goPuff: Drexel-built ‘Instacart for hedonists’ expands to Boston

goPuff, an on-demand delivery service for smoking products and snacks, is expanding to Boston, cofounder and soon-to-be Drexel graduate Rafael Ilishayev said. The company already opened its warehouse and is currently waiting for a tobacco license, he said.

Launched in October 2013 by Ilishayev and fellow Drexel senior Yakir Gola, goPuff is like Instacart for hedonists.

About 25,000 Philadelphia users have used the site and mobile app (both for Android and iOS) to order hookahs, e-cigarettes, rolling papers or “munchies,” as the site puts it.

goPuff has a Center City warehouse, from where its more than a dozen drivers deliver the goods. They just got freezers, Ilishayev said, and should be delivering ice cream and other frozen goods within the next month.

“We’re like a little supermarket,” he said.

goPuff works with a manufacturer in China that makes some of its items, like its hookahs, Ilishayev said. The pair plans to travel to Boston to help with the expansion but will then return to Philly.

Read more on Philly.com and Philly Mag.