Blue Apron
Blue Apron has no stores. The court still made them comply.
Blue Apron is an online-only meal kit subscription service — no physical retail stores anywhere. When the company was sued in 2017 by a blind subscriber, Blue Apron's defense was that it shouldn't qualify as a "place of public accommodation" because there was no physical place.
The court refused to dismiss the case in 2017, ruling that excluding internet-only businesses from the ADA would "run afoul of the purposes of the law." Blue Apron settled in 2018 and committed to making the site accessible. This case is a key precedent for the rule that SaaS, D2C subscription services, and other digital-native businesses must meet accessibility standards.
Court
District of New Hampshire
Case
Access Now, Inc. v. Blue Apron, LLC
1:17-cv-00370
Outcome
Motion to dismiss denied November 2017; settled 2018 with Blue Apron agreeing to improve website accessibility
What went wrong on the site
Each visual below shows what visitors with disabilities actually experienced.
<div onClick="buy()">
<div>Buy now</div>
</div>
Custom controls had no ARIA roles, so screen readers could not announce what they were or what state they were in.
WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value
Screen reader announces:
"Image. Image. Image."
Product images and key visuals had no alt text — screen readers announced 'image' or the file name instead of describing what users were looking at.
WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content
Click only — Tab key does nothing
Core interactions required a mouse. Keyboard-only users could not navigate menus, complete checkout, or operate widgets.
WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard
Sources & documentation
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