Gopuff launched its 30-minute grocery delivery service in New York City on Wednesday, offering a wide range of locally based specialty foods along with an assortment of national and international brands.
The company’s offerings in its New York locations include products from locally-based makers Carbone Fine Food, Early Bird, Grady’s Cold Brew, Levain Bakery, Mike’s Hot Honey, Momofuku, Raaka, Rise Iced Coffee, Serendipity, and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream. It's also offering a series of promotions for the next 10 weeks, including items from Juice Press, Milk Bar, and Serendipity.
Gopuff operates its own micro-fulfillment centers and buys products directly from distributors, adding a markup to the retail price and a fee of $1.95 per delivery. It employs its own pickers at its stores and works with freelance contract delivery personnel.
It has more than a dozen locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, and said it plans to expand to Staten Island and double its New York City locations by the end of the year.
Gopuff’s New York City entry follows the launch in the city of several delivery companies operating with a similar business model, including Buyk, which touts 15-minute delivery via bicycle from its own network of dark stores; Gorillas, a Berlin, Germany-based delivery company offering 10-minute delivery; and Fridge No More, which offers free grocery delivery in 15 minutes.
These companies compete not only with delivery-only services like Instacart, which offer a full range of grocery items from local stores, but with the retail stores themselves and with Amazon.
“Gopuff put the instant-needs category on the map and has spent the last eight years learning how to address the complexities of the business, including the specific needs of each market,” said Rafael Ilishayev, Gopuff co-founder and co-CEO, in a statement.
Gopuff, which now operates more than 500 micro-fulfillment centers in several markets in the U.S. and Europe, raised $1.5 billion this spring to fund its expansion. The company also recently acquired European delivery companies Dija and Fancy, and technology company rideOS to enable bicycle deliveries.
In addition to its assortment of grocery items, Gopuff also offers pet care, baby products, household cleaning items, and other essentials. Earlier this year it launched Gopuff Kitchen, which delivers freshly prepared foods such as pizza, sandwiches, coffee, and salads from mobile kitchens stationed within or adjacent to its micro-fulfillment centers.
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