Blue Apron Vs. Plated: Who Wins When Celebrity Chef Kelvin Fernandez Cooks Up Rival Meal Kits?

Blue Apron, Plated and HelloFresh have exploded onto the food scene in just three years, serving millions of dinners to customers across the U.S. each month. They join the meal kit startups for a range of reasons—convenience, price point and cooking meals they've never tried before—but they stick around because of the quality of the food.

When it goes well, the companies can become integral parts of customers' lives. Early Blue Apron employee and Google staffer Samantha Fink tells the story of how cooking Blue Apron meals became a key bonding experience with her fiancé during their engagement. When the two got married last year, they even got the startup's permission to serve slider versions of Blue Apron's Thai chicken burgers at their wedding cocktail hour. "The quality has been incredible," says Fink. "If it stopped impressing me, I'd stop using the service."

But keeping quality consistent is a perpetual challenge for Blue Apron and its rivals, who must fight constantly to keep down the churn of customers leaving. So when a professional chef, celebrity Kelvin Fernandez of La Marina in New York City, got his hands on a dinner from Blue Apron and another from Plated, the startups' freshness, and the accessibility of their menus, was put to the test.

See the video above for what the Forbes 30 Under 30 list member found.

Now in the Nov. 2 issue of Forbes: Blue Apron's Got Big Plans For Dinner -- But So Do Its Hungry Rivals

Read more: The Swedish Startup That Inspired Blue Apron, Plated And HelloFresh Speaks Out