Blue Apron lays off employees and halts hiring as the food kit company struggles post-IPO
On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that the food kit company had laid off 14 members of the company's recruitment team. The company has temporarily halted hiring of salaried employees, though it is still hiring hourly fulfillment center workers and some corporate positions.
Blue Apron's top human resources executive, Kate Muzzatti, resigned earlier in August, Bloomberg reported.
CEO Matt Salzberg said in a statement that the changes were a result of an internal reorganization, as the company has created a new consumer products team and is launching a new fulfillment center in New Jersey.
"As part of these changes, we temporarily paused hiring for certain positions, while keeping others open, for the duration of our 2018 resource allocation process," Salzberg said. "As a result, we implemented a small reduction in staff on our recruiting team."
Blue Apron has struggled since its disappointing IPO in June.
When Amazon filed a trademark application on July 6 for "prepared food kits," Blue Apron's stock sank 11%. And, earlier in August, its stock dropped 5% after news broke that the company could cut 1,207 positions at its Jersey City, New Jersey, facility, though Blue Apron said employees would have the chance to transfer to a new warehouse.