goPuff expands with new delivery areas in Baltimore

On-demand delivery startup and recently minted unicorn goPuff is expanding in Baltimore with new service neighborhoods and new distribution facilities along with them.

The company, which brings convenience store items to your door after an order via app, expanded to Baltimore County’s Arbutus last month. This week, it is also adding zones in East Baltimore’s Graceland Park and Baltimore County’s Essex. This adds to the downtown Baltimore zone where it first launched over a year ago.

“Since first opening in Baltimore … goPuff has expanded throughout the area and now operates in four locations in Baltimore and two locations in southern Maryland,” CEO Yakir Gola said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to continue expanding so that we’re able to deliver the moments that matter most to even more customers in the area.”

A map shows that the service now covers most of the city (except a corner of Northeast Baltimore), Towson, a wide swath of eastern Baltimore County, and the area of the county from around Halethorpe to Catonsville.

As the new areas come online, goPuff is also adding facilities where it stocks the Ben & Jerry’s, Hot Pockets and other snacky items it delivers. While the employment numbers at these spots vary from market to market, a spokesperson said the company typically employs a dozen people who pack orders and manage operations at the facilities, and teams with about 50 drivers as it opens a new spot.

The seven-days-a-week service carries a $1.95 delivery fee along with the items. In all markets, the service is offered from noon to 4:30 a.m. Plus, they’ve got tweets:

this is what our food pyramid looks like

/
/
/
/ cheetos
—-——-
/ shredded
/ cheese
——————
/ coffee
-———————

— Gopuff (@gopuff) February 18, 2020

The expansion comes on the heels of news, reported last month by The Information, that seven-year-old goPuff received a $750 million investment from SoftBank over the summer. The reported billion-dollar valuation that came with it vaulted the company to the front of the class in its home city (and sister Technical.ly market) of Philadelphia, Technical.ly CEO Chris Wink wrote.