Amazon to launch a Blue Apron-like recipe delivery service this fall as it ramps up food business

Amazon is close to launching its own recipe-delivery service in partnership with Tyson Foods, showing the e-commerce company's growing ambition in the grocery and food business.

Tyson Foods CEO Donald Smith confirmed in its earnings call on Monday that it's working with Amazon Fresh on a new "chef-inspired, meal kits service" called Tyson Taste Makers for launch this fall.

"We're expanding our relationship with Amazon Fresh to sell fresh protein as well as partner with them around innovation. We plan to launch Tyson Taste Makers, a line of chef-inspired meal kits in premium proteins for home delivery with Amazon Fresh this fall," Smith said.

Smith didn't share any more details around Taste Makers. But based on his description and previous comments made on his partnership with Amazon Fresh, the new service sounds like a ready-to-cook ingredients delivery service, akin to what Blue Apron and HelloFresh do.

"We'll teach them about the cuts of meat and where they come from. We'll help pre-cut, trim, dry age, smoke, marinate, and do the prep so all they have to do is cook it. And then we'll inspire them to explore and cook with ingredients that they may have never used before," Smith said at a conference in March to describe the upcoming product with Amazon Fresh.

Amazon's representative wasn't immediately available for comment.

Taste Makers would be Amazon's latest effort to win more share in the massive food and grocery market. Since its 2007 beta launch in Seattle, Amazon's grocery delivery service called Amazon Fresh started expanding to other cities in 2013, including New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. It delivers thousands of products from fresh fruit and meat to milk and ice cream, and costs $299/year.

Expanding into the recipe-delivery market would be a nice way for Amazon to reach the younger, upper-income market that's increasingly finding similar services like Blue Apron and HelloFresh useful. Blue Apron has raised over $190 million and is now worth $2 billion, while HelloFresh is now worth $2.9 billion.

And that will only help Amazon become a bigger player in the US food and beverage industry. According to Cowen & Co.'s recent report, Amazon is expected to sell $23.2 billion worth of grocery products by 2021, nearly triple what it's forecast to sell this year, making it the 7th largest food and beverage retailer in the US.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.