5@5: Blue Apron delivers better margins as business shrinks | Google's Wing gets first-ever drone delivery license

Blue Apron delivers better margins as business shrinks

Meal-kit maker Blue Apron has continued to lose customers, but recently delivered earnings of $8.6 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Executives have stated that their goal for the company is to eventually expand again by building off a more profitable foundation. Read more at The Wall Street Journal …

Google’s Wing gets first-ever drone delivery license

Google has seemingly beat Amazon in the race to offer drone technology that can deliver products to consumers in less than 30 minutes. The subsidiary is called Wing, and while Google has been developing the drone technology for several years it only recently became the first operation of this kind to receive approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. Wing could also potentially deliver groceries or medicine to people with limited mobility in the future. Read more at New Food Economy …

Burger King will roll out the Impossible Burger nationwide by the end of the year

Rolling out the Impossible Burger at all Burger King locations across the company will enable “the company to snag new customers while not eating into its core business of selling Whoppers.” The meat substitutes market may reach $6.43 billion by 2023, and the Impossible Burger’s well-received debut in St. Louis “was a bright spot in what would otherwise be a fairly downbeat earnings call for Burger King’s parent company.” Read more at Tech Crunch …

Plant-based meat companies have an identity crisis on their hands

There is a possibility that alt-meat companies will be barred from using the word “meat” on their product packaging at all in the near future. Meat industry-backed movements in statehouses nationwide are gaining steam, and plant-based meat brands such as Beyond Meat would be legally required to change their marketing strategies should the conventional meat industry’s efforts succeed. Read more at Quartz …

Dung beetles are key to healthy pasture. Now they may also help make produce safer

Dung beetles are prized in many livestock rearing operations, “particularly for their biocontrol of dung-breeding flies and their ability to reduce the development and survival of gastrointestinal parasites in pasture-raised cattle and sheep.” Now, efforts to incorporate dung beetles into large-scale livestock operations are underway—and they’re receiving backing from some governments such as those in Australia and New Zealand. Read more at Civil Eats …