Blue Apron’s Move To NJ Facility Affecting 24 Percent Of Its Workforce

Just one month after its IPO, Blue Apron is closing a New Jersey facility and moving 1,270 jobs to a larger site opening in the state later this year.

According to Bloomberg Technology, more than half of the employees at the Jersey City facility have decided to move to Linden, New Jersey, a company spokeswoman said. The original Jersey City fulfillment center will close by October.

Workers notified Friday (August 4) of the changes will still have the opportunity to relocate to the new warehouse, with the move affecting 24 percent of Blue Apron’s workforce.

The new 500,000-square-foot Linden facility will be the meal kits company’s largest yet, and will include better automation technology as part of the Blue Apron’s plans to expand and release new products. It also intends to open another facility in Fairfield, California, in 2018.

The announcement comes approximately one month after Blue Apron filed to become public. The company restructured its executive team last week, with co-founder and chief operating officer Matt Wadiak stepping down. The meal kits company’s shares fell 5.4 percent to $5.89 following the announcement, and through Thursday were down more than 35 percent since the IPO.

Blue Apron competes with dozens of other meal kits startups, including Hello Fresh and Plated. Amazon has also shown interest in getting into the market.

In February, Blue Apron said it expected to need 2,000 workers to staff the Linden facility when it opens and will continue to hire to meet the location’s needs after that. The company reported a total of 5,202 workers as of March 31, according to its documents. Most of the employees sort, clean and assemble food into boxes that correspond with recipes for making dinner at home.