 to cover legal fees relating to this case and the related cases described below, as well as the settlement of the state court action described below. The court granted final approval of the settlement on May 10, 2021, and the deadline to appeal the court’s final approval order has passed. The Company was also subject to two state putative class action lawsuits alleging federal securities law violations in connection with the IPO, which were substantially similar to the above-referenced federal court action. One of the state court actions was originally filed in the New York Supreme Court, but was voluntarily dismissed by plaintiffs on September 15, 2020 and subsequently re-filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on October 2, 2020. On December 2, 2020, the Company settled this lawsuit, which did not have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. The second state lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed on May 12, 2021.

In June 2020, certain of the Company’s current and former officers and directors were named as defendants in a shareholder derivative action filed in the Eastern District of New York, captioned Jeffrey Peters v. Matthew B. Salzberg, et al., 1:20-cv-02627. The complaint sought contribution from the officer and director defendants for any damages that the Company may incur as a result of the above-referenced class action lawsuit, attorneys’ fees, and other costs, as well as an order directing the Company to reform and improve its corporate governance and internal procedures to comply with applicable laws. On September 11, 2020, this case was stayed pending resolution of the federal securities case. On June 16, 2021, the plaintiff filed a notice of voluntary dismissal requesting that the court to dismiss the action without prejudice and retain jurisdiction of the action solely for the purpose of adjudicating the plaintiff’s counsel’s anticipated application for an award of attorney’s fees and reimbursement of expenses in connection with purportedly mooted claims asserted by the plaintiff in the action. On June 22, 2021, the court dismissed the action but retained jurisdiction of the action solely for the purpose of adjudicating the plaintiff’s counsel’s anticipated application for fees and expenses. On July 28, 2021, the Company and plaintiff’s counsel reached an agreement concerning plaintiff’s counsel’s claim for fees and costs without the need for court intervention.

In addition, from time to time the Company may become involved in legal proceedings or be subject to claims arising in the ordinary course of its business. Although the results of such litigation and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, the Company currently believes that the final outcome of these ordinary course matters will not have a material adverse effect on its business, operating results, financial condition or cash flows.

11. Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)

Salzberg Private Placement

On September 15, 2021, the Company announced its intention to conduct (i) a fully backstopped $45.0 million rights offering for shares of its Class A common stock and related warrants and (ii) two private placements for an aggregate of $33.0 million of gross proceeds (collectively, the “Capital Raise”). In connection with the backstop for the rights offering and the two private placements, on September 15, 2021, the Company entered into a purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with RJB Partners LLC (“RJB”), an affiliate of Joseph N. Sanberg, an existing stockholder of the Company, and Matthew B. Salzberg, the Company’s co-founder and former Chairman of the Board. For additional information regarding the Capital Raise and the Purchase Agreement, see Note 16 Subsequent Events.

Under the Purchase Agreement and concurrently with its execution, Mr. M. Salzberg purchased for an aggregate purchase price of $3.0 million, (i) 300,000 shares of Class A common stock, (ii) warrants to purchase 240,000

Table of Contents

shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $15.00 per share, (iii) warrants to purchase 120,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $18.00 per share, and (iv) warrants to purchase 60,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share, resulting in $2.8 million of proceeds, net of issuance costs, without giving effect to the receipt of any exercise price of any warrants issued in the transactions (the “Salzberg Private Placement”). The shares of Class A common stock and warrants were issued separately and constitute separate securities. The warrants are non-transferable, except in limited circumstances. As of September 30, 2021, the warrants issued in the Salzberg Private Placement to purchase an aggregate of 420,000 shares of the Company’s Class A common stock were unexercised. The Company conducted an assessment of the classification of the warrants issued in the Salzberg Private Placement and, based on their terms, concluded the warrants are equity-classified. Accordingly, the net proceeds have been recorded within stockholders’ equity (deficit).

Conversion of Class B Common Stock

In connection with the transactions described above and as a condition of the Purchase Agreement, Mr. M. Salzberg, Barry Salzberg, and Mr. Sanberg and certain of their respective affiliates, elected to convert all of their respective outstanding shares of Class B common stock into shares of Class A common stock, on a one-share-for-one-share basis, effective on September 15, 2021. The Class B common stock was substantially the same as the Class A common stock except Class B common stock had ten votes per share whereas Class A common stock has one vote per share.

As a result of these voluntary conversions, pursuant to Section 7.2(d) of Part A of Article Fourth of the Company’s Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Charter”), which provides for the automatic conversion of all outstanding Class B common stock when the outstanding shares of Class B common stock represent less than five percent (5%) of the combined voting power of the outstanding Class A common stock and Class B common stock, all of the Company’s outstanding shares of Class B common stock automatically converted into shares of Class A common stock on a one-share-for-one-share basis (the “Class B Automatic Conversion”). Following the Class B Automatic Conversion, the Company has only one class of common stock outstanding, its Class A common stock, and the Company ceased to be a “controlled company” as defined under New York Stock Exchange listing rules.

Underwritten Public Offerings

On June 18, 2021, the Company completed an underwritten public offering (the “June 2021 offering”), pursuant to its universal shelf registration filed with the SEC on April 29, 2020 (the “2020 Shelf”), of 5,411,900 shares of the Company’s Class A common stock, including the 705,900 shares issuable upon the underwriter’s exercise of its option to purchase additional shares, resulting in $21.1 million of proceeds, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs.

On August 10, 2020, the Company completed an underwritten public offering, pursuant to the 2020 Shelf, of 4,000,000 shares of the Company’s Class A common stock, resulting in $32.9 million of proceeds, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs.

Table of Contents

12. Share-based Compensation

The Company recognized share-based compensation for share-based awards in Cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization, and Product, technology, general and administrative expenses as follows:


	Three Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021		2020

	(In thousands)
Cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization	$	10	$	22
Product, technology, general and administrative		2,156		2,067
Total share-based compensation	$	2,166	$	2,089


	Nine Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021		2020

	(In thousands)
Cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization	$	40	$	79
Product, technology, general and administrative		7,591		6,259
Total share-based compensation	$	7,631	$	6,338

In February 2021, the Company granted 1,190,250 shares of performance-based restricted stock units for its Class A common stock to certain employees, including the Company’s executive officers. Such units are subject to vesting conditions that are tied to the achievement of certain stock price targets and time-based requirements beginning February 25, 2021 and continuing through February 25, 2024. As this grant was determined to include a market condition, the Company utilized the Monte Carlo simulation valuation model to value the grant. The total grant date fair value was $7.7 million, and will be recognized on a straight-line basis over the derived service periods, which range from 0.99 to 2.99 years, as determined by the Monte Carlo simulation valuation model.

13. Earnings per Share

Basic net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders is computed by dividing the net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding for the period.

Diluted net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders is computed by dividing the diluted net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares, including potential dilutive common shares assuming the dilutive effect of outstanding common stock options, restricted stock units, and warrants. For periods in which the Company has reported net loss, diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders is the same as basic net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, because dilutive common shares are not assumed to have been issued if their effect is anti-dilutive.

Prior to the Class B Automatic Conversion, the rights, including the liquidation and dividend rights, of the Class A common stock, Class B common stock, and Class C capital stock were substantially the same, other than voting rights. For the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, the Company did not have any outstanding shares of Class C capital stock. Following the Class B Automatic Conversion on September 15, 2021, the Company has only one class of common stock outstanding. See Note 11 for further discussion of the Class B Automatic Conversion.

Table of Contents


	Three Months Ended September 30,
	2021				2020
	Class A		Class B		Class A		Class B

(In thousands, except share and per-share data)
Numerator:
Net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders	$	(24,368)	$	(3,268)	$	(11,746)	$	(3,516)
Denominator:
Weighted-average shares used to compute net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders—basic		20,906,141		2,803,498		12,208,041		3,653,907
Weighted-average shares used to compute net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders—diluted		20,906,141		2,803,498		12,208,041		3,653,907

Net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders—basic ⁽¹⁾	$	(1.17)	$	(1.17)	$	(0.96)	$	(0.96)
Net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders—diluted ⁽¹⁾	$	(1.17)	$	(1.17)	$	(0.96)	$	(0.96)


	Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2021				2020
	Class A		Class B		Class A		Class B

(In thousands, except share and per-share data)
Numerator:
Net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders	$	(52,099)	$	(9,845)	$	(24,810)	$	(9,483)
Denominator:
Weighted-average shares used to compute net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders—basic		16,986,570		3,209,872		10,278,021		3,928,252
Weighted-average shares used to compute net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders—diluted		16,986,570		3,209,872		10,278,021		3,928,252

Net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders—basic ⁽¹⁾	$	(3.07)	$	(3.07)	$	(2.41)	$	(2.41)
Net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders—diluted ⁽¹⁾	$	(3.07)	$	(3.07)	$	(2.41)	$	(2.41)

(1)

Net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders — basic and net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders — diluted may not recalculate due to rounding.

The following have been excluded from the computation of diluted net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders as their effect would have been antidilutive:


	Three Months Ended September 30,
	2021		2020
	Class A	Class B	Class A	Class B
Stock options	44,764	—	—	93,718
Restricted stock units	2,299,766	—	1,689,874	—
Warrants	550,350	—	—	—
Total anti-dilutive securities	2,894,880	—	1,689,874	93,718

Table of Contents


	Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2021		2020
	Class A	Class B	Class A	Class B
Stock options	48,542	—	5,241	144,818
Restricted stock units	2,262,173	—	1,694,397	—
Warrants	550,350	—	—	—
Total anti-dilutive securities	2,861,065	—	1,699,638	144,818

14. Fair Value Measurements

The fair value hierarchy is based on inputs to valuation techniques that are used to measure fair value that are either observable or unobservable. Observable inputs are developed using market data, such as publicly available information about actual events or transactions, and reflect the assumptions that market participants would use when pricing the asset or liability. Unobservable inputs are inputs for which market data is not available and that are developed using the best information available about the assumptions that market participants would use when pricing the asset or liability.

The fair value hierarchy consists of the following three levels:

Level 1 — Quoted market prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2 — Observable market-based inputs or unobservable inputs that are corroborated by market data.

Level 3 — Unobservable inputs reflecting the reporting entity’s own assumptions or external inputs from inactive markets.

The Company uses observable market data when available, and minimizes the use of unobservable inputs when determining fair value.

The following are the major categories of assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020 using quoted prices in active markets for identical assets (Level 1), significant other observable inputs (Level 2) and significant unobservable inputs (Level 3):


	September 30, 2021
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total

	(In thousands)
Assets:
Cash and cash equivalents:
Money market accounts	$	2,635	$	—	$	—	$	2,635
Total assets measured at fair value	$	2,635	$	—	$	—	$	2,635

Liabilities:
Warrant obligation	$	—	$	—	$	7,003	$	7,003
Other noncurrent liabilities:
Warrant obligation		—		—		3,449		3,449
Total liabilities measured at fair value	$	—	$	—	$	10,452	$	10,452


	December 31, 2020
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total

	(In thousands)
Assets:
Cash and cash equivalents:
Money market accounts	$	42,408	$	—	$	—	$	42,408
Total assets measured at fair value	$	42,408	$	—	$	—	$	42,408

Table of Contents

Money market accounts

Money market accounts are classified within Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy as they are valued using observable inputs that reflect quoted prices for identical assets in active markets. The carrying amount of the Company’s money market accounts approximates fair value due to their short-term maturities.

Warrant obligation

The Blue Torch warrant obligation issued in conjunction with the Amendment, as discussed in Note 9, is accounted for in accordance with ASC 815-40, Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity, as a liability recognized at fair value, and is remeasured as of each balance sheet date with changes in fair value recorded in Other income (expense), net in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. The amount of each warrant to be issued under the obligation set forth in the financing agreement is based upon 0.50% of the then-outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock on a fully-diluted basis on the first day of each quarter beginning on or after July 1, 2021, so long as the 2020 Term Loan remains outstanding. As such, the fair value of the Blue Torch warrant obligation was calculated using the estimated amount of warrants to be issued over the life of the financing agreement multiplied by the price of the Company’s stock as of the closing date, less $0.01 per share to represent each warrant’s exercise price. The estimated amount of shares to be issued was derived from the Company’s estimate of shares of the Company’s common stock on a fully-diluted basis over the life of the financing agreement. As of September 30, 2021, warrants issued to purchase 130,350 shares of Class A common stock were unexercised.

The following table summarizes the changes of the Blue Torch warrant obligation as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020:


	Balance as of December 31, 2020		Initial recognition		Loss (gain) on changes in stock price		Loss (gain) on changes in estimated common stock on a fully-diluted basis		Issuance of warrants		Balance as of September 30, 2021

		(In thousands)
Warrant obligation	$	—	$	4,567	$	1,628	$	3,300	$	957	$	10,452

15. Restructuring Costs

As a result of the action, which was completed in May 2020, the Company recorded $0.8 million in total restructuring costs during the first half of 2020, including $0.4 million of employee-related expenses, primarily consisting of severance payments, and $0.4 million of other exit costs in Other operating expense, substantially all of which resulted in cash expenditures. In addition, during the first half of 2020, the Company recorded non-cash impairment charges of $7.6 million, primarily consisting of leasehold improvements and equipment. See Note 6 for further discussion of the impairment charges.

The Company temporarily reopened its Arlington fulfillment center beginning in January 2021 to leverage existing assets to meet forecasted demand while continuing to implement operating efficiencies at its other fulfillment centers. In April 2021, the Company closed down the temporary Arlington fulfillment center, with all production volume consolidated at its other fulfillment centers. The closure of the Arlington fulfillment center after its temporary reopening did not have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

Table of Contents

16. Subsequent Events

On September 15, 2021, the Company entered into the Purchase Agreement with RJB and Mr. M. Salzberg relating to the Capital Raise for an aggregate of $78.0 million of gross proceeds, without giving effect to the receipt of any exercise price of any warrants issued in the transactions. The Purchase Agreement provided that, among other things:

●

The Company would conduct a rights offering (the “Rights Offering”), pursuant to which the Company distributed, at no charge, to the holders of record of its outstanding shares of Class A common stock and certain outstanding warrants to purchase shares of Class A common stock held by the Company’s lenders (the “Eligible Securityholders”) one non-transferable subscription right (each, a “Subscription Right” and collectively, the “Subscription Rights”) for each share of Class A common stock held or, in the case of the holders of the applicable outstanding warrants, each share of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants. Each Subscription Right provided the Eligible Securityholder the right to purchase one unit consisting of (i) a fraction of (the “Applicable Fraction”) of one share of Class A common stock, (ii) one warrant to purchase the Applicable Fraction of 0.8 of one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $15.00 per share, (iii) one warrant to purchase the Applicable Fraction of 0.4 of one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $18.00 per share, and (iv) one warrant to purchase the Applicable Fraction of 0.2 of one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share. The Applicable Fraction was equal to 0.185055707113895 based upon the shares held (or issuable upon exercise of the applicable outstanding warrants) by the Eligible Securityholders as of the record date. The subscription price for each unit was equal to $1.8505 (or $10.00 multiplied by the Applicable Fraction). 6,671,271 subscription rights were subscribed for in the rights offering, which closed on November 4, 2021, resulting in the issuance of (i) 1,234,187 shares of Class A common stock, (ii) warrants to purchase 987,645.417802738 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $15.00 per share, (iii) warrants to purchase 493,822.7089013690 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $18.00 per share, and (iv) warrants to purchase 246,911.3544506840 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share.

●

RJB would purchase, in a private placement (the “Backstop Private Placement”), the number of shares of Class A common stock and warrants that remained unsubscribed at the expiration of the Rights Offering subscription period for an aggregate purchase price equal to $45.0 million less the aggregate purchase price received from purchasers of units in the Rights Offering. On November 4, 2021, RJB purchased $32.7 million of securities in the Backstop Private Placement and the Company issued (i) 3,265,813 shares of Class A common stock, (ii) warrants to purchase 2,612,354.58219726 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $15.00 per share, (iii) warrants to purchase 1,306,177.291098630 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $18.00 per share, and (iv) warrants to purchase 653,088.645549316 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share.

●

RJB would purchase, in a private placement (the “Concurrent Private Placement”), on the same terms and concurrently with the consummation of the Backstop Private Placement and for an aggregate purchase price of $30.0 million, (i) 3,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, (ii) warrants to purchase 2,400,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $15.00 per share, (iii) warrants to purchase 1,200,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $18.00 per share, and (iv) warrants to purchase 600,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share. The Concurrent Private Placement closed on November 4, 2021.

●

Mr. M. Salzberg would purchase, on the same terms as the Backstop Private Placement and the Concurrent Private Placement and for an aggregate purchase price of $3.0 million, (i) 300,000 shares of Class A common stock, (ii) warrants to purchase 240,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $15.00 per share, (iii) warrants to purchase 120,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $18.00 per share, and (iv) warrants to purchase 60,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share, resulting in $2.8 million of proceeds, net of issuance costs, without giving effect to the receipt of any exercise price of any warrants issued in the transactions. The Salzberg Private Placement closed on September

Table of Contents

15, 2021. For additional information on the Salzberg Private Placement, see Note 11 Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit).

●

The Class B Automatic Conversion would occur. For additional information on the Class B Automatic Conversion, see Note 11 Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit).

Under the Purchase Agreement, RJB agreed to a customary standstill for a period of three years, as well as provisions requiring RJB to vote all Company securities it beneficially owns, and to cause Company securities beneficially owned by Mr. Sanberg and certain of its or his respective affiliates to be voted, in each case in excess of 19.9% of the total voting power of the outstanding capital stock of the Company in the aggregate, in proportion to and in accordance with the vote of all stockholders of the Company.

As contemplated by the Purchase Agreement, on November 4, 2021, the Company entered into a registration rights agreement with RJB and Mr. M. Salzberg to provide them with customary registration rights with respect to the securities purchased in the private placements and other shares of Class A common stock owned by RJB and certain of its affiliates, and Mr. Salzberg. Further, the Purchase Agreement also requires the board of directors of the Company (the “Board”) to approve specified environmental, social, and corporate governance measures, including the following: (i) using reasonable best efforts to conduct and complete a greenhouse gas emissions inventory survey by December 31, 2021 and to become “carbon neutral” in specified respects from and after March 31, 2022; (ii) establishing a minimum wage of at least $15.00 per hour to all hourly employees and adopting a policy to pay hourly employees wages at least equal to those offered by comparable companies; and (iii) using reasonable best efforts to cause Company nominees for election to the Board at the 2022 annual stockholders meeting (the “2022 Annual Meeting”) to be composed of individuals at least half of whom are women and at least half of whom are persons of color and, if at least half the directors are not women or if at least half of the directors are not persons of color immediately after the 2022 Annual Meeting, to increase the size of the Board and appoint new directors, or obtain resignations from then-current directors, such that at least half of the directors are women and at least half of the directors are persons of color. The Company has engaged a national search firm to assist it in recruiting new Board members. The Company has further agreed, at the 2022 Annual Meeting, to propose amendments to its Charter, to: (i) permit stockholders representing at least twenty-five percent (25%) of the voting power of the Company’s outstanding capital stock to call a special meeting of stockholders and (ii) eliminate the requirement that the affirmative vote of stockholders representing at least sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66-2/3%) of the voting power of the Company’s outstanding capital stock be required to (x) remove a director and (y) amend the Company’s Charter or its bylaws, subject to certain exceptions. In connection with the closing of the Capital Raise, on November 4, 2021, the Company also amended its bylaws to adopt a “proxy access’ provision.

Each warrant issued in the Salzberg Private Placement, the Rights Offering, Backstop Private Placement and Concurrent Private Placement has a term of seven years from the date of issuance. Each such warrant may only be exercised for cash, except in connection with certain fundamental transactions, and no fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the warrants. The warrants are non-transferable, except in limited circumstances, and have not been listed or otherwise trade on any stock exchange. The number of shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and the applicable exercise prices is subject to adjustment upon the occurrence of certain events, including (i) dividends or distributions of shares of the Company’s Class A common stock, (ii) subdivisions, combinations and certain reclassifications of shares of the Company’s Class A common stock, (iii) certain additional issuances of Class A common stock or securities exercisable for or convertible into shares of Class A common stock at a price per share less than the market price for the Company’s Class A common stock, (iv) distributions of assets other than Class A common stock, or (v) certain repurchases by the Company.

The Company plans to use the net proceeds of the Capital Raise for general corporate purposes, primarily consisting of:

●

Acceleration and expansion of its growth strategy, with an expected focus on:

Opening up channels to appeal to new audiences and segments through new products and product categories;

Table of Contents

Product innovation to increase variety, flexibility, and choice; and

Increasing investments in marketing and technology infrastructure to build on improvements over the past year to drive engagement with its current customers and attract new ones.

●

Acceleration of its environmental and sustainability commitments, including a plan to accelerate its path to carbon neutrality by March 31, 2022, initially through carbon offsets, with plans to thereafter supplement or replace the offsets by systematic reduction of carbon use in packaging, logistics, sourcing, and production.

●

Increased investments in its hourly employees to attract, retain and engage a talented, diverse workforce, including raising the base hourly compensation rate to at least $18 per hour for employees in good standing in its existing offices and fulfillment centers (which it implemented in October 2021), as well as enhancing its employee benefits and programs.

The Company may also use up to $5.0 million of such proceeds, at its sole discretion, to voluntarily repay any of its existing indebtedness under the 2020 Term Loan.

Table of Contents

Item 2.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 23, 2021. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates, and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed below and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, particularly in the section titled “Risk Factors” under Part II, Item 1A, below. In this discussion, we use certain financial measures that are considered non-GAAP financial measures under Securities and Exchange Commission rules. These rules require supplemental explanation and reconciliation, which is included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Investors should not consider non-GAAP financial measures in isolation from or in substitution for financial information presented in compliance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. In the below discussion, we use the term basis points to refer to units of one-hundredth of one percent.

Overview

Blue Apron’s vision is “better living through better food.” Founded in 2012, we are on a mission to spark discovery, connection, and joy through cooking. We offer fresh, chef-designed recipes that empower our customers to embrace their culinary curiosity and challenge their abilities to see what a difference cooking quality food can make in their lives.

Our core product is the meal experience we help our customers create. These experiences extend from discovering new recipes, ingredients, and cooking techniques to preparing meals with families and loved ones to sharing photos and stories of culinary triumphs. Central to these experiences are the original recipes we design with fresh, seasonally-inspired produce and high-quality ingredients sent directly to our customers. We do this by employing technology and expertise across many disciplines – demand planning, recipe creation, procurement, recipe merchandising, fulfillment operations, distribution, customer service, and marketing – to drive our end-to-end value chain. We offer our customers three weekly meal plans—a Two-Serving Plan, a Four-Serving Plan, and Meal Prep Plan. We also sell wine, which can be paired with our meals, through Blue Apron Wine, our direct-to-consumer wine delivery service. Through Blue Apron Market, our e-commerce market, we sell a curated selection of cooking tools, utensils, pantry items, add-on products for different culinary occasions, which are tested and recommended by our culinary team, and à la carte wine offerings.

Key Financial and Operating Metrics

We use the following key financial and operating metrics to evaluate our business and operations, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, project our future performance, and make strategic decisions. You should read the key financial and operating metrics in conjunction with the following discussion of our results of operations and financial condition together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Table of Contents


	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
	2021		2020		2021		2020

	(In thousands)
Net revenue	$	109,654	$	112,253	$	363,370	$	345,150
Net income (loss)	$	(27,636)	$	(15,262)	$	(61,944)	$	(34,293)
Adjusted EBITDA	$	(11,666)	$	(4,706)	$	(21,271)	$	631
Net cash from (used in) operating activities	$	(16,518)	$	(7,121)	$	(27,396)	$	(4,052)
Free cash flow	$	(17,593)	$	(9,058)	$	(31,480)	$	(8,829)


	Three Months Ended
	September 30,		December 31,		March 31,		June 30,		September 30,
	2020		2020		2021		2021		2021
Orders (in thousands)		1,917		1,879		2,104		1,977		1,760
Customers (in thousands)		357		353		391		375		350
Average Order Value	$	58.56	$	61.43	$	61.63	$	62.72	$	62.30
Orders per Customer		5.4		5.3		5.4		5.3		5.0
Average Revenue per Customer	$	314	$	327	$	331	$	330	$	313

Orders

We define Orders as the number of paid orders by our Customers across our meal, wine, and market products sold on our e-commerce platforms in any reporting period, inclusive of orders that may have eventually been refunded or credited to customers. Orders, together with Average Order Value, is an indicator of the net revenue we expect to recognize in a given period. We view Orders delivered as a key indicator of our scale and financial performance. Orders has limitations as a financial and operating metric as it does not reflect the product mix chosen by our customers or the purchasing behavior of our customers. Because of these and other limitations, we consider, and you should consider, Orders in conjunction with our other metrics, including net revenue, net income (loss), adjusted EBITDA, net cash from (used in) operating activities, free cash flow, Average Order Value, and Orders per Customer.

Customers

We determine our number of Customers by counting the total number of individual customers who have paid for at least one Order from Blue Apron across our meal, wine, or market products sold on our e-commerce platforms in a given reporting period. For example, the number of Customers in the three months ended September 30, 2021 was determined based on the total number of individual customers who paid for at least one Order across our meal, wine, or market products in the quarter ended September 30, 2021. We view the number of Customers as a key indicator of our scale and financial performance. Customers has limitations as a financial and operating metric as it does not reflect the product mix chosen by our customers, Order frequency, or the purchasing behavior of our customers. Because of these and other limitations, we consider, and you should consider, Customers in conjunction with our other metrics, including net revenue, net income (loss), adjusted EBITDA, net cash from (used in) operating activities, free cash flow, Orders per Customer, and Average Revenue per Customer.

Average Order Value

We define Average Order Value as our net revenue from our meal, wine, and market products sold on our e-commerce platforms in a given reporting period divided by the number of Orders in that period. We view Average Order Value as a key indicator of the mix of our product offerings chosen by our customers, the mix of promotional discounts, and the purchasing behavior of our customers.

Table of Contents

Orders per Customer

We define Orders per Customer as the number of Orders in a given reporting period divided by the number of Customers in that period. We view Orders per Customer as a key indicator of our customers’ purchasing patterns, including their repeat purchase behavior.

Average Revenue per Customer

We define Average Revenue per Customer as our net revenue from our meal, wine, and market products sold on our e-commerce platforms in a given reporting period divided by the number of Customers in that period. We view Average Revenue per Customer as a key indicator of our customers’ purchasing patterns, including their repeat purchase behavior.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure defined by us as net income (loss) before interest income (expense), net, other operating expense, gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt, other income (expense), net, benefit (provision) for income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and share-based compensation expense. We have presented adjusted EBITDA in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q because it is a key measure used by our management and board of directors to understand and evaluate our operating performance, generate future operating plans, and make strategic decisions regarding the allocation of capital. In particular, we believe that the exclusion of certain items in calculating adjusted EBITDA can produce a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our business. Accordingly, we believe that adjusted EBITDA provides useful information in understanding and evaluating our operating results. Please see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for a discussion of the use of non-GAAP financial measures and for a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss), the most directly comparable measure calculated in accordance with GAAP.

Free Cash Flow

Free cash flow is a non-GAAP financial measure defined by us as net cash from (used in) operating activities less purchases of property and equipment. We have presented free cash flow in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q because it is used by our management and board of directors as an indicator of the amount of cash we generate or use and to evaluate our ability to satisfy current and future obligations and to fund future business opportunities. Accordingly, we believe that free cash flow provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results, enhancing the overall understanding of our ability to satisfy our financial obligations and pursue business opportunities, and allowing for greater transparency with respect to a key financial metric used by our management in their financial and operational decision-making. Free cash flow is not a measure of cash available for discretionary expenditures since we have certain non-discretionary obligations such as debt repayments or capital lease obligations that are not deducted from the measure. Additionally, other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate free cash flow differently, which reduces its usefulness as a comparative measure. Please see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for a discussion of the use of non-GAAP financial measures and for a reconciliation of free cash flow to net cash from (used in) operating activities, the most directly comparable measure calculated in accordance with GAAP.

Impact of COVID-19 on our Business

Since late in the first quarter of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has to varying degrees resulted in significant economic disruptions and changes to the labor market and consumer behaviors in the United States, which has impacted and may continue to impact our business.

In particular, beginning in late March 2020, we experienced an increase in demand due in part, as a result of changes to consumer behaviors resulting from the various restrictions that have been enacted throughout much of the United States in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As restrictions have lifted and as vaccines have become more

Table of Contents

widely available in the United States and people begin to resume pre-pandemic activities, such as travel and dining out, this increased demand due to the pandemic has and may continue to decline.

In 2020, in response to the increased demand, we took action to manage and increase capacity at our fulfillment centers, including continuing to hire new personnel, temporarily reducing variety in menu options, closing some weekly offering cycles early, and delaying certain new product offerings. In addition, in January 2021, we temporarily reopened our fulfillment center in Arlington, Texas. At the same time, we have taken a variety of safety and sanitation measures following federal, state, and local guidelines at our fulfillment centers’ operations. Furthermore, in response to the increased demand, we intentionally reduced marketing spend for portions of 2020 to manage capacity, but we increased our marketing spend at the end of the second quarter of 2020 and we have reengaged, and expect to continue to reengage, in significant additional marketing spend in the future as part of our accelerated growth strategy to retain existing and attract new customers.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have other adverse effects on our business, operations, and financial results and condition, including, among other things, as a result of adverse impacts on labor availability, our fulfillment center operations, supply chain and logistics disruptions, consumer behaviors, and on the overall economy. While most areas of the United States have reduced most or all COVID-19 restrictions, as the pandemic continues and if new outbreaks emerge, there is uncertainty regarding the magnitude and duration of the economic and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore we cannot predict the full extent of the positive or negative impacts the pandemic will have on our business, operations, and financial results and condition in future periods. In particular, the positive trends on our operating results relating to changes in consumer behaviors relating to the pandemic that we have generally seen since March 2020 may not continue, and could decline in future periods.

Please see “Risk Factors” under Part II, Item 1A for further discussion regarding risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Components of Our Results of Operations

Net Revenue

We generate net revenue primarily from the sale of meals to customers through our Two-Serving, Four-Serving, and Meal Prep Plans. We also generate net revenue through sales of Blue Apron Wine, and through sales on Blue Apron Market. For each of the three months and nine months ending September 30, 2021 and 2020, we derived substantially all of our net revenue from sales of our meals through our direct-to-consumer platform. We deduct promotional discounts, actual customer credits and refunds as well as customer credits and refunds expected to be issued to determine net revenue. Customers who receive a damaged meal or wine order or are dissatisfied with a meal or wine order and contact us within seven days of receipt of the order may receive a full or partial refund, full or partial credit against future purchase, or replacement, at our sole discretion. Credits only remain available for customers who maintain a valid account with us. Customers who return an unused, undamaged Blue Apron Market product within 30 days of receipt receive a full refund.

Our business is seasonal in nature and, as a result, our revenue and expenses and associated revenue trends fluctuate from quarter to quarter. We anticipate that the first quarter of each year will generally represent our strongest quarter in terms of customer engagement. Conversely, during the summer months and the end of year holidays, when people are vacationing more often or have less predictable weekly routines, we generally anticipate lower customer engagement. In 2020 the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic masked, in part, the seasonal fluctuations in our operating results as we saw our strongest quarter in the second quarter of 2020. We believe that historical seasonal trends have affected and will continue to affect our quarterly results in the future. However, we cannot predict the ongoing impact, if any, that the COVID-19 pandemic may have on seasonality in future periods and we have begun to see a return to normal seasonality in 2021. We also anticipate that our net revenue will be impacted by the timing and success of our ongoing product expansion initiatives.

In addition, our net revenue is impacted by our marketing strategies, including the timing and amount of paid advertising and promotional activity. For example, prior to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on demand for our

Table of Contents

products, our deliberate reduction in marketing expenses to focus on the marketing channels we believe to be the most efficient and target consumers that we believe will exhibit higher affinity and retention negatively impacted our net revenue. In addition, in order to manage heightened demand, we made a decision to temporarily cut back on certain existing product offerings and delay certain future new product offerings to meet increased demand relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, which may impact net revenue in future periods. As part of the acceleration of our growth strategy using the proceeds from the Capital Raise (as defined below) that closed in November 2021, we plan to significantly increase marketing expenses in the fourth quarter of 2021 and in 2022.

Credit card charges are recorded in deferred revenue until the criteria for revenue recognition have been met. Because we generally charge credit cards in advance of shipment and, historically, customers have most frequently requested delivery of their meals earlier in the week, our deferred revenue balance at the end of a financial reporting period may fluctuate significantly based on the day of the week on which that period ends. Consequently, large changes in deferred revenue at any particular time are not meaningful indicators of our financial results or future revenue trends.

Cost of Goods Sold, excluding Depreciation and Amortization

Cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization, consists of product and fulfillment costs. Product costs include the cost of food, packaging for food that is portioned prior to delivery to customers, labor and related personnel costs incurred to portion food for our meals, inbound shipping costs, and cost of products sold through Blue Apron Wine and Blue Apron Market. Fulfillment costs consist of costs incurred in the shipping and handling of inventory including the shipping costs to our customers, labor and related personnel costs related to receiving, inspecting, warehousing, picking inventory, and preparing customer orders for shipment, and the cost of packaging materials and shipping supplies. As noted above, our business is seasonal in nature and, as a result we anticipate that the third quarter of each year will generally reflect higher levels of cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization, due to higher packaging and shipping costs due to warmer temperatures. In the near-term we expect that these expenses will be higher because of the various actions taken to increase capacity in our fulfillment centers, as well as due to higher labor costs, including our recent increase to minimum wage, to help recruit and retain fulfillment center employees, higher food costs, higher fuel and logistics costs, and ongoing investments in product innovation to provide product variety, flexibility, and additional choice for our customers. Over time, we expect such expenses to decrease as a percentage of net revenue as we continue to focus on operational improvements and optimizing our fulfillment center operations.

Marketing

Our marketing expenses consist primarily of costs incurred to acquire new customers, retain existing customers, and build our brand awareness through various online and offline paid channels, including digital and social media, television, direct mail, radio and podcasts, email, brand activations, and certain variable and fixed payments to strategic brand partnerships. Also included in marketing expenses are the costs of orders through our customer referral program, in which certain existing customers may invite others to receive a complimentary meal kit, as well as costs paid to third parties to market our products. The cost of the customer referral program is based on our costs incurred for fulfilling a complimentary meal delivery, including product and fulfillment costs.

We expect marketing expenses to continue to comprise a significant portion of our operating expenses in support of our growth strategy, while also continuing to focus on efficiency and our customer acquisition strategy to target consumers that we believe will exhibit high affinity and retention through marketing channels we believe to be the most efficient. We anticipate that our marketing strategies, including the timing and extent of our marketing investments, will be informed by our strategic priorities, including our ability to implement our growth strategy, the sufficiency of our cash resources, the seasonal trends in our business, and the competitive landscape of our market, and will fluctuate from quarter-to-quarter and have a significant impact on our quarterly results of operations. We also anticipate that our near-term marketing strategies and investments may continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic or other macro-economic factors, and we may reduce or increase marketing expenditures in future periods to help us manage unforeseen demand to alleviate any future capacity constraints. We plan on significantly increasing our marketing efforts over the next twelve months to continue to drive net revenue and Customer growth.

Table of Contents

Product, Technology, General and Administrative

Product, technology, general and administrative expenses consist of costs related to the development of our products and technology, general and administrative expenses, and overhead expenses, which include: payroll and related expenses for employees involved in the application, production, and maintenance of our platform and other technology infrastructure costs; payroll and related expenses for employees performing corporate and other managerial functions; facilities’ costs such as occupancy and rent costs for our corporate offices and fulfillment centers; and payment processing fees, professional fees, and other general corporate and administrative costs. Over time, we expect such expenses to decrease as a percentage of net revenue reflecting our continued focus on expense management and as we continue to scale our business.

Depreciation and Amortization

Depreciation and amortization consists of depreciation expense for our property and equipment and amortization expense for capitalized software development costs.

Other Operating Expense

Other operating expense includes charges related to the Arlington fulfillment center closure announced in February 2020, a non-cash gain, net of a termination fee, on the Fairfield lease termination in March 2020, and a charge for an estimated legal settlement in August 2020.

Gain (Loss) on Extinguishment of Debt

Gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt relates to the extinguishment loss recorded upon the amendment of the 2020 Term Loan in May 2021.

Interest Income (Expense), Net

Interest income and expense consists primarily of interest expense on our outstanding borrowings, capital lease financings, and build-to-suit lease financings partially offset by interest income on cash and cash equivalents balances.

Other Income (Expense), Net

Other income (expense), net consists of the change in fair value of the Blue Torch warrant obligation upon remeasurement as of each reporting period. For additional information on the Blue Torch warrant obligation, see Note 9 and Note 14 to the consolidated financial statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Benefit (Provision) for Income Taxes

Our benefit (provision) for income taxes and our effective tax rates are affected by permanent differences between GAAP and statutory tax laws, certain one-time items, and the impact of valuation allowances. For the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, we recorded nominal tax expense, resulting in an effective tax rate of (0.0)% and (0.1)%, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, we recorded nominal tax expense, resulting in an effective tax rate of (0.0)% and (0.1)%, respectively. We continue to maintain a valuation allowance for federal and state tax jurisdictions. Our tax provision results from state taxes in a jurisdiction in which net operating losses were not available to offset our tax obligation.

As of December 31, 2020, we had U.S. federal and state net operating loss carryforwards of $397.5 million and $153.2 million, respectively. Of the $397.5 million of federal net operating loss carryforwards, $221.5 million was generated before January 1, 2018 and is subject to a 20-year carryforward period. The remaining $176.0 million can be carried forward indefinitely, but is subject to an 80% taxable income limitation in any future taxable year. The pre-2018 federal and all state net operating losses will begin to expire in 2032 and 2033, respectively, if not utilized.

Table of Contents

Results of Operations

The following sets forth our consolidated statements of operations data for each of the periods indicated:


	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
	2021		2020		2021		2020

	(In thousands)
Net revenue	$	109,654	$	112,253	$	363,370	$	345,150
Operating expenses:
Cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization		73,397		74,499		232,574		213,005
Marketing		14,852		10,862		51,108		37,455
Product, technology, general and administrative		35,237		33,687		108,590		100,397
Depreciation and amortization		5,507		5,871		16,739		18,799
Other operating expense		—		1,100		—		4,567
Total operating expenses		128,993		126,019		409,011		374,223
Income (loss) from operations		(19,339)		(13,766)		(45,641)		(29,073)
Gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt		—		—		(4,089)		—
Interest income (expense), net		(1,864)		(1,482)		(6,303)		(5,178)
Other income (expense), net		(6,432)		—		(5,884)		—
Income (loss) before income taxes		(27,635)		(15,248)		(61,917)		(34,251)
Benefit (provision) for income taxes		(1)		(14)		(27)		(42)
Net income (loss)	$	(27,636)	$	(15,262)	$	(61,944)	$	(34,293)

Table of Contents

The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations data as a percentage of net revenue for each of the periods indicated:


	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
	2021		2020		2021		2020

	(as a percentage of net revenue)
Net revenue	100.0	%	100.0	%	100.0	%	100.0	%
Operating expenses:
Cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization	66.9	%	66.4	%	64.0	%	61.7	%
Marketing	13.5	%	9.7	%	14.1	%	10.9	%
Product, technology, general and administrative	32.1	%	30.0	%	29.9	%	29.1	%
Depreciation and amortization	5.0	%	5.2	%	4.6	%	5.4	%
Other operating expense	—	%	1.0	%	—	%	1.3	%
Total operating expenses	117.6	%	112.3	%	112.6	%	108.4	%
Income (loss) from operations	(17.6)	%	(12.3)	%	(12.6)	%	(8.4)	%
Gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt	—	%	—		(1.1)	%	—	%
Interest income (expense), net	(1.7)	%	(1.3)	%	(1.7)	%	(1.5)	%
Other income (expense), net	(5.9)	%	—	%	(1.6)	%	—	%
Income (loss) before income taxes	(25.2)	%	(13.6)	%	(17.0)	%	(9.9)	%
Benefit (provision) for income taxes	(0.0)	%	(0.0)	%	(0.0)	%	(0.0)	%
Net income (loss)	(25.2)	%	(13.6)	%	(17.0)	%	(9.9)	%

Three Months Ended September 30, 2021 Compared to Three Months Ended September 30, 2020

Net Revenue


	Three Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021		2020		% Change

	(In thousands)
Net revenue	$	109,654	$	112,253	(2)	%

Net revenue decreased by $2.6 million, or 2%, to $109.7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2021 from $112.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2020 as the prior year period reflected heightened demand from the pandemic. The decrease in net revenue was primarily due to a decrease in Orders and Customers, partially offset by an increase in Average Order Value reflecting the continued execution of our growth strategy, including through product innovation, and the changes in consumer behavior relating to the pandemic. Net revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2020 was negatively impacted by approximately $2.0 million of credits issued for customer boxes affected by a voluntary recall of onions supplied for the company.

Operating Expenses

Cost of Goods Sold, excluding Depreciation and Amortization


	Three Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021			2020			% Change

	(In thousands)
Cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization	$	73,397		$	74,499		(1)	%
% of net revenue		66.9	%		66.4	%

Table of Contents

Cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization, decreased by $1.1 million, or 1%, to $73.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2021 from $74.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2020. This decrease was primarily driven by a decrease in Orders. As a percentage of net revenue, cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization, increased to 66.9% for the three months ended September 30, 2021 from 66.4% for the three months ended September 30, 2020. The increase in cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization, as a percentage of net revenue, was primarily due to:

●

an increase of 120 basis points in food and product packaging costs, driven by price increases, the cost of premium and specialty ingredients related to new product offerings and enhancements to our existing product offerings to provide variety, flexibility, and additional choice for our customers; and

●

an increase of 30 basis points in shipping and fulfillment packaging costs largely driven by rate increases and fuel surcharges from shipping carriers; partially offset by

●

a decrease of 100 basis points in labor costs largely as the three months ended September 30, 2020 reflected increased costs to increase capacity at our fulfillment centers in response to the pandemic, such as temporary wage increases and attendance bonuses put in place as incentives for frontline employees.

Marketing


	Three Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021			2020			% Change

	(In thousands)
Marketing	$	14,852		$	10,862		37	%
% of net revenue		13.5	%		9.7	%

Marketing expenses increased by $4.0 million, or 37%, to $14.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2021 from $10.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2020, as we moderated marketing efforts in the prior year to help manage fulfillment center capacity. The increase was seen across online paid channels and offline paid channels, partially offset by decreases in our customer referral program. As a percentage of net revenue, marketing expenses increased to 13.5% for the three months ended September 30, 2021 from 9.7% for the three months ended September 30, 2020. This increase as a percentage of net revenue included an increase of 350 basis points in online paid channels and an increase of 40 basis points in offline paid channels, partially offset by a decrease of 10 basis points in our customer referral program, primarily driven by a decrease in the mix of customer referral orders versus total Orders.

Product, Technology, General and Administrative


	Three Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021			2020			% Change

	(In thousands)
Product, technology, general and administrative	$	35,237		$	33,687		5	%
% of net revenue		32.1	%		30.0	%

Product, technology, general and administrative expenses increased by $1.5 million, or 5%, to $35.2 million for the three months ended September 30, 2021 from $33.7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2020. This increase was primarily driven by investments to support our business and execute on key business initiatives, including:

●

an increase of $1.5 million in personnel costs driven by wage increases and certain headcount increases to support our growth strategy;

Table of Contents

●

an increase of $0.6 million in corporate overhead and administrative costs, driven primarily by investments in external consultants to support our growth strategy; partially offset by

●

a decrease of $0.6 million in facilities costs for our corporate offices and fulfillment centers, driven by a gain on sale of fixed assets.

As a percentage of net revenue, product, technology, general and administrative expenses increased 210 basis points to 32.1% for the three months ended September 30, 2021 from 30.0% for the three months ended September 30, 2020 driven by expenses incurred to support our growth plan and execute on key business initiatives.

Depreciation and Amortization


	Three Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021			2020			% Change

	(In thousands)
Depreciation and amortization	$	5,507		$	5,871		(6)	%
% of net revenue		5.0	%		5.2	%

Depreciation and amortization decreased by $0.4 million, or 6%, to $5.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2021 from $5.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2020. This decrease was primarily driven by impairment charges and write-offs on long-lived assets. As a percentage of net revenue, depreciation and amortization decreased to 5.0% for the three months ended September 30, 2021 from 5.2% for the three months ended September 30, 2020.

Other Operating Expense

Other operating expense for the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 was $0.0 million and $1.1 million, respectively. Other operating expense for the three months ended September 30, 2020 represents a $1.1 million charge related to an estimated legal settlement.

Income (Loss) from Operations


	Three Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021			2020			% Change

	(In thousands)
Income (loss) from operations	$	(19,339)		$	(13,766)		40	%
% of net revenue		(17.6)	%		(12.3)	%

Income (loss) from operations for the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 was $(19.3) million and $(13.8) million, respectively. This change was due to an increase in operating expenses of $2.9 million and a decrease in net revenue of $2.6 million. As a percentage of net revenue, income (loss) from operations was (17.6)% and (12.3)% for the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. This decrease was primarily driven by increases as a percentage of net revenue in marketing expenses, product, technology, general and administrative expenses, and cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization, partially offset by decreases as a percentage of net revenue in other operating expense and depreciation and amortization, for the reasons set forth above.

Interest Income (Expense), Net

Interest income (expense), net for the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 was $(1.9) million and $(1.5) million, respectively. This change was primarily due to increased interest expense incurred on outstanding borrowings of $0.4 million.

Table of Contents

Other Income (Expense), Net

Other income (expense), net for the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 was $(6.4) million and $0.0 million, respectively. This change consists of the change in fair value of the Blue Torch warrant obligation, issued in May 2021 in conjunction with the amendment of the 2020 Term Loan, upon remeasurement as of each reporting period.

Benefit (Provision) for Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes recorded in the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively, reflects state income taxes in a jurisdiction in which net operating losses were not available to offset our tax obligation.

Nine Months Ended September 30, 2021 Compared to Nine Months Ended September 30, 2020

Net Revenue


	Nine Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021		2020		% Change

	(In thousands)
Net revenue	$	363,370	$	345,150	5	%

Net revenue increased by $18.2 million, or 5%, to $363.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 from $345.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. The increase in net revenue was primarily due to an increase in Average Order Value during the nine months ended September 30, 2021 as a result of both the continued execution of our growth strategy, including through product innovation, and the changes in consumer behaviors relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Operating Expenses

Cost of Goods Sold, excluding Depreciation and Amortization


	Nine Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021			2020			% Change

	(In thousands)
Cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization	$	232,574		$	213,005		9	%
% of net revenue		64.0	%		61.7	%

Cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization, increased by $19.6 million, or 9%, to $232.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 from $213.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. This increase was primarily driven by increases in food and product packaging costs. As a percentage of net revenue, cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization, increased to 64.0% for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 from 61.7% for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. The increase in cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization, as a percentage of net revenue, was primarily due to:

●

an increase of 230 basis points in food and product packaging costs, driven by price increases, the cost of premium and specialty ingredients related to new product offerings and enhancements to our existing product offerings to provide variety, flexibility, and additional choice for our customers, as well as increased usage of higher-priced pre-packaged produce to facilitate and improve capacity at our fulfillment centers; and

●

an increase of 20 basis points in shipping and fulfillment packaging largely due to rate increases and fuel surcharges from shipping carriers, partially offset by

Table of Contents

●

a decrease of 20 basis points in labor costs largely as the prior year reflected increased costs to increase capacity at our fulfillment centers to meet the substantial demand at the height of the pandemic, such as temporary wage increases and attendance bonuses put in place as incentives for frontline employees.

Marketing


	Nine Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021			2020			% Change

	(In thousands)
Marketing	$	51,108		$	37,455		36	%
% of net revenue		14.1	%		10.9	%

Marketing expenses increased by $13.6 million, or 36%, to $51.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 from $37.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020, as marketing investments returned to more normal levels following the pullback in the prior year period to help manage fulfillment center capacity during the peak of the pandemic. The increase was seen across online paid channels, partially offset by decreases across offline paid channels and in our customer referral program. As a percentage of net revenue, marketing expenses increased to 14.1% for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 from 10.9% for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. This increase as a percentage of net revenue included an increase of 390 basis points in online paid channels, partially offset by a decrease of 50 basis points in offline paid channels, and a decrease of 20 basis points in our customer referral program, primarily driven by a decrease in the mix of customer referral orders versus total Orders.

Product, Technology, General and Administrative


	Nine Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021			2020			% Change

	(In thousands)
Product, technology, general and administrative	$	108,590		$	100,397		8	%
% of net revenue		29.9	%		29.1	%

Product, technology, general and administrative expenses increased by $8.2 million, or 8%, to $108.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 from $100.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. This increase was primarily driven by investments to support our business and execute on key business initiatives, including:

●

an increase of $4.0 million in corporate overhead and administrative costs, driven by investments in external consultants to support our growth strategy;

●

an increase of $3.5 million in personnel costs driven by wage increases and certain headcount increases to support our growth strategy, and an increase in shared-based compensation; and

●

an increase of $0.7 million in facilities costs for our corporate offices and fulfillment centers, primarily driven by the costs of administering COVID-19 tests to workers at our fulfillment centers.

As a percentage of net revenue, product, technology, general and administrative expenses increased 80 basis points to 29.9% for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 from 29.1% for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 primarily due to investments to support our business and execute on key business initiatives.

Table of Contents

Depreciation and Amortization


	Nine Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021			2020			% Change

	(In thousands)
Depreciation and amortization	$	16,739		$	18,799		(11)	%
% of net revenue		4.6	%		5.4	%

Depreciation and amortization decreased by $2.1 million, or 11%, to $16.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 from $18.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. This decrease was primarily driven by impairment charges and write-offs on long-lived assets. As a percentage of net revenue, depreciation and amortization decreased to 4.6% for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 from 5.4% for the nine months ended September 30, 2020.

Other Operating Expense

Other operating expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 was $0 million and $4.6 million, respectively. Other operating expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 represents charges of $8.4 million related to the Arlington fulfillment center closure announced in February 2020, including $7.6 million of non-cash impairment charges on long-lived assets, $0.4 million of employee-related expenses, primarily consisting of severance payments, and $0.4 million of other exit costs, partially offset by a $4.9 million non-cash gain, net of a $1.5 million termination fee, on the Fairfield lease termination in March 2020, as well as a $1.1 million charge for an estimated legal settlement.

Income (Loss) from Operations


	Nine Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021			2020			% Change

	(In thousands)
Income (loss) from operations	$	(45,641)		$	(29,073)		57	%
% of net revenue		(12.6)	%		(8.4)	%

Income (loss) from operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 was $(45.6) million and $(29.1) million, respectively. This change was due to an increase in operating expenses of $34.8 million, which was partially offset by an increase in net revenue of $18.2 million. As a percentage of net revenue, income (loss) from operations was (12.6)% and (8.4)% for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. This change was primarily driven by increases as a percentage of net revenue in marketing expenses, cost of goods sold, excluding depreciation and amortization, and product, technology, general and administrative expenses, partially offset by decreases in other operating expense and depreciation and amortization for the reasons set forth above.

Gain (Loss) on Extinguishment of Debt

Gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 was $(4.1) million and $0.0 million, respectively. This change was due to the extinguishment loss recorded upon the amendment of the 2020 Term Loan in May 2021.

Interest Income (Expense), Net

Interest income (expense), net for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 was $(6.3) million and $(5.2) million, respectively. This change was primarily due to increased interest expense incurred on outstanding borrowings of $0.8 million, as well as the payment of $0.5 million of the closing fee and the derecognition of $0.4 million unamortized debt issuance costs recorded in conjunction with the release of the 2021 Term Loan (as defined

Table of Contents

below) in June 2021, partially offset by a decrease of $0.6 million associated with build-to-suit lease financings as a result of the Fairfield lease termination.

Other Income (Expense), net

Other income (expense), net for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 was $(5.9) million and $0.0 million, respectively. This change consists of the change in fair value of the Blue Torch warrant obligation, issued in May 2021 in conjunction with the amendment of the 2020 Term Loan, upon remeasurement as of each reporting period.

Benefit (Provision) for Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes recorded in the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively, reflects state income taxes in a jurisdiction in which net operating losses were not available to offset our tax obligation.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To provide additional information regarding our financial results, we monitor and have presented within this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow, which are non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures are not based on any standardized methodology prescribed by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, and are not necessarily comparable to similarly-titled measures presented by other companies.

We define adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest income (expense), net, other operating expense, gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt, other income (expense), net, benefit (provision) for income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and share-based compensation expense. We have presented adjusted EBITDA in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q because it is a key measure used by our management and board of directors to understand and evaluate our operating performance, generate future operating plans, and make strategic decisions regarding the allocation of capital. In particular, we believe that the exclusion of certain items in calculating adjusted EBITDA can produce a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our business.

We use adjusted EBITDA to evaluate our operating performance and trends and make planning decisions. We believe adjusted EBITDA helps identify underlying trends in our business that could otherwise be masked by the effect of the expenses that we exclude. Accordingly, we believe that adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results, enhancing the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects, and allowing for greater transparency with respect to key financial metrics used by our management in its financial and operational decision-making.

Our adjusted EBITDA is not prepared in accordance with GAAP, and should not be considered in isolation of, or as an alternative to, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. There are a number of limitations related to the use of adjusted EBITDA rather than net income (loss), which is the most directly comparable GAAP equivalent. Some of these limitations are:

●

adjusted EBITDA excludes share-based compensation expense, as share-based compensation expense has recently been, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, a significant recurring expense for our business and an important part of our compensation strategy;

●

adjusted EBITDA excludes depreciation and amortization expense and, although these are non-cash expenses, the assets being depreciated may have to be replaced in the future;

●

adjusted EBITDA excludes other operating expense, as other operating expense represents non-cash impairment charges on long-lived assets, a non-cash gain, net of a termination fee, on lease termination, and restructuring costs;

Table of Contents

●

adjusted EBITDA excludes loss on extinguishment of debt as this represents a non-cash charge;

●

adjusted EBITDA does not reflect interest expense, or the cash requirements necessary to service interest, which reduces cash available to us;

●

adjusted EBITDA does not reflect other (income) expense, net as this represents changes in the fair value of the Blue Torch warrant obligation as of each reporting period;

●

adjusted EBITDA does not reflect income tax payments that reduce cash available to us; and

●

other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate adjusted EBITDA differently, which reduces its usefulness as a comparative measure.

We define free cash flow as net cash from (used in) operating activities less purchases of property and equipment. We have presented free cash flow in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q because it is used by our management and board of directors as an indicator of the amount of cash we generate or use and to evaluate our ability to satisfy current and future obligations and to fund future business opportunities. Accordingly, we believe that free cash flow provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results, enhancing the overall understanding of our ability to satisfy our financial obligations and pursue business opportunities, and allowing for greater transparency with respect to a key financial metric used by our management in their financial and operational decision-making.

Our free cash flow is not prepared in accordance with GAAP, and should not be considered in isolation of, or as an alternative to, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. There are a number of limitations related to the use of free cash flow rather than net cash from (used in) operating activities, which is the most directly comparable GAAP equivalent. Some of these limitations are:

●

free cash flow is not a measure of cash available for discretionary expenditures since we have certain non-discretionary obligations such as debt repayments or capital lease obligations that are not deducted from the measure; and

●

other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate free cash flow differently, which reduces its usefulness as a comparative measure.

Because of these limitations, we consider, and you should consider, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow together with other financial information presented in accordance with GAAP.

The following tables present a reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable measure calculated in accordance with GAAP, for each of the periods presented:


	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
	2021		2020		2021		2020

	(In thousands)
Reconciliation of net income (loss) to adjusted EBITDA
Net income (loss)	$	(27,636)	$	(15,262)	$	(61,944)	$	(34,293)
Share-based compensation		2,166		2,089		7,631		6,338
Depreciation and amortization		5,507		5,871		16,739		18,799
Other operating expense		—		1,100		—		4,567
Gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt		—		—		4,089		—
Interest (income) expense, net		1,864		1,482		6,303		5,178
Other (income) expense, net		6,432		—		5,884		—
Provision (benefit) for income taxes		1		14		27		42
Adjusted EBITDA	$	(11,666)	$	(4,706)	$	(21,271)	$	631

Table of Contents


	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
	2021		2020		2021		2020

	(In thousands)
Reconciliation of net cash from (used in) operating activities to free cash flow
Net cash from (used in) operating activities	$	(16,518)	$	(7,121)	$	(27,396)	$	(4,052)
Purchases of property and equipment		(1,075)		(1,937)		(4,084)		(4,777)
Free cash flow	$	(17,593)	$	(9,058)	$	(31,480)	$	(8,829)

Liquidity and Capital Resources

The following table shows our cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, net, restricted cash, and working capital as of the dates indicated:



	September 30,		December 31,
	2021		2020

	(In thousands)
Cash and cash equivalents	$	35,282	$	44,122
Accounts receivable, net	$	146	$	116
Restricted cash included in Prepaid expenses and other assets	$	279	$	610
Restricted cash included in Other noncurrent assets	$	1,160	$	1,100
Working capital (1)	$	(30,838)	$	(29,640)

(1)

We define working capital as the difference between our current assets (excluding cash and cash equivalents) and current liabilities (excluding the current portion of long-term debt and the current portion of the Blue Torch warrant obligation).

Total outstanding debt, net of debt issuance costs, was $30.0 million as of September 30, 2021 and $32.2 million as of December 31, 2020. Issued letters of credit outstanding were $1.4 million and $1.6 million as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020.

Our cash requirements are principally for working capital and capital expenditures to support our business, including investments at our fulfillment centers, investments in sustainability efforts, and investment in marketing to support the acceleration of our growth strategy. Our primary sources of liquidity are cash and cash equivalents, cash flows from the operations of our business, and cash generated through financing activities, as discussed below.

Based on the current facts and circumstances, including the additional financial flexibility provided through the Capital Raise that closed on November 4, 2021, and is discussed further in Note 16 to the consolidated financial statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, we believe that we can effectively manage liquidity and subscription count in order to remain in compliance with the financial covenants under our 2020 Term Loan and we believe that our cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for at least the next 12 months. Our future capital requirements and the availability and accessibility to additional funds will depend on many factors, including our ability to remain compliant with the covenants of our 2020 Term Loan and those described in the section titled “Risk Factors” under Part II, Item 1A below.

November 2021 Capital Raise

On September 15, 2021, we entered into a purchase agreement, or the Purchase Agreement, with RJB Partners LLC, or RJB, an affiliate of Joseph N. Sanberg, one of our existing stockholders and founding investors, and Matthew B. Salzberg, our co-founder, relating to an equity capital raise for an aggregate of $78.0 million of gross proceeds, without giving effect to the receipt of any exercise price of any warrants issued in the transactions. We refer to this series of related transactions as the “Capital Raise”. The Purchase Agreement provided that, among other things:

●

We would conduct a rights offering (the “Rights Offering”), pursuant to which we distributed, at no charge, to the holders of record of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock and certain outstanding warrants to

Table of Contents

purchase shares of Class A common stock held by our lenders (the “Eligible Securityholders”) one non-transferable subscription right (each, a “Subscription Right” and collectively, the “Subscription Rights”) for each share of Class A common stock held or, in the case of the holders of the applicable outstanding warrants, each share of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants. Each Subscription Right provided the Eligible Securityholder the right to purchase one unit consisting of (i) a fraction of (the “Applicable Fraction”) of one share of Class A common stock, (ii) one warrant to purchase the Applicable Fraction of 0.8 of one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $15.00 per share, (iii) one warrant to purchase the Applicable Fraction of 0.4 of one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $18.00 per share, and (iv) one warrant to purchase the Applicable Fraction of 0.2 of one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share. The Applicable Fraction was equal to 0.185055707113895 based upon the shares held (or issuable upon exercise of the applicable outstanding warrants) by the Eligible Securityholders as of the record date. The subscription price for each unit was equal to $1.8505 (or $10.00 multiplied by the Applicable Fraction). 6,671,271 subscription rights were subscribed for in the rights offering, which closed on November 4, 2021, resulting in the issuance of (i) 1,234,187 shares of Class A common stock, (ii) warrants to purchase 987,645.417802738 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $15.00 per share, (iii) warrants to purchase 493,822.7089013690 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $18.00 per share, and (iv) warrants to purchase 246,911.3544506840 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share.

●

RJB would purchase in a private placement (the “Backstop Private Placement”) the number of shares of Class A common stock and warrants that remained unsubscribed at the expiration of the Rights Offering subscription period for an aggregate purchase price equal to $45.0 million less the aggregate purchase price received from purchasers of units in the Rights Offering. On November 4, 2021, RJB purchased $32.7 million of securities in the Backstop Private Placement and we issued (i) 3,265,813 shares of Class A common stock, (ii) warrants to purchase 2,612,354.58219726 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $15.00 per share, (iii) warrants to purchase 1,306,177.291098630 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $18.00 per share, and (iv) warrants to purchase 653,088.645549316 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share.

●

RJB would purchase, in a private placement, or the Concurrent Private Placement, on the same terms and concurrently with the consummation of the Backstop Private Placement and for an aggregate purchase price of $30.0 million, (i) 3,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, (ii) warrants to purchase 2,400,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $15.00 per share, (iii) warrants to purchase 1,200,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $18.00 per share, and (iv) warrants to purchase 600,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share. The Concurrent Private Placement closed on November 4, 2021.

●

The Class B Automatic Conversion would occur. For additional information on the Class B Automatic Conversion, see Note 11 Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit) to the consolidated financial statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Under the Purchase Agreement, RJB agreed to a customary standstill for a period of three years, as well as provisions requiring RJB to vote all our securities it beneficially owns, and to cause our securities beneficially owned by Mr. Sanberg and certain of its or his respective affiliates to be voted, in each case in excess of 19.9% of the total voting

Table of Contents

power of our outstanding capital stock in the aggregate, in proportion to and in accordance with the vote of all of our stockholders.

As contemplated by the Purchase Agreement, on November 4, 2021, we entered into a registration rights agreement with RJB and Mr. Salzberg to provide them with customary registration rights with respect to the securities purchased in the private placements and other shares of our Class A common stock held by RJB and certain of its affiliates and Mr. Salzberg. Further, the Purchase Agreement also requires our board of directors (the “Board”) to adopt specified environmental, social, and corporate governance measures, including the following: (i) using reasonable best efforts to conduct and complete a greenhouse gas emissions inventory survey by December 31, 2021 and to become “carbon neutral” in specified respects from and after March 31, 2022; (ii) establishing a minimum wage of at least $15.00 per hour to all hourly employees and adopting a policy to pay hourly employees wages at least equal to those offered by comparable companies; and (iii) using reasonable best efforts to cause our nominees for election to the Board at the 2022 annual stockholders meeting (the “2022 Annual Meeting”) to be composed of individuals at least half of whom are women and at least half of whom are persons of color and, if at least half the directors are not women or if at least half of the directors are not persons of color immediately after the 2022 Annual Meeting, to increase the size of the Board and appoint new directors, or obtain resignations from then-current directors, such that at least half of the directors are women and at least half of the directors are persons of color. We have engaged a national search firm to assist us in recruiting new Board members. We have further agreed, at the 2022 Annual Meeting, to propose amendments to our restated certificate of incorporation, as amended (the “Charter”), to: (i) permit stockholders representing at least twenty-five percent (25%) of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock to call a special meeting of stockholders and (ii) eliminate the requirement that the affirmative vote of stockholders representing at least sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66-2/3%) of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock be required to (x) remove a director and (y) amend our Charter or our bylaws, subject to certain exceptions. In connection with the closing of the Capital Raise, on November 4, 2021, we also amended our bylaws to adopt a “proxy access” provision.

Each warrant issued in the Salzberg Private Placement, the Rights Offering, Backstop Private Placement and Concurrent Private Placement has a term of seven years from the date of issuance. Each such warrant may only be exercised for cash, except in connection with certain fundamental transactions, and no fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the warrants. The warrants are non-transferable, except in limited circumstances, and have not been listed or otherwise trade on any stock exchange. The number of shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and the applicable exercise prices is subject to adjustment upon the occurrence of certain events, including (i) dividends or distributions of shares of our Class A common stock, (ii) subdivisions, combinations and certain reclassifications of shares of our Class A common stock, (iii) certain additional issuances of Class A common stock or securities exercisable for or convertible into shares of Class A common stock at a price per share less than the market price for our Class A common stock, (iv) distributions of assets other than Class A common stock, or (v) certain repurchases made by us.

We plan to use the net proceeds of the Capital Raise for general corporate purposes, primarily consisting of:

●

Acceleration and expansion of our growth strategy, with an expected focus on:

Opening up channels to appeal to new audiences and segments through new products and product categories;

Product innovation to increase variety, flexibility, and choice; and

Increasing investments in marketing and technology infrastructure to build on improvements over the past year to drive engagement with our current customers and attract new ones.

Table of Contents

●

Acceleration of certain of our environmental and sustainability initiatives, including a plan to accelerate our path to carbon neutrality by March 31, 2022, initially through carbon offsets, and thereafter supplement or replace the offsets by systematic reduction of carbon use in packaging, logistics, sourcing, and production.

●

Increased investments in our hourly employees to attract, retain and engage a talented, diverse workforce, including raising the base hourly compensation rate to at least $18 per hour for employees in good standing in our existing offices and fulfillment centers (which we implemented in October 2021) as well as enhancing our employee benefits and programs.

We may also use up to $5.0 million of such proceeds, at our sole discretion, to voluntarily repay any of our existing indebtedness under the 2020 Term Loan.

Underwritten public offerings

On April 29, 2020, we filed a universal shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), or the 2020 Shelf, to register for sale from time to time up to $75.0 million of Class A common stock, preferred stock, debt securities and/or warrants in one or more offerings, which became effective on July 23, 2020.

On August 10, 2020, we completed an underwritten public offering of 4,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock under the 2020 Shelf, resulting in $32.9 million of proceeds, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs.

On June 18, 2021, we completed an underwritten public offering (the “June 2021 offering”) of 5,411,900 shares of our Class A common stock, including the 705,900 shares issuable upon the underwriter’s exercise of its option to purchase additional shares, under the 2020 Shelf, resulting in $21.1 million of proceeds, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs.

Debt financing transactions

On October 16, 2020 (the “effective date”), we entered into a financing agreement which provided for the 2020 Term Loan in the aggregate principal amount of $35.0 million and maturing in March 2023. The proceeds of the 2020 Term Loan were used, together with cash on hand, to repay in full the outstanding indebtedness under the revolving credit facility and to pay fees and expenses in connection with the transactions contemplated by the 2020 Term Loan. We terminated the revolving credit facility effective as of the closing of the 2020 Term Loan.

On May 5, 2021, we amended the financing agreement relating to the 2020 Term Loan (the “Amendment”), which modified certain provisions of the financing agreement, as well as provided for a $5.0 million term loan, that was funded into escrow (the “2021 Term Loan”). The 2021 Term Loan bore interest at a rate equal to LIBOR (subject to a 1.50% floor) plus 10.00% per annum and matured at the same time as the 2020 Term Loan. The Amendment also increased the interest rate margin on the 2020 Term Loan by 1.00% per annum. Pursuant to the Amendment, the net proceeds of the June 2021 offering were not subject to the mandatory prepayment provision of the 2020 Term Loan. However, the Amendment required that the 2021 Term Loan be released in full from escrow to the lenders upon completion of the June 2021 offering.

As of September 30, 2021 the 2020 Term Loan bore interest at a rate equal to LIBOR (subject to a 1.50% floor) plus 9.00% per annum. The principal amount of the 2020 Term Loan is repayable in equal quarterly installments of $875,000 through December 31, 2022, with the remaining unpaid principal amount of the 2020 Term Loan repayable on March 31, 2023.

The 2020 Term Loan contains restrictive covenants, financial covenants, and affirmative and financial reporting covenants restricting our and our subsidiaries’ activities. As of September 30, 2021, the financial covenants in the 2020 Term Loan include a requirement to maintain a minimum aggregate liquidity balance of $20.0 million at all times and a minimum subscription count (defined in the 2020 Term Loan as the number of all active customers on our internal

Table of Contents

account list) of 300,000 on any determination date occurring between the effective date and December 31, 2021, and 320,000 on any determination date occurring thereafter. As of September 30, 2021, we were in compliance with all of the covenants under the 2020 Term Loan.

Cash Flows

The following table presents the major components of net cash flows from and used in operating, investing, and financing activities for the periods indicated:


	Nine Months Ended
	September 30,
	2021		2020

	(In thousands)
Net cash from (used in) operating activities	$	(27,396)	$	(4,052)
Net cash from (used in) investing activities		(2,728)		(4,612)
Net cash from (used in) financing activities		21,003		22,332
Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash		(9,121)		13,668
Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash–beginning of period		45,842		46,443
Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash–end of period	$	36,721	$	60,111

Net Cash from (used in) Operating Activities

Net cash from (used in) operating activities consists of net income (loss) adjusted for primarily non-cash items and changes in operating assets and liabilities.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, net cash from (used in) operating activities was $(27.4) million and consisted of net income (loss) of $(61.9) million, non-cash items of $34.4 million, and a net change in operating assets and liabilities of $0.1 million. Changes in operating assets and liabilities were primarily driven by an increase in accounts payable of $13.0 million and a decrease in prepaid expenses and other current assets of $10.5 million, partially offset by decreases in accrued expenses and other current liabilities, other noncurrent assets and liabilities, and deferred revenue of $18.0 million and an increase in inventories and receivables of $5.4 million.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, net cash from (used in) operating activities was $(4.1) million and consisted of net income (loss) of $(34.3) million, primarily non-cash items of $28.2 million, and a net change in operating assets and liabilities of $2.1 million. Changes in operating assets and liabilities were primarily driven by increases in accrued expenses and other current liabilities, accounts payable, and other noncurrent assets and liabilities of $9.9 million and decreases in receivables and inventory of $6.5 million, partially offset by an increase in prepaid expenses and other current assets of $14.0 million and a decrease in deferred revenue of $0.3 million.

Net Cash from (used in) Investing Activities

Net cash from (used in) investing activities primarily relates to capital expenditures to support our business initiatives and drive efficiency in fulfillment center operations and investment in software development.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, net cash from (used in) investing activities was $(2.7) million and consisted primarily of $(4.1) million for purchases of property and equipment, of which approximately $(2.0) million relates to capitalized software costs, to support business initiatives and ongoing product expansion, partially offset by $1.4 million of proceeds from the sales of fixed assets.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, net cash from (used in) investing activities was $(4.6) million and consisted primarily of $(4.8) million for purchases of property and equipment, of which approximately $(2.2) million relates to capitalized software costs, to support business initiatives and ongoing product expansion.

Table of Contents

As of September 30, 2021, our projected capital expenditures are expected to amount to approximately $8.0 million to $10.0 million in the aggregate over the next 12 months. The timing and amount of our projected expenditures is dependent upon a number of factors, including the anticipated and actual scale of our business, and may vary significantly from our estimates.

Net Cash from (used in) Financing Activities

Net cash from (used in) financing activities primarily relates to proceeds from issuances of Class A common stock, net borrowings and repayments of debt, payments of debt issuance costs, proceeds from exercises of stock options, and principal payments on capital lease obligations.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, net cash from (used in) financing activities was $21.0 million and consisted primarily of $21.1 million of proceeds from the public offering of Class A common stock, net of offering costs, $2.8 million of proceeds from the Salzberg Private Placement, net of issuance costs, and the deemed receipt of funds held in escrow relating to the Amendment, partially offset by the release back to the lenders of the funds held in escrow relating to the Amendment, repayments of debt, payments of debt issuance costs, and principal payments on capital lease obligations.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, net cash from (used in) financing activities was $22.3 million and consisted primarily of $32.9 million of proceeds from the public offering of Class A common stock, net of offering costs, as well as proceeds from the exercise of stock options, partially offset by a $10.8 million repayment of debt under our revolving credit facility and principal payments on capital lease obligations.

Free Cash Flow

We define free cash flow as net cash from (used in) operating activities less purchases of property and equipment.

Our free cash flow was $(31.5) million and $(8.8) million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, free cash flow consisted of $(27.4) million of net cash from (used in) operating activities and $(4.1) million for purchases of property and equipment, of which approximately $(2.0) million relates to capitalized software costs. For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, free cash flow consisted of $(4.1) million of net cash from (used in) operating activities and $(4.8) million for purchases of property and equipment, of which approximately $(2.2) million relates to capitalized software costs. Please see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for a discussion of the use of non-GAAP financial measures and for a reconciliation of free cash flow to net cash from (used in) operating activities, the most directly comparable measure calculated in accordance with GAAP.

Contractual Obligations

On September 29, 2021, we amended the lease related to our fulfillment center in Richmond, California to, among other things, extend the lease term from May 31, 2022 to May 31, 2027. Other than changes which occur in the normal course of business, as of September 30, 2021, there were no other significant changes to the contractual obligations reported in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

As of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements, except for operating leases and letters of credit entered into in the normal course of business as discussed above.

Table of Contents

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Estimates

In preparing our consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP, we are required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses, and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities that are reported in the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying disclosures. The accounting estimates that require the most difficult and subjective judgments include revenue recognition, inventory valuation, leases, the fair value of share-based awards, the fair value of the Blue Torch warrant obligation, recoverability of long-lived assets, and the recognition and measurement of contingencies. Therefore, we consider these to be our critical accounting policies. Accordingly, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates and assumptions. See Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for a description of our other accounting policies and information about our critical accounting policies. In addition, see Note 12 regarding the fair value of our February 2021 share-based award and Note 14 regarding the fair value of the Blue Torch warrant obligation, both included within Part I, Item 1, Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, for further updates regarding our critical accounting policies.

Emerging Growth Company Status

We are an "emerging growth company," as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”), and may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. We may take advantage of these exemptions until we are no longer an emerging growth company. Section 107 of the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period afforded by the JOBS Act for the implementation of new or revised accounting standards. We have elected to use the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards and as a result of this election, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates. We may take advantage of these exemptions up until December 31, 2022 (the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the initial public offering, or the “IPO”), or such earlier time that we are no longer an emerging growth company. We would cease to be an emerging growth company if we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue, we have more than $700.0 million in market value of our stock held by non-affiliates, or we issue more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt securities over a three-year period.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

For information about recent accounting pronouncements, see Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements and Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements, included in Part I, Item 1, Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

We are a “smaller reporting company,” as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the “Exchange Act”, and are not required to provide information under this item.

Item 4. Controls and Procedures

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures, as defined by Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act, as of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of September 30, 2021 at the reasonable assurance level.

Table of Contents

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2021 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Table of Contents

PART II OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1. Legal Proceedings

Material developments to the legal proceedings disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 23, 2021 are set forth under “Note 10 – Commitments and Contingencies – Legal Proceedings” to the Consolidated Financial Statements of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and are incorporated herein by reference.

Table of Contents

Item 1A.

RISK FACTORS

Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. Certain factors may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operation. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes, and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. Our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flow and prospects could be materially and adversely affected by any of these risks or uncertainties. In that case, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We have a history of losses, and we may be unable to achieve or sustain profitability.

We have experienced net losses in each year since our inception. In the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, we incurred net losses of $46.2 million, $61.1 million, and $122.1 million, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, we incurred net losses of $61.9 million and $34.3 million, respectively. We anticipate that we will continue to incur substantial operating expenses in the foreseeable future as we plan to significantly increase marketing spend in the fourth quarter of 2021 and in 2022 to continue to invest to attract new and retain existing customers, invest to optimize and drive efficiency in our distribution and fulfillment capabilities, expand our direct-to-consumer product offerings, and enhance our technology and infrastructure. These efforts may prove more expensive than we anticipate, and we may not succeed in increasing our net revenue and margins sufficiently to offset these expenses or at all, which may require us to reduce certain expenditures that could be important to maintaining or increasing our net revenue and margins. We incur significant expenses in operating our fulfillment centers, including personnel costs, obtaining and storing ingredients and other products, and developing our technology and we have seen, and may continue to see, higher ingredient and shipping costs. In addition, many of our expenses, including the costs associated with our fulfillment centers, are fixed. Accordingly, we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability, and we may incur significant losses for the foreseeable future.

We may be unable to successfully accelerate and/or execute our growth strategy. If we fail to retain our existing customers or cost effectively acquire new customers or if we fail to derive profitable net revenue from our customers, our business would be materially adversely affected, and if the number of our customers declines, we may not be able to comply with the minimum subscription count covenant in our senior secured term loan, which could lead to an event of default under our existing senior secured term loan.

Our growth strategy, and our ability to grow net revenue and operate profitably depends largely on our ability to retain existing customers, to cost effectively acquire new customers, and to keep customers engaged so that they continue to purchase products from us, including our higher value offerings. If we are unable to retain our existing customers, cost effectively acquire new customers, or keep customers engaged, our business, financial condition and operating results would be materially adversely affected. For example, the number of our Customers declined to approximately 350,000 in the three months ended September 30, 2021 from approximately 357,000 in the three months ended September 30, 2020, and our net revenue declined to $109.7 million from $112.3 million in that same period. While we have experienced an increase in demand in recent periods due, in part, to the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on consumer behaviors, we saw a decrease in demand in the third quarter of 2021 over the third quarter of 2020 as more normal seasonality patterns started to return, and increased demand may not be sustained as the pandemic’s impact on consumer behaviors continues to taper. In addition, if, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise, we face significant disruptions in our supply chain, are unable to continue to operate one or more of our fulfillment centers or are unable to timely deliver orders to our customers, we may not be able to retain our customers or attract new customers. Further, to meet increased demand and eliminate complexity in our operations during 2020, we cut back on or delayed certain product offerings and we delayed the launch of other new product offerings that are part of our growth strategy, and if we need to cut back or delay certain product offerings in the future as a result of the pandemic, supply chain issues or otherwise, there could be an adverse effect on our ability to retain or attract customers.

Table of Contents

We have historically spent significant amounts on advertising and other marketing activities, such as digital and social media, television, radio and podcasts, direct mail, and email, to acquire new customers, retain and engage existing customers, and promote our brand. While we have reduced our marketing expenditures from historic levels, in late 2019, during parts of 2020 and since the first quarter of 2021, we have increased marketing expenditures to more normal levels and we expect our marketing expenses to significantly increase in the fourth quarter of 2021, in 2022 and in future periods compared to prior year periods and for marketing expense to continue to comprise a significant portion of our operating expenses. For the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, our marketing expenses were $49.9 million, $48.1 million, and $117.5 million, respectively, representing approximately 10.8%, 10.6%, and 17.6% of net revenue, respectively. For the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, our marketing expenses were $14.9 million and $10.9 million, respectively, representing approximately 13.5% and 9.7% of net revenue, respectively. If we are unable to deliver results from our growth strategy, or otherwise effectively manage expenses and cash flows, we may reduce spending, particularly in marketing and capital expenditures, to the extent needed in order to comply with the liquidity covenant in our senior secured term loan, which may materially adversely impact net revenue and our ability to execute and/or accelerate our growth strategy. To the extent that we reduce marketing expenses or other costs to help manage our liquidity and remain in compliance with the minimum liquidity covenant in our senior secured term loan, there is a risk that such reductions will result in a lower subscription count, which itself could present a risk that we will not be able to comply with the minimum subscription count covenant in our senior secured term loan, which could lead to an event of default under our existing senior secured term loan. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

In addition, we may fail to identify or execute cost-efficient marketing opportunities as we adjust our investments in marketing, including making new marketing technology investments in response to the ongoing elimination of cookie-based tracking, or fail to fully understand or estimate the conditions, characteristics and behaviors that drive customer behavior. As we continue to refine our marketing strategy to strategically prioritize customer acquisition channels that we believe will be more successful at attracting high affinity customers, we may fail to identify channels that accomplish this objective or fail to understand or mitigate continuing and new negative effects of reducing our marketing expenses or of limiting our investment in historical marketing channels. Any of these failures may adversely impact our ability to attract or retain potential customers, including by making us less competitive relative to competitors who spend a larger portion of their revenue on marketing. Additionally, our decision to strategically invest in new and existing customers who we believe have high potential to be valuable to the business may fail to properly identify such customers or retain customers who generate the value that we anticipate. In addition, the increased demand we saw as a result of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on consumer behaviors resulted in us, at times, temporarily reducing marketing spend for portions of 2020 in order to manage capacity. If any of our marketing activities prove less successful than anticipated in attracting new customers or retaining existing customers, we may not be able to recover our marketing spend, our cost to acquire new customers may increase, and our existing customers may reduce the frequency or size of their purchases from us. In addition, our third-party marketing partners may not provide adequate value for their services. Any of the foregoing events could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results, as well as present a risk that we fail to comply with certain covenants in our senior secured term loan, which could lead to an event of default under our senior secured term loan.

Our net revenue in any period is essentially a function of our ability to attract and retain customers and the frequency and size of the orders placed by those customers. If customers do not perceive our product offerings to be of sufficient value and quality, or if we fail to offer new and relevant product offerings, we may not be able to attract or retain customers or engage existing customers so that they continue to purchase products from us. Many of our new customers originate from referrals from existing customers, and therefore we must ensure that our existing customers remain loyal to us in order to continue receiving those referrals. Our new customers typically evaluate whether our product offerings fit their lifestyles, tastes and preferences before deciding whether to continue purchasing our product offerings and, if so, the frequency at which they make purchases. While an increase in order frequency or size could potentially offset losses of customers and, similarly, an increase in the number of customers could potentially offset a reduction in the frequency or size of the orders placed by our customers, our continued failure to attract and retain customers would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Table of Contents

If we fail to grow net revenue or to effectively manage our net revenue or any future revenue growth, or if we fail to effectively manage costs, our business could be materially adversely affected.

Our net revenue decreased from $667.6 million in 2018 to $454.9 million in 2019, and increased to $460.6 million in 2020. The number of our full-time employees decreased from 2,356 at December 31, 2018 to 1,635 at December 31, 2019, and increased to 1,934 at December 31, 2020. As of September 30, 2021, we had 1,434 full-time employees. If we are unable to grow net revenue or if our net revenues decline, or if we do not effectively manage our costs, or fail to accurately forecast net revenue to plan operating expenses, our business, financial condition and operating results would be materially adversely affected. In addition, any future growth and expansion of our business and our product offerings may place additional demands on our operations teams and require significant additional financial, operational, human capital, technological and other resources to meet our needs, which may not be available in a cost-effective manner or at all. We are also required to manage relationships with various suppliers and other third parties, and expend time and effort to integrate new suppliers into our fulfillment operations. If we do not sustain net revenue growth or if we do not effectively manage any future growth or costs, we may not be able to execute on our business plan, respond to competitive pressures, take advantage of market opportunities, satisfy customer requirements, maintain high-quality product offerings, or maintain compliance with certain covenants in our senior secured term loan. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

In addition, changes to our actual or projected operating results may indicate that the carrying value of our long-lived assets may not be recoverable, which may require us to recognize impairment charges on any of our assets, or require us to reduce investment in the business or engage in additional business restructurings and incur additional restructuring charges. These changes may include any deterioration of operating results, changes in business plans or changes in anticipated cash flows. Any significant shortfall, now or in the future, in net revenue resulting from our inability to resume and sustain net revenue growth or to effectively manage our net revenue or any future growth could lead to an indication that the carrying value of our long-lived assets may not be recoverable, which could result in an impairment. Any such charges could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our indebtedness could materially adversely affect our business and financial condition. Furthermore, restrictive covenants in our senior secured term loan may limit our ability to pursue our business strategies, which would materially adversely affect our operating results, and the failure to comply with such restrictions could materially adversely affect our business.

As of September 30, 2021, we had $31.5 million in outstanding borrowings under our senior secured term loan. Our debt could have important consequences for our business, including: making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations to our trade or other creditors; increasing our vulnerability to adverse economic or industry conditions; limiting our ability to obtain additional financing to fund our existing operations or any future expansion of our business, including our strategic plan to sustain net revenue growth, particularly when the availability of financing in the capital markets may be limited; requiring a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations for the payment of interest on our debt and thus reducing our ability to use our cash flow to fund working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and general corporate requirements; limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industries in which we operate; and placing us at a competitive disadvantage to less-leveraged competitors.

Because we are required to maintain a minimum cash balance under the senior secured term loan, we cannot assure you that our business will generate sufficient cash flow from operations or that future borrowings will be available to us in an amount sufficient to enable us to repay our indebtedness or fund our other liquidity needs. We may need to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness on or before its maturity and we cannot assure you that we will be able to refinance any of our indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. Any refinancing of our debt could be at higher interest rates, such as the recent increase in interest rates applicable to our senior secured loan as a result of the amendment to that loan in May 2021. A refinancing may also require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. In addition, any prepayment of our senior secured term loan will be subject to prepayment fees. Our senior secured term loan compared to our prior revolving credit facility, among other things, increased the interest rates applicable to our indebtedness and made certain changes to the financial covenants regarding maintaining a minimum liquidity amount, as well as adding a new minimum subscription count covenant. If

Table of Contents

we are unable to sufficiently deliver results from our growth strategy and/or effectively manage expenses and cash flows, or maintain sufficient liquidity, we may not be able to comply with the minimum liquidity, minimum subscription count (which will increase on January 1, 2022 from 300,000 to 320,000 customers) and other covenants contained in our senior secured term loan, which would materially adversely affect our business. For example, on a single day in March 2021, we did not meet the daily minimum liquidity covenant under the senior secured term loan, resulting in an event of default, and requiring us to obtain a waiver of such event of default from our lenders and agent. In addition, certain other covenants in our senior secured term loan more strictly limit the operation of our business than comparable covenants in our prior revolving credit facility. Accordingly, we may be unable to comply with the covenants in our senior secured term loan or we may inadvertently fail to comply with such covenants during the course of the operation of our business similar to our failure to meet the minimum liquidity requirement for one day in the first quarter of 2021. Any future failure to comply with such covenants, or if we cannot make scheduled payments on our debt, may result in an event of default under our senior secured term loan. Upon an event of default under our senior secured term loan, the lenders could declare all outstanding principal and interest to be due and payable immediately and foreclose against the assets securing the borrowings. In that event, we could be forced to react by commencing a bankruptcy or taking other action to maximize the value of our assets. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

Our ability to make scheduled payments on or to refinance our debt obligations depends on our financial condition and operating performance and the condition of the debt and capital markets, which are subject to prevailing economic, industry and competitive conditions, as well as certain financial, business, legislative, political, regulatory and other factors beyond our control. If our cash flow and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we could face substantial liquidity problems, be forced to reduce or delay capital expenditures, strategic acquisitions, investments and partnerships, dispose of material assets or operations, seek additional debt or equity capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness. We cannot assure you that any such actions, if necessary, could be effected on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or on terms that would be advantageous to our stockholders or on terms that would not require us to breach the terms and conditions of our existing or future debt agreements, and our financial position and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

The restrictions contained in the senior secured term loan could limit our ability to plan for or react to market conditions, meet capital needs or make acquisitions or could otherwise restrict our business and strategies, including our strategic plan to return to and sustain net revenue growth, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Additionally, our senior secured term loan utilizes LIBOR to calculate the amount of accrued interest on our borrowings. The head of the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority has announced plans to start to phase out the use of LIBOR by the end of 2021. If a published LIBOR rate is unavailable, the interest rates on our debt indexed to LIBOR will be determined using an alternative method, which could result in increased costs, including increased interest expense on our senior secured term loan, which could have a material adverse effect on our financing costs. At this time, no consensus exists as to what rate or rates may become acceptable alternatives to LIBOR and we are unable to predict the effect of any such alternatives on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

If we fail to successfully improve our customer experience, including by continuing to develop new product offerings and enhancing our existing product offerings, our ability to retain existing customers and attract new customers, may be materially adversely affected, and we may not be able to comply with the covenants in our senior secured term loan.

Our customers have a wide variety of options for purchasing food, including traditional and online grocery stores and restaurants, and consumer tastes and preferences may change from time to time, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions that were effected throughout most of the United States, which limited some of these options for consumers. Our ability to retain existing customers, attract new customers and increase customer engagement with us will depend in part on our ability to successfully improve our customer experience, including by continuing to create and introduce new product offerings, improving upon and enhancing our existing product offerings and strengthening our customers’ digital interactions with our brand and products, including online and mobile. As a result, we may introduce significant changes to our existing product offerings, develop and introduce new and unproven product offerings, revise our customers’ digital experiences and/or offer our products through new

Table of Contents

distribution channels. If our new or enhanced product offerings are unsuccessful, including because they fail to generate sufficient revenue or operating profit to justify our investments in them, we may be unable to attract or retain customers, which may impact our ability to comply with certain covenants in our senior secured term loan and our business and operating results could be materially adversely affected. Furthermore, new or shifting customer demands, tastes or interests, superior competitive offerings or a deterioration in our product quality or our ability to bring new or enhanced product offerings to market quickly and efficiently could negatively affect the attractiveness of our products and the economics of our business and require us to make substantial changes to and additional investments in our product offerings or business model. In addition, we frequently experiment with and test different product offerings and marketing and pricing strategies, such as our recent implementation of a shipping charge on all subscription meal kit and wine orders, as well as our customers’ digital experiences, including by updating our online and mobile platforms. If these experiments, tests and updates are unsuccessful, or if the product offerings and strategies we introduce based on the results of such experiments, tests and updates do not perform as expected, our ability to retain existing customers, attract new customers, and increase customer engagement may be adversely affected, which may result in a breach of certain covenants in our senior secured term loan.

Developing and launching new product offerings or enhancements to our existing product offerings involves significant risks and uncertainties, including risks related to the reception of such product offerings by our existing and potential future customers, increases in operational complexity, unanticipated delays or challenges in implementing such offerings or enhancements, increased strain on our operational and internal resources (including an impairment of our ability to accurately forecast demand and related supply), inability to adequately support new offerings or enhancements with sufficient marketing investment and negative publicity in the event such new or enhanced product offerings are perceived to be unsuccessful. In addition, as a result of the increased demand we saw as a result of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on consumer behaviors, we have delayed, and may continue to delay, launching certain new product offerings or cut back on certain weekly cycles in order to remove some operational complexities to meet demand levels, which may have an adverse effect on our ability to retain or attract new customers. For example, in response to the increase in demand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to streamline our operations, we temporarily suspended additional menu options through much of the second quarter of 2020, such as returning to eight weekly options under our Two-Serving Plan instead of the eleven weekly options we had introduced in the third quarter of 2019, and delaying the national rollout of our Meal Prep Plan and other new initiatives. We have also closed certain weekly cycle offerings early to limit capacity. While we have reintroduced additional menu option variety back into our offerings and have launched new products, which increase complexity, we may not be able to meet customer demand if we are unable to fully operate our fulfillment centers due to labor shortages or planned or unplanned pauses in production. See “Our results could be materially and adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.”

Significant new initiatives have in the past resulted in, and our recent new initiatives may in the future result in, operational challenges affecting our business. In addition, developing and launching certain new product offerings and enhancements to our existing product offerings may involve significant capital investments and such investments may not prove to be justified. Any of the foregoing risks and challenges could materially adversely affect our ability to attract and retain customers as well as our visibility into expected operating results, and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

If we do not successfully maintain, operate and optimize our fulfillment centers and logistics channels, including by expanding our use of automation, and manage our ongoing real property and operational needs, our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected.

If we do not successfully maintain, operate and optimize our fulfillment centers, or if we vacate these facilities, or repurpose parts of these facilities as part of our operating efficiency initiatives or otherwise, we may experience insufficient or excess fulfillment capacity, increased costs, impairment charges or other harm to our business. For example, following the closure of the Arlington fulfillment center in the first half of 2020, we temporarily reopened it in January 2021 to leverage existing assets to meet forecasted demand while we continued to identify and implement other operating efficiencies in our other fulfillment centers; we then closed the Arlington fulfillment center in April 2021, consolidating production volume at our other fulfillment centers. We have encountered in the past, and may encounter in the future, both as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and otherwise, high levels of worker absenteeism and difficulty in

Table of Contents

hiring a sufficient number of employees to adequately staff our fulfillment centers, causing us to use temporary workers through third parties, generally at greater cost and providing lower levels of performance, and to cancel or delay customer orders and close some weekly offering cycles early to manage demand. If we do not have sufficient fulfillment capacity or experience problems or delays in fulfilling orders, our customers may experience delays in receiving their meal deliveries, receive deficient orders and/or have their orders canceled, which could harm our reputation and our customer relationships and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, any disruption in, or the loss of operations at, one or more of our fulfillment centers, even on a short-term basis, whether as a result of COVID-19 or otherwise, could delay or postpone production of our products, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

If events or circumstances indicate that the carrying value of our long-lived assets may not be recoverable, we may be required to recognize impairment charges on any of our assets. For example, in 2017 we recorded impairment charges of $9.5 million on long-lived assets primarily related to the transition of all of our Jersey City fulfillment center operations to our fulfillment center in Linden, New Jersey, as well as our decision to no longer pursue the planned build-out of the Fairfield, California facility, which lease was terminated on March 30, 2020. We also rely on fixed duration leases for our other real properties, including for our headquarters in New York, New York, which we entered into in October 2019 and expires in December 2024. If we are unable to timely enter into suitable lease agreements or extensions for any of our real properties, we may incur additional unanticipated costs associated with identifying and securing an alternative premise, suffer disruptions to our operations as a result of any necessary transition, face employee attrition or experience other harm to our business. In May 2021, we entered into an agreement to sublease the remainder of our Arlington fulfillment center, which sublease is expected to continue through the duration of our existing lease for the fulfillment center.

We have designed and built our own fulfillment center infrastructure, including customizing third party inventory and package handling software systems, which is tailored to meet the specific needs of our business. Furthermore, we are continuing to expand the use of automated production equipment and processes in our fulfillment centers. To the extent we add capacity, capabilities and automated production equipment and processes to our fulfillment centers, our fulfillment operations will become increasingly complex and challenging. Any failure to hire, train and/or retain employees capable of operating our fulfillment centers could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. We also may be unable to procure and implement automated production equipment and processes on a timely basis, and they may not operate as intended or achieve anticipated cost efficiencies. For example, suppliers could miss their equipment delivery schedules, new production lines and operations could improve less rapidly than expected, or not at all, the equipment or processes could require longer design time than anticipated or redesigning after installation, and new production technology may involve equipment and processes with which we are not fully experienced. Difficulties we experience in further automating our fulfillment processes could impair our ability to reduce costs and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. Furthermore, we currently, and may in the future continue to, contract with third parties to conduct certain of our fulfillment processes and operations on our behalf. Interruptions or failures in these services, or operational impacts arising from transitioning between these third party providers, could delay or prevent the delivery of our products and adversely affect our ability to fulfill our customers’ orders. In addition, any disruption in the operation of our fulfillment centers, including due to factors such as earthquakes, extreme weather, fires, floods, public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, government-mandated closures, power losses, telecommunications failures, acts of war or terrorism, human errors and similar events or disruptions, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We expect to incur future capital expenditures in our fulfillment centers in order to optimize and drive efficiency in our operations. For a discussion of our projected future capital expenditures and risks related to such capital expenditures, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources.” In executing our growth strategy to expand our product offerings and continuing to grow our customer base, we may be unable to effectively increase our fulfillment capacity or effectively control expansion related expenses. In addition, as we continue to execute our growth strategy, we may experience problems fulfilling orders in a timely manner or in a manner our customers expect, or our customers may experience delays in receiving their purchases, or, if we grow faster than anticipated, we may exceed our fulfillment center capacity sooner than we anticipate, any of which could harm our reputation and our relationships with our customers. Many of the expenses and investments with respect to our fulfillment centers are fixed, and any expansion of such fulfillment centers will require

Table of Contents

additional investment of capital. We expect to continue to incur certain capital expenditures in the future for our fulfillment center operations. We may incur such expenses or make such investments in advance of expected sales, and such expected sales may not occur. The timing and amount of our projected capital expenditures is dependent upon a number of factors and may vary significantly from our estimates. We cannot assure you that we will have sufficient capital resources to fund future capital expenditures or if any future capital expenditures will be timely or effectively integrated into our existing operations, any adjustments to production volume, including transitions between fulfillment centers, will be completed on an efficient and timely basis without adversely impacting our operations, that our fulfillment software systems will continue to meet our business needs, or that we will be able to execute on our strategic plans or recruit qualified managerial and operational personnel necessary to support our strategic plans. In addition, we intend to reduce spending on capital expenditures, to the extent needed, if we are unable to deliver results from our growth strategy, or otherwise effectively manage expenses and cash flows, in order to comply with the financial covenants in our senior secured term loan, which will negatively and materially impact net revenue and our ability to execute and accelerate our growth strategy. Any changes to our overall fulfillment capacity or existing fulfillment center operations will put pressure on our managerial, financial, operational, technological and other resources.

Changes in food costs and availability could materially adversely affect our business.

The success of our business depends in part on our ability to anticipate and react to changes in food and supply costs and availability. We are susceptible to increases in food costs as a result of factors beyond our control, such as general economic conditions, market changes, increased competition, general risk of inflation, exchange rate fluctuations, seasonal fluctuations, shortages or interruptions, weather conditions, changes in global climates, global demand, food safety concerns, public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, generalized infectious diseases, changes in law or policy, declines in fertile or arable lands, product recalls and government regulations. For example, any prolonged negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or inflationary periods on food and supply costs and availability could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, deflation in food prices could reduce the attractiveness of our product offerings relative to competing products and thus impede our ability to maintain or increase overall sales, while food inflation, particularly periods of rapid inflation, have and could continue to reduce our operating margins as there may be a lag between the time of the price increase and the time at which we are able to increase the price of our product offerings. We generally do not have long term supply contracts or guaranteed purchase commitments with our food suppliers, and we do not hedge our commodity risks. In limited circumstances, we may enter into strategic purchasing commitment contracts with certain suppliers, but many of these contracts are relatively short in duration and may provide only limited protection from price fluctuations, and the use of these arrangements may limit our ability to benefit from favorable price movements. As a result, we may not be able to anticipate, react to or mitigate against cost fluctuations which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Any increase in the prices of the ingredients most critical to our recipes, or scarcity of such ingredients, such as vegetables, poultry, beef, pork and seafood, would adversely affect our operating results. Alternatively, in the event of cost increases or decrease of availability with respect to one or more of our key ingredients, we may choose to temporarily suspend including such ingredients in our recipes, rather than paying the increased cost for the ingredients. Any such changes to our available recipes could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our business depends on a strong and trusted brand, and any failure to maintain, protect or enhance our brand, including as a result of events outside our control, could materially adversely affect our business.

We have developed a strong and trusted brand, and we believe our future success depends on our ability to maintain and grow the value of the Blue Apron brand. Maintaining, promoting and positioning our brand and reputation will depend on, among other factors, the success of our food safety, quality assurance, marketing and merchandising efforts and our ability to provide a consistent, high-quality customer experience. Any negative publicity, regardless of its accuracy, could materially adversely affect our business. Brand value is based in large part on perceptions of subjective qualities, and any incident that erodes the loyalty of our customers or suppliers, including adverse publicity or a governmental investigation or litigation, could significantly reduce the value of our brand and significantly damage our business.

Table of Contents

We believe that our customers hold us and our products to a high food safety standard. Therefore, real or perceived quality or food safety concerns or failures to comply with applicable food regulations and requirements, whether or not ultimately based on fact and whether or not involving us (such as incidents involving our competitors), could cause negative publicity and lost confidence in our company, brand or products, which could in turn harm our reputation and sales, and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

In addition, in recent years, there has been a marked increase in the use of social media platforms and other forms of Internet-based communications that provide individuals with access to broad audiences, and the availability of information on social media platforms is virtually immediate, as can be its impact. Many social media platforms immediately publish the content their participants post, often without filters or checks on accuracy of the content posted. Furthermore, other Internet-based or traditional media outlets may in turn reference or republish such social media content to an even broader audience. Information concerning us, regardless of its accuracy, may be posted on such platforms at any time. Information posted may be adverse to our interests or may be inaccurate, each of which may materially harm our brand, reputation, performance, prospects and business, and such harm may be immediate and we may have little or no opportunity to respond or to seek redress or a correction.

The value of our brand also depends on effective customer support to provide a high-quality customer experience, which requires significant personnel expense. If not managed properly, this expense could impact our profitability. Failure to manage or train our own or outsourced customer support representatives properly, or our inability to hire sufficient customer support representatives could result in lower-quality customer support and/or increased customer response times, compromising our ability to handle customer complaints effectively.

As we have seen disruptions in labor availability from time to time, whether as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, general economic trends or otherwise, we have had to, and may in the future have to, cancel or delay some customer orders, and we have closed, and may continue to close, some weekly offering cycles early to manage demand. In addition, we have had to, and may again have to, pause production at a fulfillment center in order to implement our COVID-19 sanitation procedures, which has resulted, and could again result in, delayed or canceled orders. These actions or other actions that we may take in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that have the effect of delaying or canceling orders could negatively impact our ability to maintain, protect or enhance our brand.

Increased competition presents an ongoing threat to the success of our business.

We expect competition in food sales generally, and with companies providing food delivery in particular, to continue to increase. We compete with other meal kit, food and meal delivery companies, the supermarket industry, including online supermarket retailers, and a wide array of food retailers (including natural and organic, specialty, conventional, mass, discount and other food retail formats). We also compete with a wide array of casual dining and quick-service restaurants and other food service businesses in the restaurant industry, as well as a broad range of online wine retailers, wine specialty stores and retail liquor stores. In addition, we compete with food manufacturers, consumer packaged goods companies, and other food and ingredient producers.

We believe that our ability to compete depends upon many factors both within and beyond our control, including:

●

our marketing efforts;

●

the flexibility and variety of our product offerings relative to our competitors, and our ability to timely launch new product initiatives;

●

the quality and price of products offered by us and our competitors;

●

our reputation and brand strength relative to our competitors;

●

customer satisfaction;

Table of Contents

●

consumer tastes and preferences, which have changed, and may continue to change, in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise;

●

the size and composition of our customer base;

●

the convenience of the experience that we provide;

●

the strength of our food safety and quality program;

●

our ability to comply with, and manage the costs of complying with, laws and regulations applicable to our business, including the regulations relating to COVID-19; and

●

our ability to cost-effectively source and distribute the products we offer and to manage our operations.

Some of our current competitors have, and potential competitors may have, longer operating histories, larger or more efficient fulfillment infrastructures, greater technical capabilities, significantly greater financial, marketing and other resources and larger customer bases than we do. In addition, business combinations and consolidation in and across the industries in which we compete could further increase the competition we face and result in competitors with significantly greater resources and customer bases than us. Further, some of our other current or potential competitors may be smaller, less regulated, and have a greater ability to reposition their product offerings than companies that, like us, operate at a larger scale. These factors may allow our competitors to derive greater sales and profits from their existing customer base, acquire customers at lower costs, respond more quickly than we can to changes in consumer demand and tastes, or otherwise compete with us effectively, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. These competitors may engage in more extensive research and development efforts, undertake more far-reaching marketing campaigns and adopt more aggressive pricing policies, which may allow them to build larger customer bases or generate additional sales more effectively than we do.

In addition, as the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on consumer behaviors tapers, and consumers seek out other dining options or resume traveling, we may see an increase in competition, which may be significant and which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Food safety and food-borne illness incidents or advertising or product mislabeling may materially adversely affect our business by exposing us to lawsuits, product recalls or regulatory enforcement actions, increasing our operating costs and reducing demand for our product offerings.

Selling food for human consumption involves inherent legal and other risks, and there is increasing governmental scrutiny of and public awareness regarding food safety. Unexpected side effects, illness, injury or death related to allergens, food-borne illnesses or other food safety incidents (including food tampering or contamination) caused by products we sell, or involving suppliers that supply us with ingredients and other products, could result in the discontinuance of sales of these products or our relationships with such suppliers, or otherwise result in increased operating costs or harm to our reputation. Shipment of adulterated products, even if inadvertent, can result in criminal or civil liability. Such incidents could also expose us to product liability, negligence or other lawsuits brought by consumers, consumer agencies or others. Any claims brought against us may exceed or be outside the scope of our existing or future insurance policy coverage or limits. Any judgment against us that is in excess of our insurance policy limits or not covered by our policies or not subject to insurance would have to be paid from our cash reserves, which would reduce our capital resources, which could impact our ability to execute and accelerate our growth strategy and/or comply with the minimum liquidity covenant in our senior secured term loan.

The occurrence of food-borne illnesses or other food safety incidents could also adversely affect the price and availability of affected ingredients, resulting in higher costs, disruptions in supply and a reduction in our sales. Furthermore, any instances of food contamination, whether or not caused by our products, could subject us or our suppliers to a food recall pursuant to the Food Safety Modernization Act of the United States Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, and comparable state laws. The risk of food contamination may be also heightened further due to changes in government funding or a government shutdown. Our meat and poultry suppliers may operate only under inspection by the United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA. While USDA meat and poultry inspections are

Table of Contents

considered essential services, a government shutdown or lapse in funding may increase the risk that inspectors perform their duties inadequately, fail to report for work, or leave their positions without prompt replacement, potentially compromising food safety.

We have been in the past, and could be in the future, subject to food recalls. Food recalls could result in significant losses due to their costs, the destruction of product inventory, lost net revenues due to customer credits and refunds, lost future sales due to the unavailability of the product for a period of time and potential loss of existing customers and a potential negative impact on our ability to retain existing customers and attract new customers due to negative consumer experiences or as a result of an adverse impact on our brand and reputation.

In addition, food companies have been subject to targeted, large-scale tampering as well as to opportunistic, individual product tampering, and we could be a target for product tampering. Forms of tampering could include the introduction of foreign material, chemical contaminants and pathological organisms into consumer products as well as product substitution. Beginning in July 2019, FDA requirements require companies like us to analyze, prepare and implement “food defense” mitigation strategies specifically to address tampering designed to inflict widespread public health harm. If we do not adequately address the possibility, or any actual instance, of product tampering, we could face possible seizure or recall of our products and the imposition of civil or criminal sanctions, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Changes in consumer tastes and preferences or in consumer spending and other economic or financial market conditions could materially adversely affect our business.

Our operating results may be materially adversely affected by changes in consumer tastes and preferences. Our future success depends in part on our ability to anticipate the tastes, eating habits and lifestyle preferences of consumers and to offer products that appeal to consumer tastes and preferences. Consumer tastes and preferences may change from time to time and can be affected by a number of different trends and other factors that are beyond our control. For example, our net revenue could be materially adversely affected by changes in consumer demand in response to nutritional and dietary trends, dietary concerns regarding items such as calories, sodium, carbohydrates or fat, or concerns regarding food safety. Our competitors may react more efficiently and effectively to these changes than we can. We cannot provide any assurances regarding our ability to respond effectively to changes in consumer health perceptions or our ability to adapt our product offerings to trends in eating habits. If we fail to anticipate, identify or react to these changes and trends, or to introduce new and improved products on a timely basis, or if we cease offering such products or fail to maintain partnerships that react to these changes and trends, we may experience reduced demand for our products, which may cause us to breach the minimum subscription count covenant in our senior secured term loan, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

In addition, the business of selling food products over the Internet is dynamic and continues to evolve. The market segment for food delivery has grown significantly, and this growth may not continue or may decline, including specifically with respect to the meal solutions sector. If customers cease to find value in this model or otherwise lose interest in our product offerings or our business model generally, we may not acquire new customers in numbers sufficient to sustain growth in our business or retain existing customers at rates consistent with our business model, which may cause us to breach the minimum subscription count covenant in our senior secured term loan, and our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected.

Furthermore, preferences and overall economic conditions that impact consumer confidence and spending, including discretionary spending, could have a material impact on our business. Economic conditions affecting disposable consumer income such as employment levels, business conditions, higher rates of inflation, slower growth or recession, market volatility, negative impacts on the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic and related uncertainty, negative financial news, changes in housing market conditions, the availability of credit, interest rates, tax rates, new or increased tariffs, fuel and energy costs, the effect of natural disasters or acts of terrorism, and other matters, could reduce consumer spending or cause consumers to shift their spending to lower-priced alternatives, each of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Table of Contents

In addition to an adverse impact on demand for our products, uncertainty about, or a decline in, economic conditions could have a significant impact on our suppliers, logistics providers and other business partners, including resulting in financial instability, inability to obtain credit to finance operations and insolvency. Certain of our suppliers, and their manufacturing and assembly activities, are located outside the United States, and as a result our operations and performance depend on both global and regional economic conditions. These and other economic factors could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our ability to source quality ingredients and other products is critical to our business, and any disruption to our supply or supply chain could materially adversely affect our business.

We depend on frequent deliveries of ingredients and other products from a variety of local, regional, national and international suppliers, and some of our suppliers may depend on a variety of other local, regional, national and international suppliers to fulfill the purchase orders we place with them. The availability of such ingredients and other products at competitive prices depends on many factors beyond our control, including the number and size of farms, ranches, vineyards and other suppliers that provide crops, livestock and other raw materials that meet our quality and production standards.

We rely on our suppliers, and their supply chains, to meet our quality and production standards and specifications and supply ingredients and other products in a timely and safe manner. We have developed and implemented a series of measures to ensure the safety and quality of our third-party supplied products, including using contract specifications, certificates of identity for some products or ingredients, sample testing by suppliers and sensory based testing. However, no safety and quality measures can eliminate the possibility that suppliers may provide us with defective or out-of-specification products against which regulators may take action or which may subject us to litigation or require a recall. Suppliers may provide us with food that is or may be unsafe, food that is below our quality standards or food that is improperly labeled. In addition to a negative customer experience, we could face possible seizure or recall of our products and the imposition of civil or criminal sanctions if we incorporate a defective or out-of-specification item into one of our deliveries.

Furthermore, there are many factors beyond our control which could cause shortages or interruptions in the supply of our ingredients and other products, including adverse weather, environmental factors, natural disasters, prolonged utility outages, unanticipated demand, shipping and distribution issues, labor problems, public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, changes in law or policy, food safety issues by our suppliers and their supply chains, and the financial health of our suppliers and their supply chains. For example, any prolonged negative impact on our supply chain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, or otherwise, could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and operating results. Production of the agricultural products used in our business may also be materially adversely affected by drought, water scarcity, temperature extremes, scarcity of agricultural labor, changes in government agricultural programs or subsidies, import restrictions, scarcity of suitable agricultural land, crop conditions, crop or animal diseases or crop pests. Failure to take adequate steps to mitigate the likelihood or potential effect of such events, or to effectively manage such events if they occur, may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results, particularly in circumstances where an ingredient or product is sourced from a single supplier or location.

In addition, unexpected delays in deliveries from suppliers that ship directly to our fulfillment centers or increases in transportation costs, including through increased fuel costs, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. Labor shortages or work stoppages in the transportation industry, long-term disruptions to the national transportation infrastructure, reduction in capacity and industry-specific regulations such as hours-of-service rules that lead to delays or interruptions of deliveries, whether as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise, could also materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We currently source certain of our ingredients from suppliers located outside of the United States. Any event causing a disruption or delay of imports from suppliers located outside of the United States, including weather, drought, crop-related diseases, the imposition of import or export restrictions, restrictions on the transfer of funds or increased tariffs, destination-based taxes, value-added taxes, quotas or increased regulatory requirements, could increase the cost or reduce the supply of our ingredients and the other materials required by our product offerings, which could materially

Table of Contents

adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. Furthermore, our suppliers’ operations may be adversely affected by political and financial instability, resulting in the disruption of trade from exporting countries, restrictions on the transfer of funds or other trade disruptions, each of which could adversely affect our access or ability to source ingredients and other materials used in our product offerings on a timely or cost-effective basis.

We have implemented significant reorganization activities in our business, including the closure of our fulfillment center in Arlington, Texas in 2020 and the reductions in the size of our organization in 2018 and 2017. These and other reorganization activities could have long-term adverse effects on our business, including additional attrition in personnel and the failure to achieve the anticipated benefits and savings from these activities.

We have implemented significant reorganization activities in our business to adjust our cost structure, and we may engage in similar reorganization activities in the future. In February 2020, we announced a plan to close our fulfillment center in Arlington, Texas. As part of this plan, in the first and second quarters of 2020 we transferred all of the remaining production volume from our Arlington, Texas fulfillment center to our Linden, New Jersey and Richmond, California fulfillment centers. Previously, in the first quarter of 2019 we had transferred a substantial portion of production volume from our Arlington, Texas fulfillment center to our Linden, New Jersey fulfillment center. In November 2018, we implemented a reduction in the number of our employees by approximately 4%, which included departures of members of our management team, and in October 2017 we implemented a company-wide realignment of personnel that resulted in a reduction of approximately 6% of our total workforce across our corporate offices and fulfillment centers. These actions resulted and could result in the future in the loss of employees across various functions, the loss of institutional knowledge and expertise and the reallocation and combination of certain roles and responsibilities across our organization, all of which could adversely affect our operations. In addition, there is a risk of reduced employee morale and, as a result, we could face further employee attrition following a reorganization activity. We may also be unable to efficiently transition the production volume between our fulfillment centers or maintain our production efficiencies during or after any such transfer. For example, we temporarily reopened the Arlington fulfillment center in January 2021 to leverage existing assets to meet forecasted demand while we continued to identify and implement other operating efficiencies in our other fulfillment centers; we then closed the Arlington fulfillment center in April 2021, consolidating production volume at our other fulfillment centers.

Other reorganization activities in which we may engage in the future, as well as other ongoing or future cost reduction activities, may reduce our available talent, assets, capabilities and other resources and could slow improvements in our products and services, adversely affect our ability to respond to competition and limit our ability to satisfy customer demands. As a result, our management may need to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from our day-to-day strategic and operational activities, and devote a substantial amount of time to managing the organizational changes brought about by the reorganization. If we do not have sufficient resources, we may not be able to effectively manage the changes in our business operations resulting from the reorganization, which may result in weaknesses in our operations, risks that we may not be able to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. If we are unable to effectively manage these activities, our expenses may be higher than expected, and we may not be able to implement our business strategy or achieve the anticipated benefits and savings from any such activities.

We may also determine to take additional measures to reduce costs, which could result in further disruptions to our operations and present additional challenges to the effective management of our company. For example, if we are unable to deliver results from our growth strategy, or otherwise effectively manage expenses and cash flows, we intend to reduce spending, particularly in marketing and capital expenditures, to the extent needed in order to comply with the minimum liquidity and subscription count covenants in our senior secured term loan, which will negatively and materially impact net revenue and our ability to execute our growth strategy. To the extent that we reduce marketing expenses or other costs to help manage our liquidity and remain in compliance with the minimum liquidity covenant in our senior secured term loan, there is a risk that such reductions will result in a lower subscription count, which itself could present a risk that we will not be able to comply with the minimum subscription count covenant in our senior secured term loan. In addition, delays in implementing planned restructuring activities, unexpected costs, or the failure to meet targeted improvements may diminish the operational or financial benefits we realize from such actions. Any of the circumstances described above could materially adversely affect our business and operating and financial results.

Table of Contents

Our results could be materially and adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

The continuing spread of COVID-19 globally, and in particular, continued and future outbreaks of COVID-19 in the United States, could materially and adversely impact our business, including as a result of the loss of adequate labor, whether as a result of heightened absenteeism or challenges in recruiting and retention or otherwise, prolonged closures, or series of temporary closures, of one or more fulfillment centers as a result of a COVID-19 outbreak, a government order or otherwise, or supply chain or carrier interruptions or delays. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has had, and could continue to have, a negative impact on economic conditions, which may adversely impact consumer demand for meal kits, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. To the extent any of these events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our business will depend on future developments, including the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, the level of COVID-19 vaccination rates in various areas of the United States, any re-introduction of restrictions on consumer behaviors, the length of time for economic and operating conditions to return to prior levels, together with resulting consumer behaviors, and numerous other uncertainties, all of which remain uncertain.

We continue to monitor our operations and government recommendations and we have made modifications to our normal operations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our fulfillment centers have experienced, and may experience in the future, disruptions in production, including as a result of planned or unplanned pauses in production to implement additional safety measures, as well as a result of worker absenteeism at higher than normal rates and/or challenges in hiring and retaining sufficient workforce. Such disruptions have caused, and could continue to cause, delayed or canceled orders, or the decision to close certain weekly cycles early, each of which could have an adverse effect on our brand and our results of operations. These operational risks related to COVID-19 have impacted, and may continue to impact, the timing of certain new product launches. In addition, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our corporate employees, including our test kitchen employees, as well as other employees outside of our fulfillment centers, have generally been required to, and more recently given the option to, work remotely since the end of the first quarter of 2020, which may, if prolonged, have an adverse impact on the productivity of certain parts of our workforce, which could negatively impact our business and results of operations.

If we lose key management or fail to meet our need for qualified employees with specialized skills, our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected.

Our future success is dependent upon our ability to retain key management. Our executive officers and other management personnel are employees “at will” and could elect to terminate their employment with us at any time. For example, we had three executive officers resign in each of 2020 and 2019, including the chief executive officer and one of our founders. Since 2017, we have had three different chief executive officers, including Matthew B. Salzberg who resigned as our president and chief executive officer in November 2017, when he transitioned to the role of executive chairman; in December 2018, Mr. Salzberg ceased to be an employee, and he resigned as chairman of our board of directors in September 2021. We do not maintain “key person” insurance on the lives of any of our executive officers.

Our future success is also dependent upon our ability to attract, retain and effectively deploy qualified employees, including management, possessing a broad range of skills and expertise. We may need to offer higher compensation and other benefits in order to attract and retain key personnel in the future, and, to attract top talent, we must offer competitive compensation packages before we have the opportunity to validate the productivity and effectiveness of new employees. Additionally, from time to time we have not been, and we may not in the future be, able to hire sufficient workforce quickly enough or to retain sufficient workforce, or if we cannot grow net revenue, we may not have adequate resources to meet our hiring needs, and we must effectively deploy our workforce in order to efficiently allocate our internal resources. If we fail to meet our hiring needs, successfully integrate our new hires or effectively deploy our existing personnel, our efficiency and ability to meet our forecasts, our ability to successfully execute on our strategic plan to sustain net revenue growth and our employee morale, productivity and retention could all suffer. Any of these factors could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We may require additional capital to fund our operations and any future expansion of our business beyond our current plans, including our plan to sustain net revenue growth, and our inability to obtain such capital, or to

Table of Contents

adequately manage our existing capital resources, could make it difficult for us to comply with certain covenants in our senior secured term loan and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

To support our operations or any future expansion of our business beyond our current plans accelerate our growth strategy, we must have sufficient capital to continue to make investments and to fund our operations. We also must maintain sufficient additional capital to comply with certain covenants in our senior secured term loan, which requires us and our subsidiaries to maintain minimum aggregate amounts of liquidity (defined to include our and our subsidiaries’ unrestricted cash and cash equivalents) and a minimum subscription count (as defined in the senior secured term loan). We cannot assure you that our future cash and cash equivalents, together with cash generated from operations, will be sufficient to allow us to fund our operations or any future growth, including to attract and retain customers, or to do so while maintaining compliance with the covenants in our senior secured term loan. If cash flows from operations are not sufficient or if we fail to adequately manage our available cash and working capital, or sufficiently manage expenses, we will need additional equity or debt financing to provide the funds required to operate our business and to fund any future expansion of our business. If such financing is not available, or we are unable to refinance our senior secured term loan, on satisfactory terms or at all, we may be unable to operate our business, develop new business or execute on our strategic plan to sustain net revenue growth, in each case at the rate desired or at all, and our operating results would suffer. Additionally, new debt financing, such as the amendment to our existing financing agreement in May 2021, may increase expenses, contain covenants that further restrict the operation of our business, and will need to be repaid regardless of operating results. For example, covenants contained in our senior secured term loan include limitations on our ability to pay dividends; create, incur or assume indebtedness or liens; consummate a merger, sale, disposition or similar transaction; engage in transactions with affiliates; and make investments. Our senior secured term loan also requires us to make quarterly principal payments, as well as use a portion of the proceeds of certain equity issuances and certain other transactions to repay indebtedness outstanding under the senior secured term loan, and such repayments will be subject to prepayment premiums. Equity financing, debt financing that is convertible into equity, or debt or equity financing in which we issue equity or derivative securities, such as the warrants issued and issuable to our lenders and issued in the rights offering and recent private placements, could result in dilution to our existing stockholders.

Our inability to obtain adequate capital resources, whether in the form of equity or debt, to adequately manage our existing capital resources, or to fund our business and strategies would require us to delay, scale back or eliminate some or all of our operations or any future expansion of our business, including our growth initiatives, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, if we are unable to deliver results from our growth strategy or otherwise effectively manage liquidity and subscription count, we may not be able to maintain compliance with the covenants in our senior secured term loan, which may result in an event of default under our senior secured term loan. For example, on a single day in March 2021, we did not meet the daily minimum liquidity covenant under our senior secured term loan, resulting in an event of default, and thereafter requiring us to obtain a waiver of such event of default from our lenders and agent. Upon any future covenant breach and corresponding event of default under our senior secured term loan, the lenders could declare all outstanding principal and interest to be due and payable immediately and foreclose against the assets securing the borrowings. Given our current liquidity position, upon an event of default, if we are unable to obtain a waiver or successfully renegotiate the terms of our senior secured term loan, the lenders under our senior secured term loan may enforce one or more of their rights upon such future event of default. In that case, we may not be able to meet our current obligations and could be forced to commence a bankruptcy or take other action to maximize the value of our assets, which would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

Our past net revenue growth masked seasonal fluctuations in our operating results. If our net revenue declines or if it begins to increase at a more moderate rate, or as seasonal patterns become more pronounced, seasonality could have a material impact on our results.

Our business is seasonal in nature, which impacts the levels at which customers engage with our products and brand, and, as a result, the trends of our revenue and our expenses fluctuate from quarter to quarter. For example, prior to the effect of the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we historically anticipated that the first quarter

Table of Contents

of each year would generally represent our strongest quarter in terms of customer engagement. Conversely, during the summer months and the end of year holidays, when people are vacationing more often or have less predictable weekly routines, we historically anticipated lower customer engagement. In addition, our marketing strategies and expenditures, which may be informed by these seasonal trends, will impact our quarterly results of operations. These seasonal trends may cause our revenue and our cash requirements to vary from quarter to quarter depending on the variability in the volume and timing of sales. We believe that these seasonal trends have affected and will continue to affect our quarterly results in the future. However, we cannot predict the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic may have on seasonality. Our past net revenue growth, due in part to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer behaviors, masked seasonality, but if our net revenue declines or if it increases at a moderate rate, or if seasonal spending by our customers becomes more pronounced, seasonality could have a more significant impact on our operating results from period to period.

We rely on our proprietary technology and data to forecast customer demand and to manage our supply chain, and any failure of this technology could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We rely on our proprietary technology and data to forecast demand and predict our customers’ orders, determine the amounts of ingredients and other supply to purchase, and to optimize our in-bound and out-bound logistics for delivery and transport of our supply to our fulfillment centers and of our product offerings to customers. If this technology fails or produces inaccurate results at any step in this process—such as if the data we collect from customers is insufficient or incorrect, if we over or underestimate future demand, or if we fail to optimize delivery routes to our customers—we could experience increased food waste or shortages in key ingredients, the operational efficiency of our supply chain may suffer (including as a result of excess or shortage of fulfillment center capacity) or our customers may experience delays or failures in the delivery of our product offerings, for example by missing ingredients. Moreover, forecasts based on historical data, regardless of any historical patterns or the quality of the underlying data, are inherently uncertain, and unforeseen changes in consumer tastes or external events could result in material inaccuracy of our forecasts, which could result in disruptions in our business and our incurrence of significant costs and waste. Furthermore, any interruptions or delays in our ability to use or access our proprietary technology could lead to interruptions or delays in our supply chain. The occurrence of any of the foregoing risks could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

The reliable and cost-effective storage, transport and delivery of ingredients and other products and our product offerings is critical to our business, and any interruptions, delays or failures could materially adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and operating results.

We maintain arrangements with third parties to store ingredients and other products, to deliver ingredients and other products from our suppliers to our fulfillment centers and to transport ingredients and other products between our fulfillment centers. Interruptions or failures in these services could delay or prevent the delivery of these ingredients and other products to us and therefore adversely affect our ability to fulfill our customers’ orders. These interruptions may be due to events that are beyond our control or the control of the third parties with whom we contract.

We also maintain arrangements with third-party transport carriers to deliver the food products we sell to our customers. Interruptions, delays or failures in these carrier services could prevent the timely or proper delivery of these products, which may result in significant product inventory losses given the highly perishable nature of our food products. These interruptions may be due to events that are beyond our control or the control of these carriers, including adverse weather, natural disasters and public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics. If these carriers experience performance problems or other difficulties, we may not be able to deliver orders in a timely manner and meet customer expectations, and our business and reputation could suffer. For example, carrier interruptions and delays as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise could impact our ability to deliver orders to our customers which could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, if we are not able to maintain acceptable pricing and other terms with these carriers, whether as a result of inflation or otherwise, and we do not increase the price of our product offerings, we may experience reduced operating margins.

Table of Contents

We rely on third-party transport carriers for the delivery of our wines to our customers. State and federal laws regulate the ability of transport carriers to transport wine, and carriers may be required to obtain licenses in order to deliver wine to our customers. Changes in our access to those carriers, including changes in prices and fuel surcharges or changes in our relationships with those carriers, changes in the laws allowing third party transport of wine, or regulatory discipline against licenses held by those carriers, could materially adversely affect our wine business.

Delivery of the products we sell to our customers could also be affected or interrupted by the merger, acquisition, insolvency, or government shutdown of the carriers we engage to make deliveries. If the products we sell are not delivered in proper condition or on a timely basis, our business and reputation could suffer.

Unionization activities may disrupt our operations and adversely affect our profitability.

Although none of our employees is currently covered under a collective bargaining agreement, our employees may elect to seek to be represented by labor unions in the future. For example, in April 2018, a local labor union filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to represent certain employees at our Linden, New Jersey facility; however, such employees subsequently voted to not be represented by the union and one of our competitors is currently facing a union election in three states, including California and New Jersey. If a significant number of our employees were to become unionized and collective bargaining agreement terms were to deviate significantly from our current compensation and benefits structure, our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected. In addition, a labor dispute involving some or all of our employees may harm our reputation, disrupt our operations and reduce our net revenues, and the resolution of labor disputes may increase our costs.

Any failure to adequately store, maintain and deliver quality perishable foods could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our ability to adequately store, maintain and deliver quality perishable foods is critical to our business. We store food products, which are highly perishable, in refrigerated fulfillment centers and ship them to our customers inside boxes that are insulated with thermal or corrugate liners and frozen refrigerants to maintain appropriate temperatures in transit and use refrigerated third-party delivery trucks to support temperature control for shipments to certain locations. Keeping our food products at specific temperatures maintains freshness and enhances food safety. In the event of extended power outages, natural disasters or other catastrophic occurrences, failures of the refrigeration systems in our fulfillment centers or third-party delivery trucks, failure to use adequate packaging to maintain appropriate temperatures, or other circumstances both within and beyond our control, our inability to store highly perishable inventory at specific temperatures could result in significant product inventory losses as well as increased risk of food-borne illnesses and other food safety risks. Improper handling or storage of food by a customer—without any fault by us—could result in food-borne illnesses, which could nonetheless result in negative publicity and harm to our brand and reputation. Further, we contract with third parties to conduct certain fulfillment processes and operations on our behalf. Any failure by such third party to adequately store, maintain or transport perishable foods could negatively impact the safety, quality and merchantability of our products and the experience of our customers. The occurrence of any of these risks could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Disruptions in our data and information systems could harm our reputation and our ability to run our business.

We rely extensively on data and information systems for our supply chain, order processing, fulfillment operations, financial reporting, human resources and various other operations, processes and transactions. Furthermore, a significant portion of the communications between, and storage of personal data of, our personnel, customers and suppliers depends on information technology. Our data and information systems are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, computer and telecommunications failures, computer viruses, security breaches (including breaches of our transaction processing or other systems that could result in the compromise of confidential customer data), catastrophic events, data breaches and usage errors by our employees or third-party service providers. Our data and information technology systems may also fail to perform as we anticipate, and we may encounter difficulties in adapting these systems to changing technologies or expanding them to meet the future needs of our business. If our systems are breached, damaged or cease to function properly, we may have to make significant investments to fix or replace them,

Table of Contents

suffer interruptions in our operations, incur liability to our customers and others or face costly litigation, and our reputation with our customers may be harmed. We also rely on third parties for a majority of our data and information systems, including for third-party hosting and payment processing. If these facilities fail, or if they suffer a security breach or interruption or degradation of service, a significant amount of our data could be lost or compromised and our ability to operate our business and deliver our product offerings could be materially impaired. In addition, various third parties, such as our suppliers and payment processors, also rely heavily on information technology systems, and any failure of these systems could also cause loss of sales, transactional or other data and significant interruptions to our business. Any material interruption in the data and information technology systems we rely on, including the data or information technology systems of third parties, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our business is subject to data security risks, including security breaches.

We, or our third-party vendors on our behalf, collect, process, store and transmit substantial amounts of information, including information about our customers. We take steps to protect the security and integrity of the information we collect, process, store or transmit, but there is no guarantee that inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure will not occur or that third parties will not gain unauthorized access to this information despite such efforts. Security breaches, computer malware, computer hacking attacks and other compromises of information security measures have become more prevalent in the business world and may occur on our systems or those of our vendors in the future. Large Internet companies and websites have from time to time disclosed sophisticated and targeted attacks on portions of their websites, and an increasing number have reported such attacks resulting in breaches of their information security. We and our third-party vendors are at risk of suffering from similar attacks and breaches. Although we take steps to maintain confidential and proprietary information on our information systems, these measures and technology may not adequately prevent security breaches and we rely on our third-party vendors to take appropriate measures to protect the security and integrity of the information on those information systems. Because techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or to sabotage information systems change frequently and may not be known until launched against us, we may be unable to anticipate or prevent these attacks. In addition, a party who is able to illicitly obtain a customer’s identification and password credentials may be able to access the customer’s account and certain account data.

Any actual or suspected security breach or other compromise of our security measures or those of our third-party vendors, whether as a result of hacking efforts, denial-of-service attacks, viruses, malicious software, break-ins, phishing attacks, social engineering or otherwise, could harm our reputation and business, damage our brand and make it harder to retain existing customers or acquire new ones, require us to expend significant capital and other resources to address the breach, and result in a violation of applicable laws, regulations or other legal obligations. Our insurance policies may not be adequate to reimburse us for direct losses caused by any such security breach or indirect losses due to resulting customer attrition.

We rely on email and other messaging services to connect with our existing and potential customers. Our customers may be targeted by parties using fraudulent spoofing and phishing emails to misappropriate passwords, payment information or other personal information or to introduce viruses through Trojan horse programs or otherwise through our customers’ computers, smartphones, tablets or other devices. Despite our efforts to mitigate the effectiveness of such malicious email campaigns through product improvements, spoofing and phishing may damage our brand and increase our costs. Any of these events or circumstances could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We are subject to risks associated with payments to us from our customers and other third parties, including risks associated with fraud.

Nearly all of our customers’ payments are made by credit card or debit card. We currently rely exclusively on one third-party vendor to provide payment processing services, including the processing of payments from credit cards and debit cards, and our business would be disrupted if this vendor becomes unwilling or unable to provide these services to us and we are unable to find a suitable replacement on a timely basis. We are also subject to payment brand operating rules, payment card industry data security standards and certification requirements, which could change or be

Table of Contents

reinterpreted to make it more difficult or impossible for us to comply. If we fail to comply with these rules or requirements, we may be subject to fines and higher transaction fees and lose our ability to accept credit and debit card payments from customers, which would make our services less convenient and attractive to our customers and likely result in a substantial reduction in net revenue. We may also incur losses as a result of claims that the customer did not authorize given purchases, fraud, erroneous transmissions and customers who have closed bank accounts or have insufficient funds in their accounts to satisfy payments owed to us.

We are subject to, or voluntarily comply with, a number of other laws and regulations relating to the payments we accept from our customers and third parties, including with respect to money laundering, money transfers, privacy, and information security, and electronic fund transfers. These laws and regulations could change or be reinterpreted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply. If we were found to be in violation of any of these applicable laws or regulations, we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties and higher transaction fees or lose our ability to accept credit and debit card payments from our customers, process electronic funds transfers or facilitate other types of online payments, which may make our services less convenient and less attractive to our customers and diminish the customer experience.

The termination of, or material changes to, our relationships with key suppliers or vendors could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We currently depend on a limited number of suppliers for some of our key ingredients. We strive to work with suppliers that engage in certain growing, raising or farming standards that we believe are superior to conventional practices and that can deliver products that are specific to our quality, food safety and production standards. Currently, there are a limited number of meat and seafood suppliers that are able to simultaneously meet our standards and volume requirements. As such, these suppliers could be difficult to replace if we were no longer able to rely on them. We also work with suppliers that produce specialty or unique ingredients for us. It can take a significant amount of time and resources to identify, develop and maintain relationships with certain suppliers, including suppliers that produce specialty or unique products for us. In the event of any disruptions to our relationships with our suppliers of specialty products, the ingredients they produce for us would be difficult to replace. The termination of, or material changes to, arrangements with key suppliers or vendors, disagreements with key suppliers or vendors as to payment or other terms, or the failure of a key supplier or vendor to meet its contractual obligations to us may require us to contract with alternative suppliers or vendors. For example, the failure of a key supplier to meet its obligations to us or otherwise deliver ingredients at the volumes that meet our quality and production standards could require us to make purchases from alternative suppliers or make changes to our product offerings. If we have to replace key suppliers or vendors, we may be subject to pricing or other terms less favorable than those we currently enjoy, and it may be difficult to identify and secure relationships with alternative suppliers or vendors that are able to meet our volume requirements, food safety and quality or other standards. If we cannot replace or engage suppliers or vendors who meet our specifications and standards in a short period of time, we could encounter increased expenses, shortages of ingredients and other items, disruptions or delays in customer shipments or other harm. In this event, we could experience a significant reduction in sales and incur higher costs for replacement goods and customer refunds during the shortage or thereafter, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

In our wine business, we rely on the use of third-party alternating proprietorship winemaking facilities. We rely on the host or owner of such facilities to ensure that the facilities are operational and maintained in good condition. Changes in those facilities or our access to those facilities, including changes in prices or changes in our relationships with the third parties who own and operate those facilities, or regulatory discipline against licenses held by those third parties, or any failure by such third parties to maintain their facilities in good condition, may impair our ability to produce wines at such facilities and could materially adversely affect our wine business.

Our results could be adversely affected by natural disasters, public health crises, political crises or other catastrophic events.

Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, droughts and other adverse weather and climate conditions; crop or animal diseases; crop pests; unforeseen public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; political crises, such as terrorist attacks, war and other political instability

Table of Contents

or uncertainty; or other catastrophic events, whether occurring in the United States or internationally, could disrupt our operations or the operations of one or more of our suppliers. In particular, these types of events could impact our supply chain from or to the impacted region given our dependency on frequent deliveries of ingredients and other products from a variety of local, regional and national suppliers. In addition, these types of events could adversely affect consumer spending in the impacted regions or our ability to deliver our products to our customers safely, cost-effectively or at all. To the extent any of these events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.

Failure to establish and maintain effective internal controls in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could have a material adverse effect on our business and stock price.

As a public company, we are required to comply with the rules of the SEC implementing Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires management to certify financial and other information in our quarterly and annual reports and provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of controls over financial reporting. We are required to disclose changes made in our internal controls and procedures on a quarterly basis and to make annual assessments of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404. As an emerging growth company, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 until the date we are no longer an emerging growth company. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm, and management, may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our controls are documented, designed or operating.

To comply with the requirements of being a public company, we have undertaken various actions, and may need to take additional actions, such as implementing new internal controls and procedures and hiring additional accounting or internal audit staff. Testing and maintaining internal control can divert our management’s attention from other matters that are important to the operation of our business. Additionally, when evaluating our internal control over financial reporting, we may identify material weaknesses that we may not be able to remediate in time to meet the applicable deadline imposed upon us for compliance with the requirements of Section 404. If we identify any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting or are unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner or assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting once we are no longer an emerging growth company, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our Class A common stock could be materially adversely affected, and we could become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

We may be accused of infringing or violating the intellectual property rights of others.

Other parties have claimed or may claim in the future that we infringe or violate their trademarks, patents, copyrights, domain names, publicity rights or other proprietary rights. Such claims, regardless of their merit, could result in litigation or other proceedings and could require us to expend significant financial resources and attention by our management and other personnel that otherwise would be focused on our business operations, result in injunctions against us that prevent us from using material intellectual property rights, or require us to pay damages to third parties. We may need to obtain licenses from third parties who allege that we have infringed or violated their rights, but such licenses may not be available on terms acceptable to us or at all. In addition, we may not be able to obtain or use on terms that are favorable to us, or at all, licenses or other rights with respect to intellectual property that we do not own, which would require us to develop alternative intellectual property. To the extent we rely on open source software, we may face claims from third parties that claim ownership of the open source software or derivative works that were developed using such software, or otherwise seek to enforce the terms of the applicable open source license. Similar claims might also be asserted regarding our in-house software. These risks have been amplified by the increase in intellectual property claims by third parties whose sole or primary business is to assert such claims. As knowledge of our business expands, we are likely to be subject to intellectual property claims against us with increasing frequency, scope and magnitude. We may also be obligated to indemnify affiliates or other partners who are accused of violating third

Table of Contents

parties’ intellectual property rights by virtue of those affiliates or partners’ agreements with us, and this could increase our costs in defending such claims and our damages. Furthermore, such affiliates and partners may discontinue their relationship with us either as a result of injunctions or otherwise. The occurrence of these results could harm our brand or materially adversely affect our business, financial position and operating results.

We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property rights.

We regard our customer lists and other consumer data, trademarks, service marks, domain names, copyrights, trade dress, trade secrets, know-how, proprietary technology and similar intellectual property as critical to our future success. We cannot be sure that our intellectual property portfolio will not be infringed, violated or otherwise challenged by third parties, or that we will be successful in enforcing, defending or combatting any such infringements, violations, or challenges. We also cannot be sure that the law might not change in a way that would affect the nature or extent of our intellectual property ownership.

We rely on patent, registered and unregistered trademark, copyright and trade secret protection and other intellectual property protections under applicable law to protect these proprietary rights. While we have taken steps toward procuring trademark registration for several of our trademarks in key countries around the world and have entered or may enter into contracts to assist with the procurement and protection of our trademarks, we cannot assure you that our common law, applied-for, or registered trademarks are valid and enforceable, that our trademark registrations and applications or use of our trademarks will not be challenged by known or unknown third parties, or that any pending trademark or patent applications will issue or provide us with any competitive advantage. Effective intellectual property protection may not be available to us or may be challenged by third parties. Furthermore, regulations governing domain names may not protect our trademarks and other proprietary rights that may be displayed on or in conjunction with our website and other marketing media. We may be unable to prevent third parties from acquiring or retaining domain names that are similar to, infringe upon, or diminish the value of our trademarks and other proprietary rights.

We also rely on confidentiality, supplier, license and other agreements with our employees, suppliers and others. There is no guarantee that these third parties will comply with these agreements and refrain from misappropriating our proprietary rights. Misappropriation of our proprietary rights could materially adversely affect our business, financial position and operating results.

We may not be able to discover or determine the extent of any unauthorized use or infringement or violation of our intellectual property or proprietary rights. Third parties also may take actions that diminish the value of our proprietary rights or our reputation. The protection of our intellectual property may require the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources. Moreover, the steps we take to protect our intellectual property may not adequately protect our proprietary rights or prevent third parties from continuing to infringe or misappropriate these rights. We also cannot be certain that others will not independently develop or otherwise acquire equivalent or superior technology or other intellectual property rights, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may attempt to obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others or to defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Such litigation could be costly, time-consuming and distracting to management, result in a diversion of resources, the impairment or loss of portions of our intellectual property and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. Furthermore, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights may be met with defenses, counterclaims and countersuits attacking the validity and enforceability of our intellectual property rights. These steps may be inadequate to protect our intellectual property. We will not be able to protect our intellectual property if we are unable to enforce our rights or if we do not detect unauthorized use of our intellectual property. Despite our precautions, it may be possible for unauthorized third parties to use information that we regard as proprietary to create product offerings that compete with ours.

Table of Contents

Risks Related to Government Regulation of Our Food Operations

We are subject to extensive governmental regulations, which require significant expenditures and ongoing compliance efforts.

We are subject to extensive federal, state and local regulations. Our food processing facilities and products are subject to inspection by the USDA, the FDA and various state and local health and agricultural agencies. Applicable statutes and regulations governing food products include rules for labeling the content of specific types of foods, the nutritional value of that food and its serving size, as well as rules that protect against contamination of products by food-borne pathogens and food production rules addressing the discharge of materials and pollutants and animal welfare. Many jurisdictions also provide that food producers adhere to good manufacturing or production practices (the definitions of which may vary by jurisdiction) with respect to processing food. Recently, the food safety practices of the meat processing industry and produce industry have been subject to intense scrutiny and oversight by the USDA and FDA, respectively, and the FDA has begun to evaluate the possible need for new regulations for e-commerce food delivery companies, and future food-borne illness outbreaks or other food safety incidents related to meat or produce could lead to further governmental regulation of our business or of our suppliers. In addition, our fulfillment centers are subject to various federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to workplace safety and workplace health. Our fulfillment centers and offices, as applicable are also subject to additional FDA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations and guidelines and local guidelines relating to mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Failure to comply with all applicable laws and regulations could subject us or our suppliers to civil remedies, including fines, injunctions, product recalls or seizures and criminal sanctions, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. Furthermore, compliance with current or future laws or regulations, including those related to mitigating the spread of COVID-19, could require us to make significant expenditures or otherwise materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Even inadvertent, non-negligent or unknowing violations of federal, state or local regulatory requirements could expose us to adverse governmental action and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, which governs the shipment of foods in interstate commerce, generally does not distinguish between intentional and unknowing, non-negligent violations of the law’s requirements. Most state and local laws operate similarly. Consequently, almost any deviation from subjective or objective requirements of the FDCA or state or local law leaves us vulnerable to a variety of civil and criminal penalties.

In the future, we may deploy new equipment, update our facilities or occupy new facilities. These activities require us to adjust our operations and regulatory compliance systems to meet rapidly changing conditions. Although we have adopted and implemented systems to prevent the production of unsafe or mislabeled products, any failure of those systems to prevent or anticipate an instance or category of deficiency could result in significant business interruption and financial losses to us. The occurrence of events that are difficult to prevent completely, such as the introduction of pathogenic organisms from the outside environment into our facilities, also may result in the failure of our products to meet legal standards. Under these conditions we could be exposed to civil and criminal regulatory action.

In some instances we may be responsible or held liable for the activities and compliance of our third-party vendors and suppliers, despite limited visibility into their operations. Although we monitor and carefully select our third-party vendors and suppliers, they may fail to adhere to regulatory standards, our safety and quality standards or labor and employment practices, and we may fail to identify deficiencies or violations on a timely basis or at all. In addition, a statute in California called the Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010 requires us to audit our suppliers with respect to certain risks related to slavery and human trafficking and to mitigate any such risks in our operations, and any failure to disclose issues or other non-compliance could subject us to action by the California Attorney General.

We cannot assure you that we will always be in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations or that we will be able to comply with any future laws and regulations. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Table of Contents

Changes to law, regulation or policy applicable to foods could leave us vulnerable to adverse governmental action and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

The food industry is highly regulated. We invest significant resources in our efforts to comply with the local, state and federal food regulatory regimes under which we operate. However, we cannot assure you that existing laws and regulations will not be revised or that new, more restrictive laws, regulations, guidance or enforcement policies will not be adopted or become applicable to us, our suppliers or the products we distribute. We also operate under a business model that is relatively new to the food industry, in which we rapidly source, process, store and package meal ingredients—including fresh fruits and vegetables, and poultry, beef and seafood, each of which may be subject to a unique regulatory regime—and ship them directly to consumers in the course of e-commerce transactions. Our business model leaves our business particularly susceptible to changes in and reinterpretations of compliance policies of the FDA and other government agencies, and some of our competitors may interpret the applicability of the same or similar laws and regulations to their businesses differently than we interpret them. Furthermore, it is unclear how the FDA may interpret and enforce certain recently promulgated regulations, such as the requirements regarding food defense mitigation strategies, or if the FDA will adopt new regulations for e-commerce food delivery companies, which present considerable future uncertainty. Recent and ongoing changes in senior federal government officials and policy priorities create additional uncertainty.

Our existing compliance structures may be insufficient to address the changing regulatory environment and changing expectations from government regulators regarding our business model. This may result in gaps in compliance coverage or the omission of necessary new compliance activity.

Our facilities and operations are governed by numerous and sometimes conflicting registration, licensing and reporting requirements.

Our fulfillment centers are required to be registered with the federal government and, depending on their location, are also subject to the authority of state and local governments. In some cases, disparate registration and licensing requirements lead to legal uncertainty, inconsistent government classifications of our operations and unpredictable governmental actions. Regulators may also change prior interpretations of governing licensing and registration requirements. Our relatively new business model leaves us particularly susceptible to these factors. If we misapply or misidentify licensing or registration requirements, fail to maintain our registrations or licenses or otherwise violate applicable requirements, our products may be subject to seizure or recall and our operations subject to injunction. This could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Similarly, we are required to submit reports to the FDA’s Reportable Food Registry in the event that we determine a product may present a serious danger to consumers. The reporting requirement may be triggered based on a subjective assessment of incomplete and changing facts. Our inventory moves very rapidly throughout our supply and distribution chain. Should we fail, in a timely fashion, to identify and report a potentially reportable event which, subsequently, is determined to have been reportable, government authorities may institute civil or criminal enforcement actions against us, and may result in civil litigation against us or criminal charges against certain of our employees. This could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Good manufacturing process standards and food safety compliance metrics are complex, highly subjective and selectively enforced.

The federal regulatory scheme governing food products establishes guideposts and objectives for complying with legal requirements rather than providing clear direction on when particular standards apply or how they must be met. For example, FDA regulations referred to as Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food require that we evaluate food safety hazards inherent to our specific products and operations. We must then implement “preventive controls” in cases where we determine that qualified food safety personnel would recommend that we do so. Determining what constitutes a food safety hazard, or what a qualified food safety expert might recommend to prevent such a hazard, requires evaluating a variety of situational factors. This analysis is necessarily subjective, and a government regulator may find our analysis or conclusions inadequate. Similarly, the standard of “good manufacturing practice” to which we are held in our food production operations relies on a hypothesis regarding what individuals and

Table of Contents

organizations qualified in food manufacturing and food safety would find to be appropriate practices in the context of our operations. Our business model, and the scale and nature of our operations, have relatively few meaningful comparisons among traditional food companies. Government regulators may disagree with our analyses and decisions regarding the good manufacturing practices appropriate for our operations.

Decisions made or processes adopted by us in producing our products are subject to after-the-fact review by government authorities, sometimes years after the fact. Similarly, governmental agencies and personnel within those agencies may alter, clarify or even reverse previous interpretations of compliance requirements and the circumstances under which they will institute formal enforcement activity. It is not always possible accurately to predict regulators’ responses to actual or alleged food-production deficiencies due to the large degree of discretion afforded regulators. We may be vulnerable to civil or criminal enforcement action by government regulators if they disagree with our analyses, conclusions, actions or practices. This could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Packaging, labeling and advertising requirements are subject to varied interpretation and selective enforcement.

We operate under a novel business model in which we source, process, store and package meal ingredients and ship them directly to consumers. Most FDA requirements for mandatory food labeling are decades old and were adopted prior to the advent of large-scale, direct-to-consumer food sales and e-commerce platforms. Consequently, we, like our competitors, must make judgments regarding how best to comply with labeling and packaging regulations and industry practices not designed with our specific business model in mind. Government regulators may disagree with these judgments, leaving us open to civil or criminal enforcement action. This could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We are subject to detailed and complex requirements for how our products may be labeled and advertised, which may also be supplemented by guidance from governmental agencies. Generally speaking, these requirements divide information into mandatory information that we must present to consumers and voluntary information that we may present to consumers. Packaging, labeling, disclosure and advertising regulations may describe what mandatory information must be provided to consumers, where and how that information is to be displayed physically on our materials or elsewhere, the terms, words or phrases in which it must be disclosed, and the penalties for non-compliance.

Voluntary statements made by us or by certain third parties, whether on package labels or labeling, on websites, in print, in radio, on social media channels, or on television, can be subject to FDA regulation, Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, regulation, USDA regulation, state and local regulation, or any combination of the foregoing. These statements may be subject to specific requirements, subjective regulatory evaluation, and legal challenges by plaintiffs. FDA, FTC, USDA and state- and local-level regulations and guidance can be confusing and subject to conflicting interpretations. Guidelines, standards and market practice for, and consumers’ understandings of, certain types of voluntary statements, such as those characterizing the nutritional and other attributes of food products, continue to evolve rapidly, and regulators may attempt to impose civil or criminal penalties against us if they disagree with our approach to using voluntary statements. Furthermore, in recent years the FDA has increased enforcement of its regulations with respect to nutritional, health and other claims related to food products, and plaintiffs have commenced legal actions against a number of companies that market food products positioned as “natural” or “healthy,” asserting false, misleading and deceptive advertising and labeling claims, including claims related to such food being “all natural” or that they lack any genetically modified ingredients. Should we become subject to similar claims or actions, consumers may avoid purchasing products from us or seek alternatives, even if the basis for the claim is unfounded, and the cost of defending against any such claims could be significant. The occurrence of any of the foregoing risks could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Table of Contents

Risks Related to Government Regulation of our Wine Business

If we do not comply with the specialized regulations and laws that regulate the alcoholic beverage industry, our business could be materially adversely affected.

Alcoholic beverages are highly regulated at both the federal and state levels. Regulated areas include production, importation, product labeling, taxes, marketing, pricing, delivery, ownership restrictions, prohibitions on sales to minors, and relationships among alcoholic beverage producers, wholesalers and retailers. We cannot assure you that we will always be in full compliance with all applicable regulations or laws, that we will be able to comply with any future regulations and laws, that we will not incur material costs or liabilities in connection with compliance with applicable regulatory and legal requirements, or that such regulations and laws will not materially adversely affect our wine business. We rely on various internal and external personnel with relevant experience complying with applicable regulatory and legal requirements, and the loss of personnel with such expertise could adversely affect our wine business.

Licenses issued by state and federal alcoholic beverage regulatory agencies are required in order to produce, sell and ship wine. We have state and federal licenses, and must remain in compliance with state and federal laws in order to keep our licenses in good standing. Compliance failures can result in fines, license suspension or license revocation. In some cases, compliance failures can also result in cease and desist orders, injunctive proceedings or other criminal or civil penalties. If our licenses do not remain in good standing, our wine business could be materially adversely affected.

Our wine business relies substantially on state laws that authorize the shipping of wine by out-of-state producers directly to in-state consumers. Those laws are relatively new in many states, and it is common for the laws to be modified or regulators to change prior interpretations of governing licensing requirements. Adverse changes to laws or their interpretation allowing a producer to ship wine to consumers across state lines could materially adversely affect our wine business.

Other Risks Related to Government Regulation

Government regulation of the Internet, e-commerce and other aspects of our business is evolving, and we may experience unfavorable changes in or failure to comply with existing or future regulations and laws.

We are subject to a number of regulations and laws that apply generally to businesses, as well as regulations and laws specifically governing the Internet and e-commerce and the marketing, sale and delivery of goods and services over the Internet. Existing and future regulations and laws may impede the growth and availability of the Internet and online services and may limit our ability to operate our business. These laws and regulations, which continue to evolve, cover taxation, tariffs, privacy and data protection, data security, pricing, content, copyrights, distribution, mobile and other communications, advertising practices, electronic contracts, sales procedures, automatic subscription renewals, credit card processing procedures, consumer protections, the provision of online payment services, unencumbered Internet access to our services, the design and operation of websites, and the characteristics and quality of product offerings that are offered online. We cannot guarantee that we have been or will be fully compliant in every jurisdiction, as it is not entirely clear how existing laws and regulations governing issues such as property ownership, sales and other taxes, consumer protection, libel and personal privacy apply or will be enforced with respect to the Internet and e-commerce, as many of these laws were adopted prior to the advent of the Internet and e-commerce and do not contemplate or address the unique issues they raise. Moreover, as e-commerce continues to evolve, increasing regulation and enforcement efforts by federal and state agencies and the prospects for private litigation claims related to our data collection, privacy policies or other e-commerce practices become more likely. In addition, the adoption of any laws or regulations, or the imposition of other legal requirements, that adversely affect our ability to market, sell, and deliver our products could decrease our ability to offer, or customer demand for, our offerings, resulting in lower net revenue, and existing or future laws or regulations could impair our ability to expand our product offerings, which could also result in lower net revenue and make us more vulnerable to increased competition. Future regulations, or changes in laws and regulations or their existing interpretations or applications, could also require us to change our business practices, raise

Table of Contents

compliance costs or other costs of doing business and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Failure to comply with privacy-related obligations, including federal and state privacy laws and regulations and other legal obligations, or the expansion of current or the enactment of new privacy-related obligations could materially adversely affect our business.

A variety of federal and state laws and regulations govern the collection, use, retention, sharing, transfer and security of customer data. We also may choose to comply with, or may be required to comply with, self-regulatory obligations or other industry standards with respect to our collection, use, retention, sharing or security of customer data.

We strive to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, self-regulatory requirements, policies and legal obligations relating to privacy, data usage, and data protection. It is possible, however, that these laws, regulations and other obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and which may conflict with other rules or requirements or our practices. We cannot guarantee that our practices have complied, comply, or will comply fully with all such laws, regulations, requirements and obligations.

We have posted our privacy policy which describes our practice related to the collection, use and disclosure of customer data on our website and in our mobile application. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with our posted privacy policy or with any federal or state laws, regulations, self-regulatory requirements, industry standards, or other legal obligations could result in claims, proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities, customers or others, or other liabilities, or could result in a loss of customers, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, a failure or perceived failure to comply with industry standards or with our own privacy policy and practices could result in a loss of customers and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Additionally, existing privacy-related laws, regulations, self-regulatory obligations and other legal obligations are evolving and are subject to potentially differing interpretations. Various federal and state legislative and regulatory bodies may expand current laws or enact new laws regarding privacy matters, and courts may interpret existing privacy-related laws and regulations in new or different manners. For example, the State of California enacted legislation in June 2018, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which came into effect on January 1, 2020, and, among other things, requires companies that process information on California residents to provide new disclosures to California consumers, allows such consumers to opt out of data sharing with third parties and provides a new cause of action for data breaches. Some other states have adopted, and many other states are considering, similar legislation. While we have invested and may continue to invest in readiness to comply with the applicable legislation, the effects of these new and evolving laws, regulations, and other obligations potentially are far-reaching and may require us to further modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply.

Changes in privacy-related laws, regulations, self-regulatory obligations and other legal obligations, or changes in industry standards or consumer sentiment, such as our need to adjust our digital marketing in response to the ongoing elimination of cookie-based tracking, could require us to incur substantial costs or to change our business practices, including changing, limiting or ceasing altogether the collection, use, sharing, or transfer of data relating to consumers. Any of these effects could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our failure to collect state or local sales, use or other similar taxes could result in substantial tax liabilities, including for past sales, as well as penalties and interest, and our business could be materially adversely affected.

In general, we have not historically collected state or local sales, use or other similar taxes in any jurisdictions in which we do not have a tax nexus, in reliance on court decisions or applicable exemptions that restrict or preclude the imposition of obligations to collect state and local sales, use and other similar taxes with respect to online sales of our products. In addition, we have not historically collected state or local sales, use or other similar taxes in certain jurisdictions in which we do have a physical presence in reliance on applicable exemptions. On June 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court decided, in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., that state and local jurisdictions may, at least in certain circumstances, enforce a sales and use tax collection obligation on remote vendors that have no physical presence in

Table of Contents

such jurisdiction. A number of states have already begun, or have positioned themselves to begin, requiring sales and use tax collection by remote vendors and/or by online marketplaces. The details and effective dates of these collection requirements vary from state to state. It is possible that one or more jurisdictions may assert that we have liability for periods for which we have not collected sales, use or other similar taxes, and if such an assertion or assertions were successful it could result in substantial tax liabilities, including for past sales as well as penalties and interest, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Changes in tax treatment of companies engaged in e-commerce could materially adversely affect the commercial use of our sites and our business, financial condition and operating results.

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., discussed above, permits state and local jurisdictions, in certain circumstances, to impose sales and use tax collection obligation on remote vendors, and a number of states have already begun imposing such obligations on Internet vendors and online marketplaces. In addition, due to the global nature of the Internet, it is possible that various states or, if we choose to expand internationally in the future, foreign countries, might attempt to impose additional or new regulation on our business or levy additional or new sales, income or other taxes relating to our activities. Tax authorities at the international, federal, state and local levels are currently reviewing the appropriate treatment of companies engaged in e-commerce. New or revised international, federal, state or local tax regulations may subject us or our customers to additional sales, income and other taxes. New or revised taxes and, in particular, sales taxes, value-added taxes and similar taxes (including sales and use taxes that we may be required to collect as a result of the Wayfair decision) are likely to increase costs to our customers and increase the cost of doing business online (including the cost of compliance processes necessary to capture data and collect and remit taxes), and such taxes may decrease the attractiveness of purchasing products over the Internet. Any of these events could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations which could subject our business to higher tax liability.

We may be limited in the portion of net operating loss carryforwards that we can use in the future to offset taxable income for U.S. federal and state income tax purposes. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, we had U.S. federal net operating loss carryforwards of $397.5 million and $364.0 million, respectively, and state net operating loss carryforwards of $153.2 million and $136.1 million, respectively, that are available to offset future tax liabilities. Of the $397.5 million of federal net operating loss carryforwards, $221.5 million was generated before January 1, 2018 and is subject to a 20-year carryforward period. The remaining $176.0 million can be carried forward indefinitely, but is subject to an 80% taxable income limitation, in any future taxable year. The pre-2018 federal and all state net operating losses will begin to expire in 2032 and 2033, respectively, if not utilized.

Furthermore, Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or “the Code”, limits the ability of a company that undergoes an “ownership change” (generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage point cumulative change (by value) in the equity ownership of certain stockholders over a rolling three-year period) to utilize net operating loss carryforwards and tax credit carryforwards and certain built-in losses recognized in years after the ownership change. Future changes in our stock ownership, some of which may be outside of our control, could result in an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code. In addition, Section 383 of the Code generally limits the amount of tax liability in any post-ownership change year that can be reduced by pre-ownership change tax credit carryforwards. If we were to undergo an “ownership change,” it could materially limit our ability to utilize our net operating loss carryforwards and other deferred tax assets.

Risks Related to Our Class A Common Stock

The market price of our Class A common stock has been and may ,in the future be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control, and which could result in substantial losses for investors purchasing our shares.

The stock market in general and the market for our Class A common stock in particular has, from time to time, and may again, experience extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular

Table of Contents

companies. For example, since our initial public offering in June 2017, the market price of our Class A common stock has ranged from a high of $165.00 (adjusted for the reverse stock split that occurred in June 2019) to a low of $2.01. Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our Class A common stock to fluctuate include:

●

price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;

●

volatility in the market price and trading volume of comparable companies;

●

actual or anticipated changes in our earnings or fluctuations in our operating results or in the expectations of securities analysts;

●

announcements of new service offerings, strategic alliances or significant agreements by us or by our competitors;

●

departure of key personnel;

●

litigation involving us or that may be perceived as having an adverse effect on our business;

●

changes in general economic, industry and market conditions and trends;

●

investors’ general perception of us;

●

sales of large blocks of our stock; and

●

announcements regarding industry consolidation.

In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been brought against that company. For example, we have been subject to several putative class action lawsuits alleging federal securities law violations in connection with our initial public offering, or IPO. Because of the past and the potential future volatility of our stock price, we may become the target of additional securities litigation in the future. Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources from our business.

Our quarterly operating results or other operating metrics may fluctuate significantly, which could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to continue to decline.

Our quarterly operating results and other operating metrics have fluctuated in the past and may in the future fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control and may be difficult to predict, including:

●

the level of demand for our service offerings and our ability to maintain and increase our customer base, including our ability to maintain higher levels of demand that has resulted from our growth strategy and from the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on consumer behaviors;

●

the timing and success of new service introductions by us or our competitors or any other change in the competitive landscape of our market;

●

the mix of products sold;

●

order rates by our customers;

●

pricing pressure as a result of competition or otherwise;

●

delays or disruptions in our supply chain;

●

our ability to reduce costs;

Table of Contents

●

errors in our forecasting of the demand for our products, which could lead to lower net revenue or increased costs;

●

seasonal or other variations in buying patterns by our customers;

●

changes in and timing of sales and marketing and other operating expenses that we may incur;

●

levels of customer credits and refunds;

●

adverse litigation judgments, settlements or other litigation-related costs;

●

food safety concerns, regulatory proceedings or other adverse publicity about us or our products;

●

costs related to the acquisition of businesses, talent, technologies or intellectual property, including potentially significant amortization costs and possible write-downs;

●

changes in consumer tastes and preferences; and

●

general economic conditions.

Any one of the factors above or the cumulative effect of some or all of the factors above may result in significant fluctuations in our operating results.

The variability and unpredictability of our quarterly operating results or other operating metrics could result in our failure to meet our expectations or those of any analysts that cover us or investors with respect to net revenue or other operating results for a particular period. If we fail to meet or exceed such expectations for these or any other reasons, the market price of our Class A common stock could continue to fall substantially, and we could face costly lawsuits, including securities class action suits.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about us, our business or our market, or if they publish negative evaluations of our stock or the stock of other companies in our industry, the price of our stock and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Class A common stock is influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. If the analyst(s) covering our business downgrade their evaluations of our stock or the stock of other companies in our industry, the price of our stock could decline. Since December 31, 2018, twelve of the analysts who formerly covered our stock have ceased to cover our stock and we currently have only one analyst covering our stock. If the remaining analyst ceases to cover our stock and other analysts do not begin to cover our stock, we could lose additional visibility in the market for our stock, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline further. The trading market for our Class A common stock is influenced by the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. There can be no assurance that existing analysts will continue to cover us or that new analysts will begin to cover us. There is also no assurance that any covering analyst will provide favorable coverage. A lack of research coverage or adverse coverage may negatively impact the market price of our Class A common stock. In addition, if one or more of the analysts covering our business downgrade their evaluations of our stock or the stock of other companies in our industry, the price of our Class A common stock could decline.

Because we do not expect to pay any dividends on our Class A common stock for the foreseeable future, investors may never receive a return on their investment.

You should not rely on an investment in our Class A common stock to provide dividend income. We have never paid cash dividends to holders of our Class A common stock and do not anticipate that we will pay any cash dividends to holders of our Class A common stock in the foreseeable future. Instead, we plan to retain any earnings to maintain and support our existing operations. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their Class A common stock

Table of Contents

after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any return on their investment. As a result, investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our Class A common stock.

Joseph N. Sanberg and his affiliates beneficially own a significant portion of our outstanding Class A common stock, and therefore have significant influence over the outcome of matters subject to stockholder approval, including a change of control, which could make our Class A common stock less attractive to some investors or otherwise harm our stock price.

As of November 4, 2021, Mr. Sanberg and his affiliates beneficially own an aggregate of 15.3 million shares of our outstanding Class A common stock (including shares issuable upon exercise of warrants held by Mr. Sanberg’s affiliates), which collectively represent approximately 38.0% of our outstanding capital stock. The warrants held by Mr. Sanberg’s affiliates are subject to a contractual limitation on exercise, capping the beneficial ownership of Mr. Sanberg and his affiliates at 33.0% until such date that no indebtedness remains outstanding under our existing financing agreement. Pursuant to the purchase agreement, or the Purchase Agreement, with RJB Partners LLC, or RJB, an affiliate of Mr. Sanberg, and Mr. M. Salzberg, dated September 15, 2021, RJB is subject to a voting agreement, pursuant to which RJB agreed to cause all of our voting securities beneficially owned by it or certain of its affiliates, including Mr. Sanberg, in excess of 19.9% of the total voting power of our outstanding capital stock to be voted in proportion to, and accordance with, the vote of all of our stockholders, limiting the effective voting power of the securities beneficially held by Mr. Sanberg, including securities issued to RJB in connection with the Capital Raise, to between 19.9% and 24.3%, depending on the number of outstanding shares of capital stock owned by RJB, its affiliates, and the votes of other stockholders.

As a result, these stockholders will have significant influence over matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors and the approval of any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. This concentration of voting power might delay, defer or prevent a change in control or delay or prevent a merger, consolidation, takeover or other business combination involving us on terms that other stockholders may desire, which, in each case, could adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.

Substantial sales of shares of our Class A common stock could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline and/or result in dilution to our stockholders.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales might occur, could reduce the market price of our Class A common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity or other securities. We are unable to predict the effect that such sales may have on the prevailing market price of our Class A common stock.

As of September 30, 2021, an aggregate of 1,451,584 shares of our common stock remained available for future grants under our equity incentive plans. Shares registered under our registration statements on Form S-8 are available for sale in the public market subject to vesting arrangements and exercise of options, and the restrictions of Rule 144 under the Securities Act of 1933, or the Securities Act. If these additional shares are sold, or if it is perceived that they will be sold, in the public market, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline.

Additionally, as of September 30, 2021, the holders of an aggregate of approximately 3.8 million registrable securities have rights, subject to certain conditions, to include their securities in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders. If we were to register these securities for resale, they could be freely sold in the public market. If these additional securities are sold, or if it is perceived that they will be sold, in the public market, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline.

We currently have on file with the SEC a universal shelf registration statement which allows us to offer and sell registered Class A common stock, preferred stock, debt securities and warrants from time to time pursuant to one or more offerings of up to $75,000,000 in aggregate offering price at prices and terms to be determined at the time of sale. On August 10, 2020, we consummated an underwritten public offering of 4,000,000 shares of Class A common stock registered under our universal shelf registration statement. On June 18, 2021, we consummated an underwritten public offering of 5,411,900 shares of Class A common stock, including the 705,900 shares issuable upon the underwriter’s

Table of Contents

exercise of its option to purchase additional shares, under our universal shelf registration statement. Following the August 2020 and June 2021 underwritten offerings, approximately $15.0 million in aggregate offering price remains available for issuance under our universal shelf registration statement.

In connection with the amendment to our senior secured term loan, on the first day of each quarter that our senior secured term loan is outstanding, beginning on or after July 1, 2021, we are obligated to issue warrants to the lenders to purchase such number of shares of Class A common stock as equals 0.50% of the then outstanding shares of our common stock on a fully-diluted basis and we are required to file a registration statement with the SEC to register for resale the shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants. Pursuant to this obligation, on July 1, 2021, we issued warrants to the lenders exercisable for an aggregate of 130,350 shares of Class A common stock and on October 1, 2021, we issued warrants to the lenders exercisable for an aggregate of 133,868 shares of Class A common stock. We filed registration statements for the resale of such shares with the SEC on July 30, 2021 and on October 15, 2021, respectively.

On September 15, 2021, in connection with the private placement with Mr. M. Salzberg pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, we issued to Mr. M. Salzberg (i) 300,000 shares of Class A common stock, (ii) warrants to purchase 240,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $15.00 per share, (iii) warrants to purchase 120,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $18.00 per share, and (iv) warrants to purchase 60,000 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $3.0 million.

On November 4, 2021, in connection with the Purchase Agreement and concurrently with the closing of the rights offering, we issued to RJB an aggregate of (i) 6,265,813 shares of Class A common stock, (ii) warrants to purchase 5,012,354.58219726 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $15.00 per share, (iii) warrants to purchase 2,506,177.291098630 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $18.00 per share, and (iv) warrants to purchase 1,253,088.645549316 shares of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $20.00 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $62.7 million in two private placements. On November 4, 2021, we entered into a registration rights agreement with RJB and Mr. M. Salzberg, pursuant to which RJB, Mr. M. Salzberg and their respective permitted transferees have the right to request that we file a shelf registration statement with respect to all or a portion of the shares that they hold, which include (x) shares of Class A common stock held prior to the execution of the Purchase Agreement, and (y) shares of Class A common stock and shares underlying the warrants purchased in connection with the Purchase Agreement.

Sales of additional amounts of shares of our Class A common stock or other securities convertible into shares of Class A common stock, including any additional warrants to be issued to our lenders in connection with the amendment to our senior secured term loan and the warrants issued pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, for which we are obligated to file shelf registrations with the SEC relating to the shares underlying those warrants, would dilute our stockholders’ ownership in us.

The exclusion of our Class A common stock from major stock indexes could adversely affect the trading market and price of our Class A common stock.

Several major stock index providers exclude from their indexes the securities of companies with unequal voting rights, such as ours. Exclusion from stock indexes could make it more difficult, or impossible, for some fund managers to buy the excluded securities, particularly in the case of index tracking mutual funds and exchange traded funds. The exclusion of our Class A common stock from major stock indexes could adversely affect the trading market and price of our Class A common stock.

We may not be able to remain in compliance with the New York Stock Exchange’s requirements for the continued listing of our Class A common stock on the exchange.

On May 17, 2019, we were notified by the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, that we were no longer in compliance with the NYSE’s continued listing standards because the average closing price of our Class A common stock had fallen below $1.00 per share over a period of 30 consecutive trading days. On June 14, 2019, we filed a certificate of amendment to our restated certificate of incorporation that, among other things, effected a 1-for-15 reverse stock split of

Table of Contents

our Class A common stock. On July 1, 2019, we were notified by the NYSE that we had regained compliance with the applicable NYSE continued listing standard. However, we cannot assure you that the stock price of our Class A common stock will continue to remain in compliance with this standard or that we will remain in compliance with any of the other applicable NYSE continued listing standards dependent on our stock price, such as the requirement to maintain an average global market capitalization over a consecutive 30 trading-day period in excess of $50.0 million or, at the same time, stockholders’ equity equal or greater than $50.0 million. The stock price of our Class A common stock (and thus our market capitalization) may be adversely affected due to, among other things, our financial results, market conditions and market perception of our business.

Any further failure to remain in compliance with the NYSE’s continued listing standards, and any subsequent failure to timely resume compliance with the NYSE’s continued listing standards within the applicable cure period, could result in delisting from the NYSE and negatively impact our company and holders of our Class A common stock, including by reducing the willingness of investors to hold our Class A common stock because of the resulting decreased price, liquidity and trading of our Class A common stock, limited availability of price quotations, and reduced news and analyst coverage. These developments may also require brokers trading in our Class A common stock to adhere to more stringent rules and may limit our ability to raise capital by issuing additional shares of Class A common stock in the future. Delisting may adversely impact the perception of our financial condition, cause reputational harm with investors, our employees and parties conducting business with us, and limit our access to debt and equity financing. The perceived decrease in value of employee equity incentive awards may reduce their effectiveness in encouraging performance and retention.

Anti-takeover provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws, as well as provisions of Delaware law, might discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the trading price of our Class A common stock.

Our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions that may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which you might otherwise receive a premium for your shares of our Class A common stock. These provisions may also prevent or delay attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our management. Our corporate governance documents include provisions:

●

establishing a classified board of directors with staggered three-year terms so that not all members of our board are elected at one time, which will be fully phased out in 2024;

●

providing that directors may be removed by stockholders only for cause and only with a vote of the holders of at least 66-2/3% of the votes that all our stockholders would be entitled to cast for the election of directors;

●

limiting the ability of our stockholders to call and bring business before special meetings and to take action by written consent in lieu of a meeting;

●

requiring advance notice of stockholder proposals for business to be conducted at meetings of our stockholders and for nominations of candidates for election to our board of directors;

●

authorizing blank check preferred stock, which could be issued with voting, liquidation, dividend and other rights superior to our Class A common stock; and

●

limiting the liability of, and providing indemnification to, our directors and officers.

The special meeting provisions and super-majority vote required for the director removal described above will remain in place unless our stockholders approve an amendment to our restated certificate of incorporation to amend those provisions, which we expect to propose for consideration and approval at the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders.

Table of Contents

As a Delaware corporation, we are also subject to provisions of Delaware law, including Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which limits the ability of stockholders holding shares representing more than 15% of the voting power of our outstanding voting stock from engaging in certain business combinations with us. Any provision of our restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws, each as may be further amended and/or amended and restated from time to time, or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our Class A common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our Class A common stock.

The existence of the foregoing provisions and anti-takeover measures could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our Class A common stock. They could also deter potential acquirers of our company, thereby reducing the likelihood that you could receive a premium for your Class A common stock in an acquisition.

Our restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders. Our restated certificate of incorporation further provides that the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. These choice of forum provisions could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of our company, (2) any action asserting a claim of breach of fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee or stockholder of our company to us or our stockholders, (3) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the General Corporation Law or as to which the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery or (4) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find this choice of forum provision contained in our restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our restated certificate of incorporation further provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act.

Our management team has limited experience managing a public company.

Many members of our management team have limited experience managing a publicly traded company, interacting with public company investors and/or complying with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies. Our management team may not successfully or efficiently continue to manage being a public company subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under the federal securities laws and the scrutiny of securities analysts and investors. These obligations and constituents require significant attention from our management team and could divert their attention away from the day-to-day management of our business, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources, divert management’s attention and affect our ability to attract and retain qualified board members.

As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the listing requirements of the NYSE and other applicable securities rules and regulations. Compliance with these rules and regulations may continue to increase our legal and financial

Table of Contents

compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly, and increase demand on our systems and resources, particularly after we are no longer an emerging growth company or a smaller reporting company. Among other things, the Exchange Act requires that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and operating results and maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. In order to maintain and, if required, improve our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting to meet this standard, significant resources and management oversight may be required. As a result, management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could harm our business and operating results. Although we have already hired additional employees to comply with these requirements, we may need to hire even more employees in the future, which will increase our costs and expenses.

As a public company, we are required to evaluate our internal controls and during the evaluation and testing process, if we identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting that we are unable to remediate before the end of the same fiscal year in which the material weakness is identified, we will be unable to assert that our internal controls are effective. If we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our auditors are unable to attest to management’s report on the effectiveness of our internal controls, which will be required after we are no longer an emerging growth company, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which would cause the price of our Class A common stock to decline.

In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are creating uncertainty for public companies, increasing legal and financial compliance costs and making some activities more time consuming. These laws, regulations, and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. To comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards, we may need to invest additional resources, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expense and a diversion of management’s time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business could be materially harmed.

As a result of being a public company and the accompanying rules and regulations, it is more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and in the future we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors, particularly to serve on our audit committee and compensation committee, and qualified executive officers.

We are an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company,” and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies and smaller reporting companies may make our Class A common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or the JOBS Act, and may remain an emerging growth company until December 31, 2022 (the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of our IPO), subject to specified conditions. For so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we are permitted, and intend, to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. We would cease to be an emerging growth company earlier if we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue, we have more than $700 million in market value of our stock held by non-affiliates or we issue more than $1 billion of non-convertible debt securities over a three-year period. These exemptions include reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation and exemptions from the requirements to hold non-binding advisory votes on executive compensation and golden parachute payments, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, not being required to comply with certain requirements of Auditing Standard 3101 relating to providing a supplement to the auditor’s report regarding critical audit matters and not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation. Even after we no

Table of Contents

longer qualify as an emerging growth company, we may still qualify as a smaller reporting company, which would allow us to take advantage of many of the same exemptions from disclosure requirements, including reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation and not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In general, we will qualify as a smaller reporting company for as long as we have less than $250 million of public float (calculated as the aggregate market value of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock held by non-affiliates, based on the closing price of our Class A common stock on the NYSE on the last business day of our second fiscal quarter). We cannot predict whether investors will find our Class A common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our Class A common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our Class A common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, while we are an emerging growth company we will not be subject to new or revised accounting standards at the same time that they become applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. Accordingly, we will incur additional costs in connection with complying with the accounting standards applicable to public companies at such time or times as they become applicable to us.

General Risk Factors

Higher labor costs due to statutory and regulatory changes could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Various federal and state labor laws, including new laws and regulations enacted in response to COVID-19, govern our relationships with our employees and affect operating costs. These laws include employee classifications as exempt or non-exempt, minimum wage requirements, unemployment tax rates, workers’ compensation rates, overtime, family leave, workplace health and safety standards, payroll taxes, citizenship requirements and other wage and benefit requirements for employees classified as non-exempt. As our employees are paid at rates set at, or above but related to, the applicable minimum wage, further increases in the minimum wage could increase our labor costs. Significant additional government regulations could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

Recent Sales of Unregistered Equity Securities

On July 1, 2021, in connection with the amendment to our financing agreement entered into in May 2021, we issued warrants to purchase 130,350 shares of Class A common stock to certain lenders party to the financing agreement. The warrants have an exercise price of $0.01 per share. The number of shares issuable upon exercise of each warrant is subject to increase each time we issue or sell any shares of Class A common stock, Class A common stock equivalents, options or convertible securities for a consideration per share (including upon exercise, exchange or conversion) of less than the fair market value per share of the Class A common stock, as such term is defined in the form of warrant, as of July 1, 2021. The warrants will expire five years after July 1, 2021 and will be exercisable on a cash basis or, at the election of the holder, on a cashless basis.

The issuance of the warrants was made in reliance on the exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, provided by Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act in that the transaction was by an issuer not involving any public offering. At issuance, the recipients of the warrants represented that they were “accredited investors” and represented their intentions to acquire the securities for investment only and not with a view to or for sale in connection with any distribution thereof. In connection with the grant of the warrants, we filed a registration statement on Form S-3 on July 30, 2021, registering the resale of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants on a delayed or continuous basis and such registration statement was

Table of Contents

declared effective on August 10, 2021. We did not pay or give, directly or indirectly, any commission or other remuneration, including underwriting discounts and commissions, in connection with the issuance of the warrants.

Other than the securities reported above, during the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, we did not issue any unregistered equity securities other than pursuant to transactions previously reported in our Current Reports on Form 8-K.

Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities

Not applicable.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

Item 5. Other Information

Effective November 4, 2021, our Board of Directors amended and restated our Amended and Restated By-laws, as amended, to adopt a proxy access provision and to make conforming changes in connection with the proxy access provision. A copy of the Amended and Restated By-Laws was filed with our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on November 4, 2021 and is incorporated by reference to this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Item 6. Exhibits


Exhibit		Description

3.1		Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. as amended (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-3, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 30, 2021)

3.2		Amended and Restated By-laws of Blue Apron Holdings, Inc., as amended (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 4, 2021)

4.1		Form of Warrant (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.4 to the registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-3, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 30, 2021)

4.2		Form of Warrant for Rights Offering (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 of the registrant’s Amendment No, 1 to the Registration Statement on Form S-3, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 28, 2021)
4.3		Form of Warrant issued pursuant to Purchase Agreement (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.3 of the registrant’s Amendment No. 1 to the Registration Statement on Form S-3, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 28, 2021)

4.4		Form of Warrant Agent Agreement (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.4 of the registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-3/A as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 28, 2021)

Table of Contents

10.1*		Seventh Amendment to Lease, dated as of July 15, 2013, by and between Dreisbach Enterprises, Inc. and Blue Apron, LLC (formerly known as Blue Apron, Inc.), dated as of September 29, 2021

10.2		Purchase Agreement dated September 15, 2021, by and among Blue Apron Holdings, Inc., RJB Partners LLC and Matthew B. Salzberg (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 of the registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 15, 2021)

31.1*		Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

31.2*		Certification of Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

32.1**		Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

32.2**		Certification of Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

101.INS*		Inline XBRL Instance Document – the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document.

101.SCH*		Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document

101.CAL*		Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document

101.DEF*		Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document

101.LAB*		Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document

101.PRE*		Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document

104		Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL with applicable taxonomy extension information contained in Exhibits 101)


*		Filed herewith.
**		Furnished herewith.

Table of Contents

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.


				BLUE APRON HOLDINGS, INC.


Date: November 9, 2021				/s/ Linda Findley Kozlowski
				Linda Findley Kozlowski
				President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director
				(Principal Executive Officer)

Date: November 9, 2021				/s/ Randy J. Greben
				Randy J. Greben
				Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
				(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)