Gopuff will now deliver Starbucks to Philly and nearby suburbs 24/7

Starbucks and Philadelphia-based delivery service Gopuff have expanded their partnership, allowing a broad swath of Philadelphia and nearby Pennsylvania suburbs to order lattes, frappuccinos, and other Starbucks items 24 hours a day.

To mark the widened territory, Gopuff said it would deliver a grande-size iced Starbucks coffee to any address on Wednesday for free, waiving the delivery charge as well. The deal is available through Gopuff’s app from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. (A delivery charge applies to additional items included in the same order.)

The Starbucks-Gopuff partnership began in October 2023 in Center City, Old City, Northern Liberties, Fairmount, and University City, served by two Gopuff “microfulfillment centers.” With 16 centers now online, the delivery footprint now covers all of Philly (minus a slice of Northeast Philadelphia) and towns straddling Routes 1 and 476, such as Bala Cynwyd, Wallingford, Brookhaven, Media, Folsom, and (in what may be a power move) Wawa. Bethlehem, in Lehigh County, is also a new territory.

Starbucks food and drinks, with branded ingredients and packaging, are prepared by Gopuff baristas trained by Starbucks. Each location hires 12 to 14 people for the round-the-clock Starbucks orders. Like the Gopuff employees and the private-contractor drivers, they are not unionized.

The partnership apparently has paid dividends for Gopuff, founded in 2013 by two Drexel students who sought to create a veritable Wawa on wheels, aiming for deliveries in as little as 15 minutes. Gopuff representative Brigid Gorham said about 80% of Gopuff’s Starbucks orders have included at least one additional item from Gopuff’s inventory — groceries, beer and wine, frozen foods, beverages, snacks, cleaning supplies, and the like. Gopuff carries about 5,000 SKUs (or stock keeping units, the retail measurement for inventory items), only about a sixth of a small supermarket’s product line.

The Inquirer watched on Monday as an order for a mocha frappuccino popped up on a screen in the Starbucks prep room inside a Gopuff center in South Philadelphia. Within seven minutes, a barista had made the drink and packed it into a Starbucks-branded cup and bag. A Gopuff warehouse worker picked up the bag and added it to a wire bin that held a second bag containing an item bound for the same customer. A courier then walked in to pick up both bags for a ride across town to the customer.

Ergo: a mocha frapp and a box of tampons, delivered in about 30 minutes.

Starbucks has seen benefits from the partnership, as its products can be ordered and delivered outside of traditional store hours. Customers who order from Gopuff during the day are “not stressing their existing stores anymore than it’s necessary,” Gorham said. With Gopuff controlling the delivery, she said, “it’s low effort for them and they get to reach more customers with a different experience.”