Yakir Gola and Rafael Ilishayev launched goPuff when they were only sophomores at Drexel University in 2013. GoPuff is your convenient store on wheels, bringing over 3,000 items ranging from snacks and drinks to necessities and electronics – straight to your front door in 30 minutes or less. The idea came to them as car-less freshmen roommates constantly asking for rides to get basic necessities or cigarettes. There were apps for full-blown grocery shopping or gourmet food, but what about just a plain old convenient store run? – and goPuff was born.
Before they had even fully launched, they were already getting orders from fellow college students and residents of Philadelphia. At first, the roommates worked 17-18 hour shifts with their (new) cars to deliver the snacks and goodies, but with time came employees and they now have dozens of drivers in twelve different cities across the US.
Gola and Ilishayev don’t see other food delivery services as their competitors – they see the brick and mortar convenient stores as their primary competition. Competition is a loose term however – in 2014, they already had 25,000 customers in Philadelphia alone just a year after launch.
While it’s unfortunate that their services don’t extend to Grove City, they are constantly expanding and setting up camp in more major cities across America. So the next time you’re in a big city with a hankering for Ben & Jerry’s, goPuff’s got your back.
Wow this is such an interesting take on delivery/brick and mortar stores. I would totally use this in the future if I ever was in a city where they operated. Definitely thinking outside the box with this idea.
This service shows an excellent awareness of market trends. As people increasingly don’t want to go to physical stores but prefer to order online and have it delivered, services like goPuff will continue to grow. It will be interesting to see who is the first to successfully do something like this outside of an urban setting.
This company is a great idea and something i’ve been wanting at grove city so i didn’t have to leave my dorm to get snacks. I wonder how much of a price increase there is due to the delivery process and if you have a bigger order?